SketchUp 7

This week we are building on to Google Earth (literally) with Google SketchUp. It is a 3D modeling program that allows us to generate models that are easily placed into the Google Earth sphere.

One of the great features of SketchUp is the price....free! Feel free to download the latest version (7) at home or use it in the lab. (note: the standard version is free, the Pro version has a free 8 hour trial. For 411, the standard version is fine). As for Google Earth, the latest version 5 is now on the machines in the lab. Yay!

In lab 9 you'll be asked to go through a few intro video tutorials to familiarize yourself with the tools and options. If you want to get a head start head here .

And lastly, here are some visualizations to critique:
Open Street Map 2008
Flowing Data's top 5 Visualizations for 2008 (I am particularly interested in the trio of BBC videos
Facebook Data Visualization
Tracking the Box by the BBC. This is the info page, for the map click on Where is the Box Now?