How to Move Google Tour Builder Files Into Google Earth

Last week Google announced that support for Google Expeditions and Google Tour Builder would end in July 2021. I've already published a preliminary list of alternatives to Google Expeditions. If you're looking for alternatives to Google Tour Builder you don't need to look much further than to Google Earth. 

Google Tour Builder includes two options for moving your projects from Tour Builder into the web versions and desktop versions of Google Earth. 

The simplest way to move your projects from Tour Builder into the web version of Google Earth is to just select "Export to Earth" from the menu in the upper-right corner of the screen when you're viewing one of your Tour Builder projects. You'll then be asked to confirm that you want to connect your Tour Builder and Google Earth accounts. After that you'll get an email to notify you that your Tour Builder project is now viewable in Google Earth under "projects." 

The other option for moving your Tour Builder projects into Google Earth is to select the download option in the upper-right menu when viewing a Tour Builder project. You can then download your project as a KML file that you can then manually upload to the web version of Google Earth and or manually import into the desktop version of Google Earth. 

Both methods for moving projects from Tour Builder into both versions of Google Earth are demonstrated in this short video. 

Google Tour Builder

Google Tour Builder allows users to tell stories using Google maps, images, videos, and text. It is a fantastic tool for students to use to show what they know about different topics. Maybe students are summarizing the chapters of a book and each placemark represents a different chapter. Or perhaps students create a tour to share summaries of current events happening around the world. There are many different ways to incorporate Google Tour Builder into the classroom. In this video, I will walk you through how to get started and show you some of the basic features of this tool.

Click here to read a recent post on Google Tour Builder.

In order to share your tour, click the Done Editing button. This will give you the option to change the privacy settings and grab a link to share.

Google Tour Builder

Google Tour Builder was originally created for veterans as a tool to record and preserve their experiences and memories in the military and share them with friends and family. Google made Tour Builder available to everyone because they know everyone has a story to tell.

While Tour Builder isn't as popular as Google MyMaps, it has some features that make it a fantastic option to use in the classroom. Each marker that you add to the map becomes a new place for you to share text and up to 25 images or videos. These markers can stand alone or they can be linked together with lines to help guide people through your story in a particular order.

You do have to have a Google account to create a tour in Google Tour Builder, but you do not have to have an account to view a tour. My favorite feature of Tour Builder is that you can drag Pegman to  any location where Street View imagery exists and explore at street level. One of the other exciting features of Tour Builder that was released recently a feature that allows you to open a tour in Google Earth with just one click! To do this all you will need to do is click the menu button and select the "Open in Google Earth" option.

Want to learn more? Here are some additional resources that will help you get started building your first tour.

Applications for Education
TourBuilder can be used to summarize books, add new twist to current events, tell the story of your life, or anything else you can dream up.

Ideas and Directions for Using Google Maps & Earth Across the Curriculum

This morning at the NCTIES conference I facilitated a workshop about using Google Maps and Google Earth in social studies, science, language arts, and mathematics. Below you can see a list of resources we looked at and directions for creating placemarks in Google Maps Engine Lite, directions for using Classic Google Maps, directions for creating tours in Google Tour Builder and in Google Earth.

Science

- Climate Change, Flooding, Volcanoes

- Google Earth Outreach

- Projects by Subject

- Shark Tracking

- Wildlife Tracking

- KQED Science Maps

- U.S. Watersheds (complete directions for working with watersheds)

English/ Language Arts

- Google Lit Trips

- Projects by subject

Math

- Maths Maps

- Real World Math

- Google Earth Walks

Social Studies

- Social Studies Central

- Projects by subject

- Great Explorers and more

- 10 US History Tours

- Culture and History

- GE Teach