Google Earth & Geospatial Projects on the Shenandoah Valley Event

Mapping Historical Resources, Harrisonburg, VA, Kevin Borg, History Department 


I critiqued Kevin Borg's visuals as representational.  Representational visuals are visuals that convey information through the likeness to the object. The visuals came from google earth imagining. The purpose of the visuals was to show detailed maps of Harrisonburg such as new construction and materials being used, in order to teach students about the history of this city. The intended audience for the visuals are the students so that they can see and learn from the maps. The assumed experiences or viewpoints represented in the visuals is history based to show the changes in Harrisonburg over time and also geography based to show approximate locations. The visuals were a very accurate representation of Harrisonburg in 1912 compared to today because they used very detailed maps. The visuals changed my understanding because I learned that google earth doesn't just show us what exists, but we can compare historical maps to what exists today. I also have a better understanding of what Borg and his students have accomplished. The software programs that Borg used to create his visuals included photoshop, png files, rubber sheeting, microfilm, and Google Earth Pro. The visuals were displayed through a screen projector using a computer. The visuals seemed very clear to me although I believe it is possible for the quality of the images to be affected because of a transfer of display systems. I believe that the students voices were heard through the creation of these maps because what we were visually seeing was a product of their work. 


Interactive Geological Maps of Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley Region- Steve Whitmeyer, Geology & Environmental Science


I critiqued Steve Whitmeyer's visuals as representational. The maps that he showed reinforced what was being discussed and they were a representation of what really exists. For this presentation, Whitmeyer used Google Earth to create the visuals. The purpose of the visuals was to show a map template of Virginia which showed a cross section view including a vertical slice, 3rd dimension subsurface. This can be helpful for someone starting construction of a house where they need to make sure the ground and foundation is secure. Also he mentioned this is helpful to locate where possible caverns maybe be under ground. The intended audience were geologists and in the future the entire public. The assumed experiences are geology. The visuals were an accurate representation of the geological layers of Virginia. Concepts that are complex are sometimes hard to grasp but with the visuals, I was able to understand what the speaker was discussing. The software used for this presentation was Google Earth Pro. The equipment used for these visuals to be displayed was a projector linked with a computer. The quality of the images may be affected by the display screen due to the mega pixel capacity. I learned what the term cross sections means and also learned that a geological map shows color coded areas that represent great depth of an area.