Google Earth Workshop Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 4
Download Google Earth 3-D Viewer and Explore Various Features .............................. 4
Explore 3D Google Earth .................................................................................................... 7
Search Panel- Locating Places .............................................................................................. 7
Navigation ............................................................................................................................... 8
The Places Panel and Add Content .................................................................................... 9
Layer Panel ............................................................................................................................11
Visualizing Data Created by Other Agencies: .................................................................14
Visualizing Watershed Data ...............................................................................................15
Create Content Using Google Earth ....................................................................................20
Add Place Mark and Organize ...........................................................................................21
Add place mark ....................................................................................................................21
Adding Video, Images etc. to Description panel ............................................................22
Add region or polygon ........................................................................................................25
Add path or line and Record Tour....................................................................................26
View Historical Imagery in Google Earth .......................................................................26
Ruler Tool in Google Earth ...............................................................................................27
Open/Save data in Google Earth and Share ......................................................................27
Open ......................................................................................................................................27
Additional Weblinks ............................................................................................................32
Save ........................................................................................................................................33
Share.......................................................................................................................................34
Importing Your Data in Google Earth ................................................................................34
Using GPS Devices with Google Earth (Source: Google Inc.) ....................................34
Importing GPS Data ...........................................................................................................35
Viewing Real-time GPS Information................................................................................37
Add Image Overlay .................................................................................................................38
Importing Table, vector GIS data and Geocoding using third party software .............39
Understanding Projection and Datum .............................................................................39
Projection Conversion ........................................................................................................41
Shape file to kml conversion ..............................................................................................42
CSV format to kml Conversion .........................................................................................48
Excel file to kml Conversion .............................................................................................49
Altitude, Distance, and Area measurement .....................................................................52
Creating Watershed Tour Using Google Earth ..................................................................56
Drawing Paths ......................................................................................................................56
Setting Line Color and Width ............................................................................................58
Setting Altitude .....................................................................................................................59
Using Tours ..........................................................................................................................60
Playing Tours ........................................................................................................................61
Setting Tour Options ..........................................................................................................62
Useful references for extra details.........................................................................................62
Google Earth Workshop
Compiled by: Dharmendra Saraswat*, Kandasamy Prasanna*, and Jennifer
Peterson**
∗
**
University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension
Service
Texas AgriLife Extension Service
February, 2010
Disclaimer: This workshop manual has been compiled from various sources including
Google Inc., Google Earth Blog website, information available at the website of third
party software/tool developers, and other independent contributions. The material
covered is provided for the purpose of educational purposes only. Mention of any
software/tool is for informational purpose only.
Introduction This workshop is designed to introduce you to various features available in Google
Earth (free version), inform you about various agencies that provide Google Earth
compatible data, and provide a brief exposure to various other free resources that
allow you to create Google Earth compatible data, in order to support the work you
do for fulfilling the mission of Land Grant Universities. This will be accomplished
through demonstrations, hands-on exercises with plenty of “over-the-shoulder”
advice and assistance by a team of trainers representing various State Agricultural
Universities in the Southern United States covering Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) Region 4and VI.
Download Google Earth 3-D Viewer and Explore Various Features
The free version of Google Earth software can be downloaded from the following
web address:
http://earth.google.com/
Click on “Download Google Earth 5”
Unless you want to provide feedback to Google Inc., do not check the box with the
message “Help us improve this software by allowing us to collect anonymous usage
statistics”. Before clicking the button “Agree and Download”, look at the bottom of
the page witha small message: "Customize your installation with advanced setup."
Click on "advanced setup".
On the new screen, disable the option: "Allow Google Earth to automatically install
recommended updates."
Click on "Agree and download" and you'll get the offline installer.
Right click the message bar appearing at the top of the page and click “Download
file”
Click “Save” button and navigate to the drive and folder where you want to save
offline Google Earth installer.
Explore 3D Google Earth
Once Google Earth is launched, the following diagram shows some main features:
Search Panel- Locating Places
The red bound box shows the search panel. This panel can be used for finding places
and directions and manage search results. The Fly to, Find Business and Directions are
three different kinds of search we can do in
Google Earth.
Fly To:
Normally, Fly to tab is used to
search for places such as
cities, states, street address,
zip code, and geographic
coordinates.
Find Businesses:
This tab is to find business or organizations.
Directions:
Direction tab is to find direction
between two places.
To find a specific place, type the location (such as a city,
landmark, or address) into the “Fly To” box and then
press enter. The globe to the right will begin to move
and “transport” you to that location.
If multiple entries are found for your location, a list will
appear under the search box. You may like to choose
most relevant entry by unchecking all the irrelevant
ones.
