Street View Google UK

Here is the text of the statement that I provided to Google UK for the launch of Google Street View UK

Seems a shame to waste it, so here it is reproduced:

The launch of Google Earth in 2005 brought the earth into geography classrooms in a way that instantly attracted the attention of students. It allowed exploration of familiar and unfamiliar places, and helped students appreciate the interconnectedness of the world. They could ‘fly’ to distant countries in seconds, but also zoom in for remarkable detail on local geographies. Geography teachers quickly realised that by attaching text and images to place-marks and linking them into tours, that Google Earth offered a whole new way of mapping the planet.

Google Street View now adds a new dimension to Google Earth, with the opportunity to create an immersive urban experience for students. Virtual fieldwork is a growing area within geography, and although ‘a virtual fieldtrip is like a virtual pint of beer’ in comparison with real personal experience, few students will have the opportunity to physically roam the streets of major world cities in the way that Street View allows them to.

Some initial thoughts on the use of Street View

• a)      risk assessments of urban fieldtrips
  
• b)       land use identification and ‘clone town’ surveys
  
• c)       building density and house types and ages can be explored and mapped
  
• d)      identification of redevelopment sites and possible sites for designated activities
  
• e)      'treasure hunt' style activities - matching activity with locations, or finding a particular person: a global ‘Where’s Wally’...
  
• f)       school catchment studies
  
• g)      'pedestrian counts' or other numeracy based activities
  
• h)      Decision Making Exercises – gathering evidence for submissions or proposals for locations and change
  
• i)        Attaching sounds to make virtual street scenes, or comparing with videos such as Dan Raven Ellison’s ‘Urban Earth’
  
• j)        Using them to explore changing High Streets as the credit crunch bites
  
• k)      Comparison between cities in different parts of the world, to consider cultural differences, and the march of globalisation
  
• l)        Comparing the images with the statistics
  

Historical images slider: if this was eventually to be added – although that would mean sending the cars round again – then changes could be explored.

These are only initial thoughts, but the real action will begin when the current cohort of creative and ICT literate geography teachers get their hands on Street View and start to explore the possibilities further, with their students. The outcomes of this will, I am sure, all be publicised on the blogs that track the latest on Google Earth and Google Maps.

The geography curriculum offers numerous opportunities for the virtual urban explorations that Street View makes possible.