Google Street View

In the last few days Google Street View seems to have had a massive update, the results of which mean that nearly every road in the UK is now covered by its impressive 360-degree panoramas.

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The first time I tried Street View, I began by seeing what my house looks like and trying to work out when the Google car took the photo. After that, I then went and had a look at my local town, my school and then moved further afield by going to various places I've been to on holiday. Pretty soon it then dawned on me how amazing this tool actually is.

I can only begin to imagine the vast range of educational opportunities this could provide within a classroom:

• comparing settlements (village/town/city);
• looking for safe places to cross the road (e.g. zebra/pelican crossings);
• online treasure hunts (e.g. challenge children to find a particular building);
• observing architecture on buildings (e.g. cathedrals);
• identifying naturally-occuring features in the landscape (e.g. meanders, beaches etc.);
• spotting shapes in the local environment (e.g. road markings/railings/signs etc.);
• using panoramas as stimuli for story writing.

I'm sure there are many more ideas and I'd love it if you could share any you think of by submitting them as comments below.

Comments

[Melanie Hutchinson]

I agree- so many possibilities! Let me add:
- previewing a journey the class is going to take for a trip
- during a study of maps- comparing paper maps, mapping your journey to school
- comparing neighborhoods in different countries- especially if you are connecting with other schools
- following locations in a book you are reading
- surveying neighborhoods to see what they have (needs and wants)

[Kevin McLaughlin]

I too did the same as yourself and checked out my house, my mum's house and then friends houses before exploring my school and the immediate area. The scope for use in class is immense and such a tool needs to be promoted by not just the ICT coordinators in schools but by everyone.
As you have pointed out, there are not only geographic possibilities but also historical, mathematical, science based, RE, art; all areas of the curriculum can benefit from the use of Google Maps street view. I'm looking forward to exploring the possibilities with my own class and letting everyone in school know about it on Monday.

[Caroline Breyley]

I used it last year when older children went to Edinburgh for a residential trip as most had never been to a city before and it helped prepare them in a way that just talking about it couldn't.
I'm really excited now that we nave a street view too and can see lots of potential for using it in many ways. It will be great to share it with people that we work with who are not in Shetland so they can see that its as wonderful as we say! I'm going to start by getting them to work out when the pictures might have been taken as there are lots of clues - will test their powers of observation!
Thanks so much for letting me know the car had been.

[Alan Parkinson]

A useful post. Some nicely geographical ideas here. Will add a mention to a post I'm doing for my Living Geography blog http://livinggeography.blogspot.com
Cheers
@GeoBlogs

[Rainbowlaydee]

I navigated daughter#2 around Bristol on a Uni visit last year using streetview and the phone. She even got to Temple Meads station in time for the train. I just checked some country lanes in E Sussex. Now I can go for a walk on a sunny day, without leaving home. However, the change of seasons between photos can be a bit bizaare

[sueemc]

I have used this in an iCT lesson altho it did get hijacked for a few minutes when one of the kids spotted themselves! We used it for routes to school and comparing houses - used some rightmove too.. It's great as an adhoc lesson (you know, when you oportunisatically sneak in..) as the kids will want to first explore all their family's homes first.

Some quite funny images on streetview - my husband spotted one of his colleagues rifling through his dustbin (apparently he'd thrown something away by mistake!).