Slashgeo

GeoPlace links to small announcement from the US's National Research Council urging educators to teach K-12 students to think spatially, using geographic information systems. From the United Press International article: "Because geographic information systems are designed for use by scientists and are too complex for classroom use, the NRC report urges the use of GIS software specifically designed to meet the needs of elementary and secondary teachers and students."

The AnyGeo blog links to GeoJunior, a geomagazine and website for children. From their about page: "[...] it is essential that we create a portal of self-learning for the children of the country, linking geography and spatial sense to their upbringing. In other words, earth science in the broader sense should work like a language to their knowledge base. Besides these, there is an intense social opportunity with the elders to transfer knowledge on earth science to children."

Google made the geoheadlines again today. First they announced a new layer featuring the beautiful work of Yann Arthus-Bertrand named "Earth From Above". Second, they announced 8 new cities with Street View: "Check out full spherical views of Boston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Indianapolis, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Detroit, and Providence.", but in the same announcement, they also announced the possibility to embed panoramas in any website: "You can take any Street View panorama visible in Google Maps and embed it in your website or blog with a few simple steps. The panorama works just like it does in Google Maps, allowing visitors to your site to pan, zoom, and move between panoramas as they travel down a street." This is a nice new feature. Ed Parsons discuss a new set of resources for educators: "Google in the UK this week announced a set of resources for use by teachers and many of them make use of Maps and Google Earth. These resources include lesson plans and links to additional resources which are really useful for Teachers, and potentially something you as a geospatial professional could offer to help out with at your children’s school." And APB links to a BBC article on the latter. Finally, the Free Geography Tools website links to a text editor with KML validation. A few related previous stories copied below.

The official Google Lat Long blog informs us about 5 new video tutorials: "These short clips (there are 5 total) will walk you through some of the most popular features in Google Earth. Whether it's navigating, searching, marking locations, obtaining coordinates, or geotagging photos, you'll be able to get started in no time at all. More videos are in the works, and, of course, the Google Earth User Guide is also a great training resource." This isn't the first time we cover GE tutorials, see related stories below.

Very Spatial shares an overview of the KidsGIS.org project. From their mission statement: "Provide an intuitive environmental geospatial portals for kids of all ages, based on open source software, open exchange formats and industry standards data models - and core support centers to assure sustainability and continual growth." In our Education section, you'll find more tools and websites, but few are specifically targeting kids. See also selected related stories below.