Today’s Google Earth activity is quick and easy. There are only a few steps to complete:

1. Have your image ready. It MUST be hosted on a website, as it can’t be uploaded from your own computer. If you have a website of your own, it can be located there. Otherwise, you can use a free site like Flickr or Photobucket.com.  Lisa Louise Cooke’s Genealogy Gems mentioned Photobucket, so I signed up with them.

2. Open Google Earth and fly to your destination. I used Calais, Maine, where I previously created the historical map overlay.

If you click on the Google Earth image, you will see a yellow Placemark labeled “Thomas Coleman’s Land.”

I have a copy of an old postcard photo of Thomas Coleman’s grandson’s station, located on or very close to this property in the 1920’s and 1930’s.

I want to add this photo to my Placemark in Google Earth. Here are the next steps  to insert the photo:

3. Remember, you have already flown to your destination in Google Earth. Now, click on the yellow push pin in the Google Earth toolbar at the top of your screen to open the description box. It should look like this, but with your own destination on the map. You may or may not have added an historical map overlay. That doesn’t matter for this activity.

You will also see the Placemark push pin in the center of your screen with a flashing yellow box around it. Drag the push pin to the spot you want to mark.

4. Next, copy the URL for the image you wish to insert. Photobucket displays a box with four choices for copying. I just chose “Direct,” clicked once on the address and was told it was copied. I didn’t even have to right click and copy. After you paste the URL, be sure to click OK next to the URL box.

5. Type in any description you would like for your image.

6. Before you click “OK” at the bottom of the box, click the push pin icon in the top right corner of the description box. Select the camera icon, which is in purple near the bottom of the icon choices and click OK.

7. Last, click OK at the bottom of the Placemark description box. Now when you click on the camera icon, the photo should open:

Have fun trying this on your own!