Week 12: Google Earth

This weeks assignment was to generate a map using Google Earth.  This required first using the Map to KML tool in ArcMap, then loading this newly created file in Google Earth.  Google Earth is an open-source GIS in which users can create and easily share maps.  Here, Google Earth was used to re-create a map that was produced in a previous lab, then use the Tour function to highlight certain points of interest. The points of interest were major areas of high population density (i.e. Cities).  I chose to use my own Data Layer from the Dot Mapping Lab.

The Tour function in Google Earth may be useful during presentations in which the speaker is presenting spatial data, or explaining spatial patterns.  The audience would be able to easily visualize the landscape.  Another useful aspect of Google Earth is the ability to share maps over the internet.  Sharing ArcGIS (.mxd) files is often a difficult, or at least time-consuming, process.  Other users are required to have the layer or FGDB files for the map to be editable in a meaningful way.  In Google Earth, editable files can be shared or even edited simultaneously, thus providing ease of use between multiple users.  However, Google Earth is limited in its spatial analysis abilities.