Educational Origami

Google Earth is a great entry level GIS tool (GIS geographical Information system)

The basic download (which is available from http://earth.google.com) will allow the user:

• to navigate the globe
• switch easily between map and satelite views
• manipulate layers which overlay infrastructure, roads, etc or areas of social significence
• and more (See the tutorial)

But there is far more tham this available. You can develop your own resources in KML format and share these with colleagues. One of these sharing resources is a mashup between the CIA factbook and google earth maps. This is a good resource and one that will bring statistics and facts to life. http://www.kmlfactbook.org/

This is a screen shot of School Life Expectency. This can be previewed in the browser (as seen here) or downloaded as a KML file.

The statisitcs available are in the following categories:

• People
• Economics
• Transport
• Military
• Geography
• Government
• Communication