Boulder, CO, USA – Learn about the application of Google Geo Tools to geoscience education and research through this new book from The Geological Society of America. Volume editors Steven Whitmeyer of James Madison University, John Bailey of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Declan De Paor of Old Dominion University, and Tina Ornduff of Google Inc. have brought together a massive collection of user-friendly technical information and illustrations for educators, geoscientists, and the interested general public.
The editors and individual chapter authors collectively synthesize the development of and current uses regarding Google Earth and associated visualization media in geoscience education and research. Chapters focus not only on Google Earth but on related tools, such as SketchUp, Google Fusion Tables, GigaPan, and LiDAR. Many of chapters include digital media that illustrate and highlight important themes of the text.
Senior editor Whitmeyer writes that this new addition to GSA's Penrose Conference Series "is intended to document the state of the art for geoscience applications of geobrowsers, such as Google Earth, along with providing provocative examples of where this technology is headed in the future."
Some of those provocative examples and intriguing surprises include chapters on "Google Venus," "Avatars and multi-student interactions in Google Earth-based virtual field experiences," and "Extreme dynamic mapping: Animals map themselves on the 'Cloud'."
Individual copies of this volume may be purchased through The Geological Society of America online bookstore, http://www.geosociety.org/bookstore/default.asp?oID=0&catID=9&pID=SPE492, or by contacting GSA Sales and Service, gsaservice@geosociety.org.
Book editors of earth science journals/publications may request a review copy by contacting April Leo, aleo@geosociety.org.
Google Earth and Virtual Visualizations in Geoscience Education and Research
Steven J. Whitmeyer, John E. Bailey, Declan G. De Paor, and Tina Ornduff (editors)
Geological Society of America Special Paper 492
SPE492, 488 p., $80.00; Member price $56.00
ISBN 978-0-8137-2492-8