Question about "points" disappearing in Google Earth Pro

Ask questions about projects relating to: biology, biochemistry, genomics, microbiology, molecular biology, pharmacology/toxicology, zoology, human behavior, archeology, anthropology, political science, sociology, geology, environmental science, oceanography, seismology, weather, or atmosphere.

Moderators: AmyCowen, kgudger, bfinio, MadelineB, Moderators

Post Reply
kchevigny
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Mar 22, 2023 6:55 pm
Occupation: Parent

Question about "points" disappearing in Google Earth Pro

Post by kchevigny »

Dear Science Volunteers,

I'm helping my 5th grade daughter work on a science project suggested through Science Buddies, tracking wolf data. We needed to download data from Movebank.org and then analyze it through Google Earth Pro. While my daughter was locating points on the wolf's tracks, suddenly the "points" option disappeared from the side panel on Google Earth Prod and only the "lines" was visible, showing the wolf's track, but not the timestamp of when the wolf was where. Can anyone advise on how to recover this now hidden piece of data, the "points" item within a particular wolf's data? I think it's something she deleted while navigating on Google Earth Pro. Many thanks for your help!
Best regards,
Frustrated mom helper of wolf-loving daughter.
AmyCowen
Site Admin
Posts: 581
Joined: Mon Aug 22, 2016 4:39 pm
Occupation: Administrator
Project Question: -
Project Due Date: -
Project Status: Not applicable

Re: Question about "points" disappearing in Google Earth Pro

Post by AmyCowen »

Hi - Sorry if that was frustrating or confusing! Luckily, your daughter should be able to reveal the data again by simply double-clicking "Places" and the study name. That should return the dots (she may need to zoom back in to see them).

Step 1 in the "Identifying the Wolves' Seasonal Movement Patterns" further explains: "Once the Google Earth file has opened, you will see location points (dots) connected by movement tracks (lines). If you only see lines and no dots, double-click on the study name in your “Places” section in Google Earth Pro. Each animal in the study will have a single color. All the dots corresponding to the location of a specific animal will be in the same color. In Figure 2, tracks of two different wolves are shown. One wolf’s data is color-coded light green and the other is color-coded red."

If you have other questions or encounter problems, please let us know.

We would love to hear how the project goes!

Amy
Science Buddies
kchevigny
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Mar 22, 2023 6:55 pm
Occupation: Parent

Re: Question about "points" disappearing in Google Earth Pro

Post by kchevigny »

Hi Amy,

Thank you so much for your reply. For some reason, that trick you mentioned didn't bring back the missing "points", which makes me think we had somehow deleted them by accident? Anyhow, we ended up re-downloading that particular wolf's data and then we had the points back again.

I also wanted to let you know that in the end, our daughter had a really interesting science project that won one of the 5th grade prizes!

I will say that the data access work involved with this project was rather advanced for a 5th grader. And when we downloaded several wolf's data, it slowed down Google Earth Pro so much that it seemed glitchy. It was only when we selected only 4 or so wolves that we were able to move easily within Google Earth Pro. Just some feedback in case there are other kids frustrated in the future! But it's a really cool idea. I think a computer-savvy middle or high schooler could have a field day with this.

Thanks again,

Katy
AmyCowen
Site Admin
Posts: 581
Joined: Mon Aug 22, 2016 4:39 pm
Occupation: Administrator
Project Question: -
Project Due Date: -
Project Status: Not applicable

Re: Question about "points" disappearing in Google Earth Pro

Post by AmyCowen »

Katy - Congratulations to your student on her success at the science fair! That's wonderful, and I'm glad that she persisted with the data trouble using Google Earth.

I appreciate your feedback on the project and the issues (including slowness) she ran into. This project is labeled in "difficulty" in the middle school range. But we do value this kind of feedback from students who have done the project and make ongoing edits to the project to help guide students.

Would you and your student be willing to share more details with me (via email) about the experience doing this project for a possible success story? We love to share stories like this. If interested, please confirm here, and I'll reach out to you by email. (Please don't post your address here.)

Again, congratulations to your daughter - and thank you for coming back to the forums to let us know!

Amy
Science Buddies
Post Reply

Return to “Grades K-5: Life, Earth, and Social Sciences”