Cloud layer at altitude

This layer shows satellite imagery of clouds from the University of Dundee's aggregation and is updated every three hours. To view in Google Earth, click here.

More information about this layer available here.

Historical data from global temperature stations

This KML by Ken Mankoff shows historical temperature trends from temperature stations around the world -- data is from the Goddard Institute's aggregation. To view this file in Google Earth, click here.

This KML represents a large amount of complex data, so please be sure to read these notes before using, and be ready for questions.

The stations are shown with a pin. The legend is:

• Airplane if the station is located at an airport, otherwise pin color is the temperature trend. Range is -0.5 to 0.5 deg/decade.
• Size is number of years of data. 25 through 130 years is pin size 1 through 2. Less than 25 years of data is pin size 0.5
• Opacity is inversely related to population of nearest city. Ruralstations are 100% opaque, city stations are 50% transparent.
  
• Clicking on a pin/airplane shows a graph and other data. The graph is of annual average temperature (*) with a 1st order line fit to the data. If the station is located outside the tropics then in addition the JJA and DJF data is plotted with a fit. The summer/winter plots are shown in red/blue respecitely (hemispheric dependent)
• In the station bubble with the plot there is also a link to the raw data.

An Inconvenient Truth map

Ken Mankoff, whom you all know and love, has made a great collaborative map to help audience members explore the world of An Inconvenient Truth. This is a great resource to send your audience home with. Take a look yourself, by clicking here (loads in Google Maps).

View Larger Map

The short version of this URL is http://tinyurl.com/27ogxq

Map content

This is the Google Maps content gallery, containing mapplets and maps other people have made. It is searchable with keywords.

Finding content for Google Earth and Google Maps

Find content for Google Earth and Google Maps at the KML Gallery, and mapplets for Google Maps in the Google Maps Gallery. The KML Gallery is now searchable as well -- search for terms like "sea level," or "climate change" to see content relevant to TCP.

You can also stay up to date on the latest KML content by adding the KML Gadget to your iGoogle. (What's iGoogle? Find out.)

Good places to find KML content

Google Earth Outreach: a collection of good KMLs from Google Earth's nonprofit arm.
Google Earth examples: an infrequently-updated list of Google Earth KML examples with significant sections on environment-focused KML.
Google Earth Blog: a blog covering developments in Google Earth as well as new and great KML content.

Mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia

A Google Earth KML showing the effects of several decades of mountaintop removal mining in Appalachia. To view, open Google Earth, and find the Appalachian Voices folder in the "Layers" panel. To learn more, see Appalachian Voices's case study.

World energy consumption, 2004

Visualization of world energy consumption (oil, gas, coal, nuclear, hydro-electric), based on data collected by GeoHive from individual statistics reporting agencies. To open in Google Earth, click here.

World bioregions

A Google Earth KML made by the World Wildlife Fund showing the 285 terrestrial ecoregions, data taken from UNEP's GEO Data Portal (2006).
To open in Google Earth, click here. To load individual ecoregions, check the ecoregion's box in Google Earth.

World oil consumption statistics

This is a Google Earth KML that shows, visually, world oil consumption data extracted from the CIA World Factbook. To open in Google Earth, click here. Unfortunately, no further information about data provenance is available at the moment.

Oil and gas drilling in the Upper Green River Valley

Extensive Google Earth KML showing historic oil drilling in the Upper Green River Valley. To open in Google Earth, click here. To find out more, visit Skytruth's website. Their video summary is also very powerful:

Edge of Existence: Zoological Society of London

KML file showing evolutionarily distinct species that are extremely endangered. To open this file in Google Earth, click here. More information available on the ZSL's site.

it's all coming soon

folks,

i'll be posting more stuff as soon as i get some time to pull it all together. thanks for your patience in the meantime.

this is intended to be a resource for using Google Earth and Google Maps to help support your story. if you are pretty savvy at this, perhaps you'd like to become a contributor to this blog. email me directly and we'll set it up.

Advanced KML

If you're ready to make KMLs that can be shared with other presenters, the tutorials on the Google Earth Outreach page are a great way to start.

Help?

There are several places to go for help with Earth and Maps:

• Helpcenter (like a manual): Maps, Earth
  
• Support group (a group of savvy users who can answer questions for you): Maps, Earth
• The Google Earth Community (a bulletin board full of content and advice)
  

Getting Google Maps

Google Maps is available in many languages and countries around the world, but not all of them. If you are based in the US or Canada, Google Maps will probably work well for you.

To use Google Maps, go to maps.google.com in your browser.

Most questions you'll have about using Google Maps will be answered in the Google Maps Help Center.