Google Earth For Dummies

by David A. Crowder

Overview

• This interesting guide covers all aspects of Google Earth, the freely downloadable application from Google that allows users to view satellite images from all points of the globe
• Aimed at a diverse audience, including casual users who enjoy air shots of locales as well as geographers, real estate professionals, and GPS developers
• Includes valuable tips on various customizations that users can add, advice on setting up scavenger hunts, and guidance on using Google Earth to benefit a business
• Explains modifying general options, managing the layer and placemark systems, and tackling some of the more technical aspects, such as interfacing with GPS
• There are more than 400,000 registered users of Google Earth and the number is still growing

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781118051115
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	02/09/2011
Series:	For Dummies Books
Sold by:	JOHN WILEY & SONS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	368
File size:	45 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

David A. Crowder has authored or coauthored more than 25 books, including the bestsellers Building a Web Site For Dummies and Cliffs Notes Getting on the Internet. His two most recent books were both listed as essential for all library collections by the magazine Library Journal.
Professor Crowder is equally at home with high technology or with working his way through the backcountry on horseback or in a dugout canoe. When he is not writing, he spends his time with his wife Angela, wandering through villages in the Andes or frolicking in the Caribbean surf.

Read an Excerpt

Click to read or download

Table of Contents

Introduction.

Part I: Getting to Know Google Earth.

Chapter 1: The Earth According to Google.

Chapter 2: Finding Businesses, Places, and Things.

Chapter 3: Adjusting Your View on the World.

Part II: Personalizing Google Earth.

Chapter 4: Fine-Tuning the Program.

Chapter 5: Adding Layers and Points of Interest (POIs).

Chapter 6: Pinning Down Placemarks.

Part III: Becoming a Cybertourist.

Chapter 7: Going on Tour.

Chapter 8: Mingling with the Community.

Chapter 9: Importing Data and Images.

Chapter 10: KML: It’s Sorta Like HTML.

Part IV: Advanced Features.

Chapter 11: Designing with Google SketchUp.

Chapter 12: Designing with Google SketchUp, Part 2.

Chapter 13: Creating Polygons and Other Complex Structures.

Chapter 14: Digging Deeper with Google SketchUp.

Part V: The Part of Tens.

Chapter 15: Ten Great Places to Get Coordinates.

Chapter 16: Ten Reliable Sources for Data Files.

Chapter 17: Ten Cool Tools.

Part VI: Appendixes.

Appendix A: Glossary.

Appendix B: Default Content of the All Layers Pane.

Appendix C: Latitudes and Longitudes of Major Landmarks.

Index.

Editorial Reviews

The Barnes & Noble Review
Some 12 million users have downloaded the Google Earth. But, until now, most books about Google Earth have been written primarily for just a small percentage of them: highly technical folks. Google Earth for Dummies is for everyone, from hobbyists to business professionals. And if you get so intrigued by Google Earth that you'd like to do some customization and programming, it'll jump-start you there, too.

David Crowder quickly gets you comfortable with the software. He teaches all the basics: how to find your house and the nearest electronics store; what Layers are and why you care; what you might want to do with Google Earth as an individual or a businessperson.

Next, you'll learn how to fine-tune the software, add points of interest, and create shareable "placemarks" for your favorite places. There's a full chapter on "tours," which let you show several locations in relationship to each other (great for everything from travel planning to checking out war zones).

This book connects you with a whole world of people who are passionate about Google Earth. You'll meet the Google Earth community, then discover an enormous library of Google Earth–compatible geographical resources that are now available online, inexpensively or free.

Speaking of money, most of this book applies to all versions of Google Earth, free and paid. But Crowder also covers some advanced capabilities available only on Google Earth Plus or Pro: for instance, interfaces with GPS devices. You'll even find two chapters on SketchUp, Google's now-free tool for creating your own 3D models and plunking them right into Google Earth. Bill Camarda, from the February 2007 Read Only