Land Use Around the Mall
Students will examine the land use around a mall area. They will investigate human-built and natural features in the area surrounding the Madison Square Mall in Huntsville, Alabama. They will use basic elements of aerial photo interpretation (including tone, size, texture, pattern, shadow, site, and association) to aid in identifying objects in aerial photographs.
Helpful implementation idea:
Prior to class, be sure that the Google Earth application is ready to use on students' computers. It is important to test out the KML file on each computer to ensure that students will be able to view the coverage area. Often, classroom computers may use Google Earth for other investigations that involve layers that cover other "checked" layers. These "covering" layers should be deleted or unchecked prior using the Land Use Change files to minimize potential issues that may occur with students viewing the Land Use Change curricular files.
- Display the Madison Square Mall Area.kml file in Google Earth. Ask students to recall specific features they identified in the previous day's lesson. Have students articulate visual evidence to support their identification claims. When possible, prompt students to identify differences with respect to tone, size, texture, pattern, shadow, site, and association in the image.
- Instruct students to answer the analysis question. Ask students to think about what the land around the mall may have looked liked before the mall was built. Prompt students to think about what the land may have looked liked in their neighborhood before houses and streets were built. Discuss student responses to this question. Note to students that most land in this area was either previously woodlands or cropland. Note the forested just south of the mall to students as possible evidence.
- Have students complete the remainder of the Let's Go to the Mall! handout.
- Review answers with students.
- Handout Basic Elements of Aerial Photo Interpretation. Have students read the handout.
- Display the image of the image of the Madison Square Mall area (Madison Square Mall Area.kml) in Google Earth. Have students identify and discuss an example of tone, size, texture, pattern, shadow, site, and association from the image. For shadows, it is recommended to talk about the shadows produced by trees in the mall parking lot.
Extension activity: Have students click the "Places of Interest" layer on Google Earth and identify specific locations on the Google Earth image.
- If students at the completion of the activity still have difficulty examining visual evidence in the Madison Square Mall area with respect to tone, size, texture, pattern, shadow, site, and association, modify instruction to ensure students understand how to use these spatial analysis skills.
Materials Needed:
Handouts
Let's Go to the Mall! – (Mall Activity 1) (PDF / MS Word) (one copy of each per student)
Basic Elements of Aerial Photo Interpretation (PDF / MS Word)
Google Earth File
Assessment Information
Let's Go to the Mall! – (Mall Activity 1) Assessment (PDF / MS Word)