Google just can’t seem to take a day off. Google Earth, one of the most popular online tools in the classroom, now shows live weather. It does so by displaying preset animations over targeted areas. In other words, it looks like it’s raining over your city when it’s raining. The beauty of this is that the animations are not some hacked-together smiling sunshine. They’re actually based on the amount of rainfall, precipitation, wind speed, or other data from the particular area.
There’s also a radar function that is typically seen on your local TV stations, weather.com, etc.
This could be very helpful for helping students understand what weather is like in, say, China. For example, if you’re teaching geography or weather, you could ask your students to scour the Earth (literally, using Google Earth) for certain types of weather. If you’re doing a lesson on temperate climates, ask your students to find an example or ten around the Earth. Just like most online tools, this is an example where technology can be a helpful tool but of course not a replacement for a lesson.
A bit from Google about the new feature: This is a fun and useful tool for anyone planning to travel or who wants to check a specific area where a friend of relative might be visiting or living. For example, in preparation for my recent trip to the American southwest, I decided to check on the status of Hurricane Alex a few days in advance:
If you’re a Google Earth fan, do you think it will pay off to use the new weather features in the classroom? Want to know more? Just head over to the Official Google LatLong Blog
[...] Google Earth now shows live weather. This is a pretty cool augmented reality visualization of data. [via @kylepace] [...]