Ask students what types of things developers must consider when they plan to build a new large department store in an area. If needed, prompt students to think about infrastructure issues such as the availability of roads and sidewalks for transportation to get people to the store, and access to water and electrical lines to supply basic needs for the store to function.
 

Tell students that they will be conducting a role-playing simulation activity in which they will be employees of the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission (LVPC). Tell students that the LVPC is an organization that helps to guide sensible growth in the Lehigh Valley area in Pennsylvania. They provide advice and recommendations to cities and towns that wish to further develop their existing lands. Tell students that they have been contacted by the Wal-Mart Corporation to help them decide where to build the next Wal-Mart Supercenter in the Lehigh Valley area. Wal-Mart has contacted them for their advice and recommendations where they should build their next store to have the least impact on the environment. They will use Google Earth to examine four proposed locations for the new store, make a recommendation, prepare a proposal statement, and develop and present a short, 5 minute PowerPoint presentation that describes reasons why their development plan is the best plan.
 

Instruct students to examine the 4 proposed locations for developing a new Wal-Mart Supercenter in the Google Earth with the Wal-Mart sites.kml file.
 

Highlight the Helpful Hints in the handout, Where Should We Build The New Wal-Mart Supercenter?

Show students that they can turn on the roads layer in Google Earth to view the existing transportation infrastructure.
Show students how to use the Ruler Tool  in Google Earth to measure the distances of residential areas to the proposed Wal-Mart locations.