The New Oceans Layer for Google Earth has lots of interesting layers that you can explore and things that you can do within it. One of the really interesting layers that I know children (and adults) will become completely fascinated by is the new ‘marine animal tracking’ layer. It’s just brilliant!
The data for this layer is provided by Global Tagging of Pelagic
Predators (GTOPP) and contains historical information on marine animals that
have been geo-tagged for research purposes. If you turn on the layer and zoom
in on any coastline (particularly the
When you click on one of the ‘marine animal tracking’ icons in Google Earth a data box loads up which includes the tag number and you can also find out when the creature was tagged. There is also an option to find out more about marine animal / mammal and the technology that was used to tag and monitor its movements in the oceans.
But the best bit is once you have picked a creature that you want to follow you can click on the ‘swim with me’ box by choosing either the ‘quickly’ or ‘slowly’ option.
This transports you under the ocean where you follow the
track of your chosen sea creature. You can also choose to download the track.
The screen shot below is a picture that I took through the eyes of a humpback
whale somewhere off the coast of West Coast of the USA. I was fascinated with how it picked
to swim through underwater canyons and between underwater mountain ranges.
Not only is the ‘marine animal tracking’ layer interesting in its own right. But there are also lots of options to develop meaningful learning experiences.
Ideas off the top of my head include:
- A traditional study of a marine creature including where it’s going and where it’s been
- Numeracy tasks linked to how far the creature has swum, the direction it’s swum in, the depth it dives to and orientation.
- Numeracy tasks based around distance travelled over time (how fast can a Great White Shark Swim?)
- Design and technology tasks (How could you design a trap to catch, tag and release the marine creature safely?)
- Creative writing based around some of the rich underwater environments that the creature swims through.
- Discussions around GPS and GIS and how it’s used.
- Discussions around why it’s important to track marine life in the first place.
- Other ideas?...
This is fantastic Ollie! I've just started playing with the new version, and this is a wonderful feature. (BTW, it took me a while to realise that the terrain level needs to be turned on to go underwater).
Re activities:
Write a speech for the marine animal as he travels through the water. Record it on the class computer and play it back as the creature swims through the water.
Take screenshots of the water and add to the IWB. Add other underwater animals for storytelling.
Numeracy: Pause at interesting water features (e.g. canyons) and take a screen shot) to the IWB. Then order the screenshots from deepest to shallowest by looking at the negative numbers on the elevation scale.
Great blog, thanks Ollie!
Posted by: Rosie MacAlpine | February 04, 2009 at 06:36 AM