iLearn Technology

What it is: Google Street Gallery is a must add bookmark for any classroom.  This is a collection of Google Street views of famous landmarks, buildings, and art, sport, and entertainment venues from around the world.  Landmarks includes places such as Big Ben, Tower Bridge, Golden Gate Bridge, Space Needle, Gateway Arch, CN Tower, Tokyo Tower, Plaza de Cibeles, Eiffel Tower, Arthur’s Seat, The Colosseum, Arc de Triomphe, and Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall.  In Famous Buildings students can see the street view of Westminster Abbey, City Hall, St. George’s Hall, Coventry Cathedral, Sydney Opera House, Sagrada Familia, Chateau de Chillon, Belem Tower, St. Peter’s Basilica, and Taipei 101.  In Art, sport and entertainment students can tour Angel of the North, Coronation Street, Trafalgar Square Fourth Plinth, Tate Britain, Wales Millennium Centre, Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art, Guggenheim Museum, and The Louvre Museum.  Not only can students explore the street view of all these places, they can also see users pictures embedded right in the street view.  Each place can be viewed on Google Maps with the click of a button.   Students can also quickly find more information about any of the landmarks by clicking “more information”.  Students are taken to a Google Search that shows the location on a Google map, gives details, photos, videos, reviews, tells about nearby places, and gives more information about the place.  

How to integrate Google Street View Gallery into the classroom: Google Street View Gallery makes it easy to whisk your students away on virtual adventures around the world.  Bring your geography, history, and social studies lessons to life by letting students take a virtual field trip with Google Street Views.  Using an interactive whiteboard or projector, your students will feel like they have visited landmarks around the world during class.  Allow students to be the “tour guides” and navigate the street view and pictures associated. Make sure to view the Google Maps so that students can get a sense of where each landmark is located and practice their map skills. Google Street views can be used during math to study architecture shapes, angles, etc. in real world settings.

Display a Google Street View on your projector or interactive whiteboard and ask students to imagine they have just visited this landmark or building and write a story about what happened there.  The street views make excellent writing prompts.

Tips: I love using Google Street Views with an interactive whiteboard.  Students really get the sense of what it is like to stand on the street in the middle of Prague or London and take a look around.  It is fun to imagine the stories that take place every day on those streets.

Google Street View Gallery is not a comprehensive collection of available Google Street Views, it is a great collection of famous landmarks and buildings, grouped together for easy access.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Google Street View Gallery in your classroom.