UA Geography offers “Lunch on Earth”

John Bailey in the globe room at UAF's Geophysical Institute

For a brown bag lunch workshop that will really take you places, nothing tops the new series, “Lunch on Earth,” offered by UA Geography and the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center.

Post-doctoral fellow John Bailey launched the first session on Feb. 10 with rousing Star Wars theme music, guiding the audience through an introduction to Google Earth. “You don’t need a degree in computer science to understand this,” Bailey told the crowd. “Google is user friendly.” The interactive workshops are designed to build a user community and share expertise, Bailey said.

When Bailey asked what is the most popular use of Google Earth, several people called out “looking at your neighbor’s houses,” and Bailey agreed that 90 percent of usage is actually for that purpose. “There’s nothing wrong with that,” he said, “if it gives people a better sense of geography.”

Google Earth was founded in 2001 by Keyhole and acquired by Google in 2004. The next year it gained mass appeal due to Hurricane Katrina. In addition to allowing people to check on the damage caused by the storm, Google Earth was a great help to emergency crews. Google Earth uses keyhole markup language (KML). “What html is to the web, KML is to Google Earth,” Bailey said.

The new version 5 offers negative elevations for oceans, complete with imagery. Demonstrating a flight into Hawaii, Bailey noted that the Google Earth ocean shimmers just like a real ocean. “You can even go under the surface,” he said. “Now this if fun.” He demonstrated exploring content with the tool Blue Planet. New updates include improved time and animation features.

The original version of Google Earth is free to everyone, while Google Earth Pro is $400 a year and Google Earth Enterprise is so expensive that if you have to ask you can’t afford it, Bailey joked. Newer versions even feature a Mars option.

“Think of the educational possibilities,” Bailey said. “Classrooms can tour Alaska volcanoes, zoom around Cook Inlet, and show tsunami hazards. The options are endless.”

Geophysical Institute Professor Kenneson Dean said he likes the lunch workshop because professors can learn about Google Earth alongside students and staff. “There’s no pressure to do homework or assignments,” he said. “I like that it’s open to the public and we can present what we do at the university to the public. It’s what Google Earth is about; it’s a microcosm of Google concepts.”

UA Geography Director Mike Sfraga said the workshops are a conscious effort to share the expertise of the program with the rest of the campus and the community. “Brown bagging is a nice forum to demonstrate what we do. We are showing geography tools that will take us into the next century,” he said.

In weekly seminars, Lunch on Earth is designed to bring together members of the UAF community interested in Google Earth, KML, and other Web 2.0 geospatial tools. Seminars will be presented by Dr. John E. Bailey in the appropriate setting of the Globe Room at the Geophysical Institute, west ridge of the campus. Attendees are encouraged to bring questions, KML problems, and their lunch. The schedule extends through the end of April.

Addendum: the next Lunch on Earth seminar is "KML's Magical Mystery Tour", a guide to using GE 5's new "tour" function. Learn how to record flights over the landscape, add sound, turn KML features on and off, and even view your tour from different perspectives.

Date: Friday, February 20th
Time: 12 to 1
Location: The Globe Room, Geophysical Institute, West Ridge, UAF campus