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Google maps ancient Rome

BoardBuzz was looking for something fun to blog on this otherwise dreary afternoon, and lo and behold Google provides.

Thanks to Google and the Rome Reborn Project, anyone can explore the city of Rome during the rule of Constantine the Great. That's right, Google has released an "Ancient Rome 3D" layer for their popular Google Earth geographic browser.

The Rome project consists of more than 6,700 buildings of Ancient Rome fully modeled in 3-D. This is a perfect example of the bringing together of technology and information to disseminate knowledge and culture. Rome is a fascinating city, the Caput Mundi--Latin for "Capital of the World"--during its heyday, and seeing its past resurrected is truly fascinating.

The interesting Google Earth feature was created in conjunction with the Rome Reborn Project at University of Virginia's Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities. Directed by Bernard Frischer, the project was created to depict a moment in time in Ancient Roman history, specifically June 21, 320 A.D.

Google Earth 4.3 (beta) can be downloaded for the PC, Mac or Linux. The Ancient Rome 3D layer is in the Navigating Toolbar under Galleries. For a video demonstration, see the video embedded below, or click here.

But that's not all. When in Rome...Teach!

Google is providing K-12 educators in the United States with the chance to highlight their creativity and technical know-how by combining this content with classic classroom curricula.

Google is running a contest and is accepting curricula from all grade levels and K-12 subject areas. So whether you teach 5th grade art or high school engineering, there's glory and a nice prize package waiting for you.

Teachers submitting the top 6 examples alone or in teams will be honored as rockstar Google educators online and will enjoy a prize package including:

• Apple MacBook laptop
• Digital classroom projector
• Digital camera
• 3D Navigation mouse
• $500 in gift cards to Target or Office Depot
• Engraved Google "Top Educator" plaque

Learn more.

Full post as published by BoardBuzz: NSBA's Daily Weblog on November 17, 2008 (boomark / email).