Our+National+Parks

In this activity we will:
 * Create a new map
 * Find 3 national parks and place a peg on them (Yosemite, Yellowstone, and Grand Canyon)
 * Place a description of Yosemite in its peg
 * Place a picture of the Grand Canyon in its peg
 * Place a video of Old Faithful in the Yellowstone peg
 * Draw lines between all three of the parks

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 * Step 1 - Create a new map**
 * 1) Go to http://maps.google.com/
 * 2) Click on "My Maps" in the upper left corner, then click on the "Create New Map" link
 * 1) Give the map a //Title// and a //Description//, then choose whether you want it //Public// or //Unlisted// (Private)
 * 2) Press the "Save" button, then the "Done" button

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 * Step 1 - Find 3 national parks and place a peg on them (Yosemite, Yellowstone, and Grand Canyon)**
 * 1) Start by going to your Google Maps "My Maps" area and clicking on the map you created. Press the "Edit" button that shows up to the right of the map title.
 * 2) You should see a toolbar show up in the upper left portion of your map
 * 1) Now go to the "Search The Map" option at the top of the page and enter "Yosemite National Park" and press the "Search Maps" button
 * 2) The map will zoom in on Yosemite National Park and place a peg with a green arrow over top of it. You'll want to make sure that it is the correct location by zooming the map out. Once you've confirmed, press the green arrow and choose "Save to My Maps"
 * 1) Choose the title of your map you wish to add the peg to and press "Save." A bubble will now pop up that will let you modify the contents of your peg. For now just press "OK"
 * 2) Follow the same steps for Yellowstone National Park and Grand Canyon National Park

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 * Step 2 - Place a description of Yosemite in its peg**
 * 1) Open Microsoft Word or another word processing program
 * 2) Point your browser to http://www.google.com/ and enter "Yosemite National Park" into the search field
 * 3) Choose a link with useful information and copy about a paragraph of that information, then paste that information into Word. Go back to your browser and copy the link to the page you are on and then paste that into Word as well.
 * 4) Now point your browser to http://www.maps.google.com/ and open your National Parks map. Make sure to press the "Edit" button.
 * 5) Find the Yosemite National Park peg and click on it once. Click on the "Rich Text" feature of the Description area.
 * 6) Return to Word and copy all of the text and the link you pasted into your word document, then return to your browser and paste the information into the Description area
 * 7) The map should automatically save your work, but just to be safe press the "Save" button and then press "Done"
 * Step 3 - Place a picture of the Grand Canyon in its peg**
 * 1) Point your browser to the http://www.sxc.hu/
 * 2) On the left side of the page you'll see an unlabeled search area
 * 1) Enter the search term "Grand Canyon" into the search area and press the Enter/Return key on your computer
 * 2) Browse through the images until you find one that you like, then click on that image to bring up a larger version
 * 3) When the image comes up in the middle of the page, right click (ctrl+click on a Mac) on the image and choose "View Image." This should bring up the image in a page of its own. Look at the link on the top of the page and make sure that it ends with ".jpg" or ".gif"
 * 4) Copy this link and paste it into your open word processor, then return to http://maps.google.com/ and find your National Parks map. Be sure to hit the Edit button
 * 5) Find the Grand Canyon peg and click on it once. Click on the "Rich Text" feature of the Description area.
 * 6) Return to Word and copy the link you pasted into your word document, then return to your browser press the small icon with the mountains in it that shows up on the right side of the Description area.
 * 7) In the small pop-up box, paste your link and then press "OK." This will insert your image into your peg. Now press "OK" on the peg, Save your work, then press "Done"
 * Step 4 - Place a video of Old Faithful in the Yellowstone peg**
 * 1) Point your browser to http://www.youtube.com/
 * 2) In the search area at the top middle of the page, enter the search terms "Old Faithful" and press the Enter/Return key on your computer
 * 3) Choose a video from the list of returned results by click on its title
 * 4) When the video page loads, click once in the box right under Embed so that it becomes highlighted
 * 1) Copy this code and paste it into your open word processor, then return to http://maps.google.com/ and find your National Parks map. Be sure to hit the Edit button
 * 2) Find the Grand Canyon peg and click on it once. Click on the "Edit HTML" feature of the Description area.
 * 3) Return to Word and copy the code you pasted into your word document, then return to your browser and paste this code into the Description area.
 * 4) This will insert your video into your peg, but you won't be able to see the video until you press "OK" on the peg, Save your work, and then press "Done"
 * 5) Now when you click on the peg you should see the video


 * Step 5 - Draw lines between all three of the parks**
 * 1) Navigate to your map and enter Edit mode
 * 2) Choose the Line Tool and click once on or near the Yosemite peg
 * 3) Move the line towards the Yellowstone peg and click once on or near that peg
 * 4) Now move the line towards the Grand Canyon peg and click once on or near that peg
 * 5) Finally move the line back towards the Yosemite peg and click on the little square that denotes the beginning of the line
 * 6) An editing bubble will pop up and allow you to name your line, describe it, or put media associated with it. Once you are finished, press "OK"
 * 7) Save your work and press "Done"