Google Earth Web Resources
Recommended Google Earth Addons
Google Earth
This is the place to find the Google Earth software itself. The software will run on Mac OSX (10.3.9 or later) or Windows just fine, even with machines a few years old. I was able to use the software even on 500Mhz computers (although it was a little slow). It does require a broadband Internet connection (which schools have), and will not work well at all over dialup Internet. There are a number of paid levels of the software, but the most noteworthy feature the $20.00 subscription will buy you is the ability to interface Google Earth with handheld GPS devices (Garman and Magellan only).
Most Recent Files
Google Earth Lessons
Definitely the best site for using Google Earth as a teaching tool! The site has a whole section of 'how-to' guides for using Google Earth (using placemarks, overlays, etc.), most of them with video. Probably more useful, however, are the numerous links to lessons and lessons plans using Google Earth submitted by teachers from a wide variety of grade levels and subject areas. The lessons are broken down into 'student controlled' and 'teacher controlled'. Many of the lessons include resources other than just Google Earth, often video clips, documents, or presentations. The site also contains a forum for discussing Google Earth as a teaching tool.
Google Earth Hacks
The best source for add-on files for Google Earth! You can find just about any add-on for Google Earth you can imagine here, from the position of every meteor impact on earth, to overlays of current traffic patterns in a major city, to five day weather forecasts worldwide. Click on 'file downloads' from the menu to get to the files, broken down into convenient categories. Add-ons are very easy to install, in fact many of them will install automatically when you click in the link! If the file doesn't cause Google Earth to open automatically, and instead downloads the file to your computer, the process is still easy. Just open Google Earth, move the window (or hide the program) until you see the file you want to add, and drag and drop it onto the window or application.
Google Ocean
A site devoted to the use of Google Earth as a marine data exploration tool. It contains nine seperate categories of Google Earth add-ons, including tide predictions, surf reports, ocean temperature overlays, and a large list of links to other sites with Google Earth marine add-ons.
Juicy Geography
juicygeography.co.uk/googleearth.htm
A Google Earth resource site specifically geared toward teaching Geography. It has listings of lesson ideas, classroom tips, and favorite downloads for teaching Geography. It also has information and links for using the program SketchUp, a tool for creating 3D models for inclusion in Google Earth. The author has also created a number of 'Google Tours', collections of Placemarks (some with added images) for teaching about specific geographic features.
Google Earth Community
A very active online forum for discussing and sharing ideas about Google Earth. If you are looking to use Google Earth in a specific way, you can be sure that someone out there in the community has done it before you and probably has posted about it. Although there are plenty of Google Earth add-ons to be found here too, this is probably the best place for finding the answers to tricky Google Earth questions.