Place-Based Interdisciplinary Projects
Steve BeckelhimerJune Harless Center for Rural Educational Research & Development
Mike LittleIntegrated Science & Technology
Marshall University – Huntington, WV
Presented to the West Virginia Environmental Education
Association
March 13, 2010Harper’s Ferry, WV
Goals
• Students should develop a pride in their place• Science, mathematics, and other content
should be integrated in the students’ place• Students should collect information, organize
it and prepare it for use by others• Appropriate technology and communication
skills should be used to share data
Work Flow
• Students use GPS receivers to collect location data from study sites.
• They mark the site as a waypoint
Image Data• Students take snapshots of the area with
inexpensive digital cameras• The image date and time are recorded on paper
along with the name of the GPS waypoint
Environmental Data
• Students can collect any appropriate environmental data from the site
• The data should be recorded with the location name as well as the date and time.
Hardware
• Garmin eTrex Venture Hc GPS receivers are used for their simplicity and durability ($130)
• RCA Small Wonder or Aiptek video cameras take quality photos and video at a low price ($110)
• Vernier LabQuest units provide a professional workflow, versitility and useability ($300)
Software
We use free open source software whenever possible–Google Earth–GPS Trackmaker–Quantum GIS–DNR Garmin–Picasa
Practice
• If you will make certain that your notebook computers are powered on and connected to the network, we will make a few points and follow a workflow similar to the data entry following fieldwork data collection.
Google Earth
• Go to http://earth.google.com• Download and install Google Earth
Make certain to uncheck this box.
Agree to the terms of use and download
Launch Google Earth
• After Google Earth has installed, launch the program.
• Connection to the Internet is required since most of the displayed information is not stored on your computer but is downloaded as needed.
• The installation will place an icon for Google Earth on your desktop
Configure Google Earth
• Choose Options from the Tools menu
Choose the default Lat/Long setting to be Degrees and Decimal Minutes
Click the OK button to continue
In the Layers Palate, uncheck everything except Roads and Borders and Labels
Entering Data
• Minimize Google Earth (don’t close)• Start Internet Explorer • Go to http://www.marshall.edu/AMSP• Take the link to presentations• Find the link to the WVEEA Conference• Open the document for GPS locations
Basic Placemarks
• Switch back to Google Earth and make a placemark by clicking the pushpin icon in the top row
This will open up a dialog box for the placemark.
Give the placemark a name from the data file that you opened from the website.
Enter the latitude and longitude from the same data file.
Describe the area using correct grammar and spelling.
When you have finished describing the area, click the OK button.
Checking the Placemark
• The placemark that you just created should show up as a pushpin on the map
Use the slider to zoom in on the pushpin
The hand tool can be used to drag the pin back to the center of the screen
The place you just created should also show up the Places palate on the left side of your screen in the My Places folder
Click on the pushpin or the name in the Places palate
The Placemark should pop up
The placemark name appears at the top in bold
The body of the placemark is the descriptive text that you entered
Enhancing Placemarks
• Right click on the pushpin or the placemark name in the Places palate
• Choose Properties from the menu
The placemark entry box should open.
Click the pin icon in the upper right of the dialog box
Choose an icon that is more appropriate than the generic pin
Click in the color area to change the color of the icon
Choose one of the basic colors
or blend your own color
Click OK when you are finished
The size (scale) of the icon can be changed as can the opacity although it is not recommended.
Click OK when you are finished
Click OK again to confirm your edits
Adding image data to a placemark
• If you have images in a web accessible area through a site like Flickr, Photobucket or Picasa, you can have that image appear in your placemark
• This example will use Picasa as a location for storing and accessing photos
Open Picasa Webalbum
Go to http://picasaweb.google.com/WVTraining
Click the Sign in Link in the upper right corner.
In this example, use the Email: WVTraining and the password, Marshall
Click the Sign in button
Click on the WVEEA album to see the images that have been uploaded for this conference
Click the image of the flag tree to see it larger
A larger view of the image should open showing the flag tree
Click “Link to this Photo”
Make the image size “Medium”
Right click “Embed Image ” and choose “Copy”
Inserting the Image in the Placemark
Right click the placemark name in the My Places
palate or on the map icon and choose “Properties”.
In the Description area of your placemark properties, enter the code <p> to skip to the next line.
Right click below the code you just entered and choose “Paste”
A lot of code should have been pasted into your placemark description. This links to the image in your Picasa webalbum.
Click OK to close the dialog box.
Previewing the placemark
Click the pushpin on the map or on the name of the placemark in the Places palate to see how the placemark looks
The placemark should open showing the text you entered and your image.
Click the X to close the placemark box
Adding more images to the Placemark
• You can have more than one image for the placemark by using the same techniques as before
• If you have multiple images, both should come from the same location (lat/long)
• Too many images may distract from your text
• Open the placemark properties and put a <p> below the previous image’s link
• Copy a link to another photo in the same way as before and paste the link below the <p> code
Click OK to close the dialog box.
Enter Data about the placemark
• In addition to text, you can enter data about a placemark.
• Students can record any number of environmental variables and be able to post that data in the description of their placemarks
• Students may color code pushpins for data ranges
Enter additional placemarks
• Return to the data sheet and locate additional site and create placemarks for them.
• Each of these additional placemarks will be an entry in your “My Places” folder
Saving and sharing
• Placemarks can be saved to your computer as a common file type to be shared with others
• To save ALL placemarks, make sure there is a check in the box to the left of each placemark’s icon
Right click on the My Places folder and choose “Save
Place As. . . “ from the dropdown menu.
If you click on one placemark and choose “Save Place As. . .” only that one placemark will be saved.
Browse to the location where the file is to be saved
Give the file a name other than “My Places”
Change the file type to kml which is the most universal Click the Save button
to continue
Note that kml files are very small since they do not contain the images, only links to the images.These kml files can be emailed to anyone who can then see your locations, data, descriptions and images in one place.
For more information
• All handouts are available for download and free use at: http://www.marshall.edu/AMSP
• Additional GPS/GIS information can be found at: http://gis.marshall.edu
• You may contact Mike Little at [email protected] or Steve Beckelhimer at [email protected]
Supporters