Google Earth Visuals

Kevin Borg

The first presentation on the Google Earth and Geospatial Projects on the Shenandoah Valley was by Kevin Borg from the history department. Kevin used Google Earth to show the current view of the Harrisonburg area. This visual accurately represents how Harrisonburg currently looks. He also had a collection of historical maps from the Harrisonburg area in 1912. He scanned these maps so they were digital files and used computer software to align the historical landmarks and structures to the ones still existing. When Kevin presented what he had done the historical maps were laid over the Google Earth view. Both views were in the same scale and so when you zoomed in or out they would both change equally. He could also change to opacity of the of the historical map images so you can see the both the Google earth and the historical map or just the Google Earth view. This visual showed what structures or landmarks were present in 1912 and are still there and what has changed. 

The visuals in the presentation where digital files on the computer. Since there was a large audience and not everyone could see the computer screen a projector was used so everyone could see. The quality of the image is usually not as good on the projector as it would have been on the computer screen but it allowed everyone to see it so sacrificing quality was a good. The projector used was pretty good so from my perspective from the back of the room the visuals appeared to come out pretty clear. In this presentation the visuals changed my understanding of the subject. If the visuals were not present I would have had no idea what the person was talking about. Kevin would talk about what he did to create the visual and why it was important and the significance of what he did as he was showing it on the screen. If he did not use the visuals I would have been completely lost because I did not know a lot of the terminology he used.  

One term the presenter used pertaining to visuals that I did not know was rubberize. He said that he rubberized the image so he could stretch the corners to make the objects on the historical map line up with current projections on Google Earth.

Steve Whitmyer

The second presentation was similar to the first one in that Google Earth was used and other images were placed on top to show how things pertain to that area. Steve Whitmeyer was the speaker on this part of the presentation and he was from the Geology and Earth Sciences department. Steve used geological maps and put them over the Google Earth image to show soil and rock compositions of different areas. This visual is an accurate representation of the area. But it also included colors to represent different types of rocks or soil. The rocks are not really these colors but an analogy to show that they are different types. In this presentation there were more different things that you could change and as you zoomed into and area the more details that were presented. He also added links into the visual image so you can click on a spot and get more information about the kind of rock or you would be sent to a website for additional information. One thing that showed in this presentation that was not in the other one was the view from ground level. Sometimes it is difficult to see geological cites such as mountains looking straight down. But if you change the view so you can see it horizontally you can get a better understanding of what you are looking at. The presenter said that this tool can be helpful for builders so they can see what types of soil and rocks they are building on so they can better know what course of action to take when building. 

Like the other presentation the visuals were displayed via projector that allowed everyone in the audience to see. Talked about what he was doing as he changed the visuals on the screen. This was helpful because even though he was using scientific terms that I did not understand I could see the screen and have an idea of what he was talking about.