Activities: Fall Migration
What is Google Earth? Google Earth is a free software tool developed to help people explore the world using satellite imagery. If you want to use Google Earth, you’ll need a computer and an internet connection. You can download the software for free from the Google website (Click here to download the software to your computer).
How do I use Google Earth? Google has great tutorials on how to use the software right on their website. Click here for an online tour of how to use Google Earth.
How do I use the location data files? Once you have Google Earth installed on your computer, simply click on the weekly location data file (.kmz) to open it in Google Earth. When the file opens, the software will zoom to northeastern Russia and you will see different colored thumbtacks that represent the banded cranes and their locations (each color represents a different crane). Each point also includes the date for when the crane was at each location.
You can explore the data by double clicking on a thumbtack to zoom closer to that data point. You also can use the scroll wheel on your mouse or the zoom tools on the upper right of your screen in Google Earth to get in closer or zoom out.
Cool Stuff! There are some cool tools you can use in Google Earth:
Measure Distances
There is a tool on the Google Earth tool bar that looks a bit like a ruler. This tool lets you measure the distance between two or more points. This is great for measuring how far the birds travel during a week, between a couple of days, or during the entire migration. Click here to view Google’s instructions on using the measuring tool.
Printing
You can use the print tool to print the maps for student handouts or as an overhead to use in class. Look for the print button on the tool bar (it looks like a printer), or click on "Print" under the “File” menu.