Course Work



Google Media Project
Using actual data (GPS coordinates, physical buildings, etc.) from a location on the Clemson campus create a Google Earth project.

Click any image to see a high quality version

Site Research
With such an open ended requirement, my first goal was to decide on a location and do some research. It didn't take me long to decide that the Woodland cemetary would provide an excellent background for some very exciting work. Before finalizing however, I took a camera to the location and took some pictures for inspiration.

Proposal
After pondering ideas I wrote up a proposal.
Proposal (PDF)

During the presentation of my proposal some great ideas were thrown out. First was that instead of writing a biography and potentially presenting incorrect fact, I should find writings from my subject and tell their story in their own words. The other was that I should present these life stories by using Google Earth's touring functionality. This inspired me even further and I decided to focus on John C. Calhoun. I was sure I would be able to find plenty of source material in the Cooper Library.
I spent some time at the library and I found a whole section devoted to Mr. Calhoun. There was a collection of books that included all of his public speaches. After browsing through the books, they did not seem to include anything that would be beneficial for a biographical presentation. Besides the collection of speeches, I found a book that included his personal letters to different individuals in his life. After quickly glancing through the text, I realized this was exactly what I was looking for.
The book "Correspondence of John C. Calhoun" not only included letters which were perfect, but it included a chronology of his life. This chronology would provide the perfect tour for Google Earth. I checked out the book, something I haven't done since high school, and left with high hopes.

Site Specific Research
The next step was to collect some more specific data on the Calhoun plot at the Woodland Cemetary. I grabbed my GPS and a camera and visited the site. The first thing I discovered was that my GPS had a dead battery. This was only the first in a series of major set backs with my GPS data collection attempts. Since GPS collection was out of the question, I decided to get some detailed photos of the Calhoun plot so I could model it for inclusion in my Google Eath tour. I took a series of photos of the fencing, pillars, and headstones. These photos would not only allow me to correctly model the site, but provide the textures that would be pasted on the model once it was completed.
After collecting the photos, I called it a day. I came back another day once I had charged the GPS. I quickly realized that the GPS was not going to be very good. Since it is designed for auto travel, it is not very accurate on foot and I was unable to collect any detailed data for mapping in Google Apps. I drew a diagram of the site and recorded as much data as I could. Then I went back to the car in order to go home. Setback three reared its ugly head. I had locked my keys in the car! I had to call a locksmith and I ended up waiting about two hours before I could leave.

Modeling
After completing my data collection I began modeling. Using Google SketchUp and the reference photos, I modeled one section of the fence, one of the pillars, and one gate. Then I copied each compenent until the entire fence was complete. After finishing the fence, I modeled the the main Calhoun headstone. Then I modeled one of the small grave markers and copied it to all the other spots. I finished the modeling by modeling the one grave marker that differed from all the others. The next step was to texture all the models. I took my reference pictures and modified them to work as textures.
The final step was to place the model into Google Earth at the correct location.

Virtual Tour
Google Earth is very versatile and allows for virtual tours. These tours allow users to jump from location to location with audio queues and popup windows for additional information. The file format is based off of XML standards and is very simple to execute. I spent a bit of time in the KML Reference section of the Google Code Site (http://code.google.com/apis/kml/documentation/kmlreference.html). There are lots of examples to pull and modify for one's own use. One annoyance with KML and Google Earth relates to the handling of latitude and longitude. Google Earth displays everything in degrees, minutes, and seconds, but KML requires decimal equivalents, so I had to translate my coordinates. I found a very helpful tool for doing that conversion. The tool is housed on the Federal Communications Commission website (http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/bickel/DDDMMSS-decimal.html).
The first step in creating my Google tour was to use the chronology of Calhoun's life to locate and mark the important locations that represented his life. After recording the locations and creating a simple point A to point B tour, I began customizing the locations. I altered the length of time it took to jump to certain points, and I modified how close and which angle the points would be viewed at. In the cases where Google Earth had 3D model representations I tried to get in as close as possible. In the cases where no model existed, I stayed faily high up in the sky to show the names of cities and streets.
After finishing the tour, the time came to add in the audio queues. Using the chronology again and the letters written by Calhoun, I tried to grab the most significant events and match them up with short passages from his letters. I then had a voice actor read the passages. Using the audio recordings, I modifed the timing of the tour matching the audio better with the actual events displayed.

KMZ File
Finally I married my 3D model and the Google tour into one KMZ file for distribution.
KMZ w/Cemetery 12:55 (18.1 MB) KMZ wo/Cemetery 12:55 (13.2 MB)


Sources:
Calhoun, John C. "Correspondence of John C. Calhoun", edited by J. Franklin Jameson. Washington, DC: American Historical Association.
Wikipedia. John C. Calhoun.[cited 13 April 2009]. Available from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Calhoun.
Wikipedia. Floride Calhoun.[cited 13 April 2009]. Available from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floride_Calhoun.
Clemson University. Policy: Woodland Cemetery.[cited 13 April 2009]. Available from http://www.clemson.edu/administration/bot/Policies/Woodland_Cemetery.html.
Federal Communications Commission. Degrees, Minutes, Seconds and Decimal Degrees Latitude/Longitude Conversions.[cited 13 April 2009]. Available from http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/bickel/DDDMMSS-decimal.html.
Google Code. KML Reference.[cited 13 April 2009]. Available from http://code.google.com/apis/kml/documentation/kmlreference.html.