Content in Context :: Place and Time :: Google Earth

ABOVE: modernism map mashup - A screenshot of Google Earth incorporating 1) data from the SEAA and NOPL 2) gathered by the Regional Modernism class in 2008 3) uploaded to GeoCommons and 4) layered over Norman's Chart of the Lower Mississippi by A. Persac, 1858 courtesy of David Rumsey Historical Maps.

Last week I was in Toronto participating in the Visual Resources Association annual meeting. I presented on NeoGeography and Pedagogy as part of the Engaging New Technologies Session. Hope to get the powerpoint edited with proper links and uploaded to slideshare soon. My presentation focused on some of the ways one can use Google Earth to explore architecture in context.

Recent content and functional additions to Google Earth enrich the exploration of place at different points in time. We can explore place through user-contributed photos (Panoramio) and panoramas (360Cities) as well as Google-created street level panoramas (Street View). The Panoramio / Street View mashup in Google Maps is gorgeous. It presents an index of thumbnails of Panoramio photos that are mapped to the same Street View location. Superb! One can explore contemporary perceptions of ancient Rome through the University of Virginia's Ancient Rome 3D gallery. If the cool reconstructions leave you longing for the romance of ruins, turn on the 360Cities layer and tour the interior of the Colosseum. Or take a trip to Venice and glide from one panorama to the next, a virtual tour reminding us that monuments do not exist in isolation. Engaging the Historical Imagery function allows one to select the satellite view from different dates according to available imagery. This is an invaluable tool for those of us involved in the mapping of the recovery of the city of New Orleans. Turn on the Rumsey Historical Maps layer and you can select a historic basemap. I would love to see more maps of New Orleans available as base layers, especially the Robinson Atlas of 1883.

I have a number of ideas of how I'd like to see the Google Earth developed in the future - but will save those thoughts for the next post.

DOCOMOMO New Orleans map

DOCOMOMO New Orleans map, originally uploaded by regional.modernism.

This map was created with Loc.alize.us. It shows some of the buildings which DOCOMOMO Louisiana intends to submit to the national registry.

Loc.alize.us + Flickr

Loc.alize.us + Flickr, originally uploaded by regional.modernism.

Loc.alize.us is a "bookmarklet" that you can add to your bookmarks toolbar. Then, when you click on it when you are in one of your flickr photo windows.
Presto! map interface.
Click: search place
Enter: location
That's it. Your photo is geotagged and on your fickr map. It is also accessible in the loc.alize.us map which can be embedded in a website.

I found out about this cool tool in the GeoTagging Flickr group forum. go to:
loc.alize.us - All Our Flickr Photos on Google Maps!

NOVA.tulane.edu

Ponchartrain Expressway (1958), originally uploaded by regional.modernism.

The Tulane School of Architecture is pleased to announce the presence of the New Orleans Virtual Archive online. This project was conceived during the Exodus of 2005. In June of 2006 we were awarded a generous grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts to preserve and create universal access to our slide collection of New Orleans. Nearly 3000 slides that were taken by faculty, staff and students over the past sixty years have now been digitized and catalogued in LUNA.

Special thanks our partners at Tulane Technology Services who have provided server support and to all who have contributed to this collection.

http://NOVA.tulane.edu