I had used Google Earth last year. I just played around with it more than anything else. I had never used Google Maps before working on this module. Having at least seen Earth, that is the assignment I started first. It became easier to edit the place marks as I went along. I struggled with the syntax to include a photo. I found it easier to include a photo in Maps, especially using the edit in rich text format. Earth allows you to create a tour whereas Map does not. At least, I have not found one yet. I could open my map in Earth, and it did create a kmz file for me. Maps is accessible through the internet as opposed to Earth which is a program that must be downloaded to your computer. That was another issue. I could not load the latest version of Earth on my computer at school. I was able to download an earlier version, once I found it.
I can’t really say which of these I preferred, both have their benefits and ease of use for different things. Some students would probably prefer Earth while others would rather use Maps. Go figure, students are individuals! Using Earth would allow for measurements to be taken. I didn’t find a way to do that with Maps. Of course, one could create an individual map and then open it in Earth.
One activity that might be interesting is planning a trip. Students could use Earth to measure distances from one location to another. Then we could calculate approximate driving time. Then we could use Maps and compare our results with Google. Lots of time could be spent looking for food stops and hotel locations as well. I might need to teach about budgeting as well. Interesting thoughts.
