Wild Sanctuary has a great resource that allows users to listen to the “sounds of nature” as recorded around the world. Wild Sanctuary uses FreeEarth and Google Maps to set placemarks with audio recordings on a map of the world. Each placemark features a recording of the sounds of nature (birds, waves, rivers, mammals, etc.) made at that location. The FreeEarth version of the Wild Sanctuary map is a 3D model. The Google Maps version of Wild Sanctuary is a flat 2D model, but has some additional placemark tools including Google Maps’ “explore this area” feature which will show more information about the area associated with each placemark.

Applications for Education
Wild Sanctuary’s “sounds of nature” maps are great examples of how Google Maps or FreeEarth can be used in a science class. In the lower grades Wild Sanctuary’s maps are good resources for students to explore on their own. In the upper grades Wild Sanctuary’s maps are a good model for students to use in creating their own maps. A fun project that would get students outside of the classroom and get them using technology would be to have students make recordings of their local environment and include those recordings on placemarks on their own maps.