Using Google Earth to Tell Stories: Follow Muir

Here is a part of an installation I worked on at the Oakland Museum of California. On August 5, 2011, we opened a new show called "A Walk in the Wild: Continuing John Muir's Journey". One of the interactives that I worked on will allow visitors to virtually join Muir during his epic trek during the fall of 1873 to the top of Mount Whitney. It was called "Follow Muir" and it runs on top of Google Earth. The user interface for that presentation was being custom-built by Lawrence Dolton at ViewPoint Geography, but the data is going to be made available for everyone to download and use. The data was specifically built to run on both the personal computer and the tablet (iPad) versions of Google Earth. It'll work on an iPhone, but it may not be easy to use.

The tour consists of a series of "campsite" placemarks connected by purple (with horses) and yellow (on foot) paths. Most campsites include a pop-up balloon with Muir's journal notes and drawings, along with other additional info. There are also a series of "Fly-bys" which allow you to visually "follow Muir" on one of four peak ascents, as well as a number of "Sketchbook" photo-views which places Muir's sketches into the landscape - use the transparency slide here to help you see what Muir saw.

Here's how you can try it out ...

To download Google Earth for your PC or Mac, click here.

To download the data file for Google Earth on your PC or Mac, click here.

The iPad version does not include the "Fly-bys" or the "Sketchbooks", as these are not supported in the app - but you get everything else, sized for consumption on your tablet.

To add this data set to your iPad, do the following:

1. Get and login to a Google Account
2. Find the map data at this link
3. Click on "Save to my places".
4. Install Google Earth on your iPad
5. Click the "Layers" button in GE on your iPad
6. Login to "My Maps Account"
7. Select "John Muir Climbs Mt. Whitney"

Curious about Muir's journal? You can check out the whole thing here.

STEAM Engine

Our rallying cry for the new Science and Innovation Center has been STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math), and now the class has had the chance to stand at the confluence of a few of those subjects. Our physics teacher, Jon, has asked us to print out a few parts for a Stirling Cycle Engine - a highly efficient, closed-loop engine.

The class arranged the parts on the build plate in two sets - the first set pictured here; parts were downloaded from Thingiverse. You can clearly see the cylinder body along with other parts - the Stirling uses a "displacer" as well as a piston; the top of the displacer is the larger disk opposite the cylinder body on the build plate.

The Stirling uses the difference in temperature between the gases in the chamber and a pair of plates, which are the aluminum parts mentioned in the video - there is a hot plate (on the bottom) and a cold plate (on the top); a variety of energy sources can be used to create the temperature differential. Once the flywheel is set in motion, very little energy is needed to keep the engine running.

The whole thing makes more sense if you download and study the assembly drawings. We'll release and clean the parts and give them to Jon's class. Can't wait to see the thing in action.

The Renaissance Started with a New Way of Seeing

Albrect Durer, 1525 ("Durer's Window")

In architectural history, I was taught that the Renaissance started with the completion of the cathedral in Florence by the addition of Filippo Brunelleschi's dome. The story goes something like: the ambitious Florentines built a church so big, they could not figure out how to cover the center of it, until Brunelleschi came along, with some knowledge of classical building principles, and designed a masonry dome strong enough and light enough to span the opening.

Then I came across this little piece from "smart history" at Khan Academy:

I love the thought that the Renaissance was not started with a grand accomplishment (which is also a great way to start a new era), but with the planting of an idea. The the way we see the world is "explainable" from a mathematical construct: the linear perspective. That both the accomplishment and the idea both came from the same man just makes you wonder who he was, and how he figured things out.

(come and climb the dome with me)

Using Prezi to Show Drawings and Relationships

This Prezi presentation shows the relationship between the various types of architectural drawings: elevations, section, and plan - as well as the plan axonometric (plan oblique). Prezi is particularly useful in showing this because instead of a image-to-image slide show, Prezi allows the presenter to create a path between the "slides".

Making Plans

Drawing architectural plans is not only useful in describing spaces, but "planning" how to use those spaces. A recent episode in my own life brought this fact back to me - when we went shopping for some outdoor furniture. Before we went shopping, we measured out our deck and took the plan with us. We measured the furniture options and made small paper cut-outs to scale that we could move around on the plan. We selected some light metal pieces, called "Eos" we found at Design Within Reach. Though I have not practiced architecture for many years, I realized, I never stopped using these kinds of drawings.