"Google Flight School"
WVSTA 2009
Glade Springs
Firstly, let me emphasize that the SMART-Center is
primarily focused on "hands on" learning. We always strive
to use off the shelf or easily available components.
This activity uses
free and or inexpensive software, and some common peripheral equipment
to do the following:
Utilizing some
excellent new features in Google Earth 5.0, you can fly anywhere you
wish on the planet Earth. You can also "fly" under the oceans, as if
you were in a futuristic submarine. These flight simulator capabilities
are also available on the planet Mars, and the Moon. Flight
simulator will work with
your mouse, but is best experienced with a joystick. Likely, multiple
students in your class are quite familiar with gaming and joysticks.
This is a good opportunity for them to share their experience and
equipment.
Google Earth provides excellent tutorials and directions for all its
features, below are links to help you get started. All are on the
Google Earth pages.
Your first step is to download the
latest version of Google Earth using the link below. Use
the installion of the software as a learning opportunity. Pay attention
to the choices on the download page, as they would like you to install
"chrome and google earth". You just want to install "earth".
You can take some time to become familiar with the flight simulator
feature by following the links, or jump right in exploring by going to
"tools" then click on enter "flight simulator". You can use the
flight simulator feature with just your mouse or touchpad, but it is
clumsy compared to using a joystick. Plug in your joystick before you
open Google Earth so that it recognizes it. You will see "joystick
enabled" when you enter flight simulator and choose your airplane. The
flight simulator guide will get you up to speed on which key strokes
affect your flight... H turns heads up display on and off, F gives more
flaps, Shift-F removes flaps, G is for landing gear, arrow keys
up and down are for thrust, arrow keys left and right are aileron
controls, etc. You will likely come to see that using a joystick and
accessing your "kinesthetic intelligence" will usually be the best
strategy. A couple of great flights on Earth are buzzing Mount
Saint Helens or flying up the Grand Canyon. It is always fun to type
your own address into Google Earth and fly over your neighborhood.
You travel to planet Mars, or to the Moon by clicking the image of
Saturn in the menu bar, and selecting (choice of Earth Sky Mars
Moon) The
features of flight simulator work on Mars or the Moon, and are
even more
fun. There are excellent graphics available. Try entering "Victoria
Crater into" the "go to" box to get started. When you become a good
enough pilot to land on, you can use your craft as a rover by
controlling the speed and your wheel brakes. After "roving" you can
increase thrust and take off again to explore further. Why not visit
Cabeus Crater on the Moon and see where NASA crashed to search for
water.
Recording your explorations and making
a video: Though
we are primarily Mac advocates, there is no question that the Logitech
3D Extreme joystick is configured for and works better on PC equipment.
In addition, of the two video choices we tried, Mac plus MacVCR
software, and Windows based PC plus Frap (available from FRAPS.com) the
latter combination worked best. You can drag your 30 second video clips
done with FRAPS into Windows Moviemaker and star in your own flight
videos.
This activity is meant to get you started. I would hope you will
discover some great ways to use the "Fly Google and capture video"
strategy and share it with us.
Richard J. Pollack e-mail me at this address
energy@smartcenter.org
Google Earth Download
Flight Simulator,
Submarine,
and Mars Plane
http://earth.google.com/intl/en/userguide/v5/ug_flightsim.html
Google Mars… one of
the best
new things going.
(be among the
second to land
on mars)
http://earth.google.com/mars/index.html
Google Moon... newest off planet adventure.
http://earth.google.com/moon/index.html
Starting
point for acquiring USB Joystick... (Logitech 3D Extreme is a good
choice for PC)
Google SketchUp
Build a doghouse, download a mansion... and a dog.
My son's
recommended
software: free version allows for 30 second clips, can be edited in
MovieMaker, which is included in Windows XP and
Vista
Windows Systems
Video capture
software
http://www.fraps.com/download.php
Mac
OSX video capture including AAC+ codec