Navigation
Once a location of your choice has been found, you can use navigation tools for
further refining your options. The navigation has three parts. View option is to look
at the map from different direction. Since it is a 3-D map, you can view from top or
side wise or bottom. Pan helps to move the map in the Google Earth. Zoom helps to
look closely at the map features.
1. View option
The view option helps to view left,
right, top, and bottom. The adjacent
figure shows the relevant view buttons
with blue color arrow mark. Use the
arrow heads around the
to
change the view. To bring back to
original north position, click on the
North button that has the word N on it.
Click N to return the map to Click and drag for rotate the map 2. Pan
Pan option allows for moving the map to left, right, top, and bottom direction by
clicking on relevant button. You can also use the arrow keys in the keyboard to move
the map.
Move Up, Down, Left, Zoom In Slider Zoom Out Use arrow heads around the hand
to move around your search location.
3. Zoom
As shown in the above picture, you can click or slide the bar (slider) to desire zoom
level. You can double click the left mouse for zoom in and right double click for zoom
out. Use the + sign to get closer to ground level.
The Places Panel and Add Content
You can use the place panel to arrange and save places that you visited, favourite
locations, address or listing searches, view Google Earth data that you created or
Google Earth data that you downloaded from the internet. The following picture
shows the place panel.
1. My Places
“My Places” is like a folder that holds the layers and place mark, etc. This place stores
all the places you visited during the use or data layers that you added. When you close
the Google Earth, any data layer located under My Places is saved for subsequent
Google Earth sessions. You can click on the plus button to expand “My places” and
view data stored under it.
2. Temporary Places
When you open new item like layer or data, it will be placed under temporary Places
initially. When you close the application, it will discard all items under this. In order to
save any item that is under Temporary Places, move that to under “My Places” so that
it is available during subsequent Google Earth sessions. You simply click and drag
specific item to “My Places”.
Please note that data in the Places panel are viewable only on the computer you are
using. This is similar to viewing a word file on your computer – the file is not online
and public to the world.
3. Add Content
This will help to open Google Earth Galleries those are available already. You must
be connected to the internet.
When you click the “Add Content” button, it will open the browser with Galleries.
Select the project or item that
you want to view and click the
button. By clicking a gallery of
your interest, you can load
that to “Temporary Places”.
The adjacent figure shows
Google Earth Galleries.
Note: If you want to look
particular object under My
Places or Temporary places, just double click on that name. It will zoom to relevant
object location in the Google Earth map.
Layer Panel
Google Earth layers provide information about our planet on a variety of topics that
is contributed by many individuals, and organizations. The information is available in
all forms such as, videos, photos, Wikipedia, real-time weather, real-time traffic, 3D
buildings, GPS tracks, etc. The layers are organized using a folder-like structure with
broad category layer folders at the highest level. You can open each folder with a "+"
sign to then selectively view sub-layers. There is so much information here, it takes
time to explore and learn what is available. To turn on a layer, simply click the box to
the left. A check-box appears when all the layers in a folder are turned on, the box is
filled with green when only some of the layers in the folder are turned on.
Notice a Transparency Slider located just above Layers panel. It allows to change
transparency settings using the slider bar for viewing other layer located underneath
the first layer.
It is recommended that only a few layers are turned on at a time. Turn them off when
you are done.
I would suggest that you try the following layers:
•
Terrain - This layer is currently found at the bottom of the list and you
should almost always leave it on.
•
Roads - Google has detailed roads and streets for many countries around the
world. As you zoom in you get more detail for the roads including street
names. From higher altitudes you'll see fewer (or no) roads and no names at all.
•
Street View – turn on the Street View option and then look for the gold
camera icons as you zoom into a street location of interest. If you single-click
the left mouse button on a Street View camera icon, you get a placemark that
shows the photo. Click the link there to enter the Street View image. Or,
double-click to fly straight in. Street View images are spherical panoramas
allowing you to look around 360 degrees side-to-side and up-down. You can
even see the spherical Street View photos as you zoom in close over a street.
With Google Earth, you can adjust the transparency of the images and compare
the background 3D terrain or 3D buildings (if available) and see that the Street
View photos match the surrounding area. You can also turn on other layers
such as the Geographic Web (including photos), Roads, Dining, Lodging,
etc. to get more information on an area. Millions of Street View images are
already available in several countries: US, France, Spain, Japan, Australia, Italy,
New Zealand, Netherlands, England, Scotland, and Ireland.
•
Traffic - enable the "Traffic" layer in Google Earth to see a real time picture of
traffic conditions to help plan a route or just check out how bad traffic might
be in a city that you're exploring. The traffic data is only available for certain
major cities in the US. The layer shows red dots for slow/stopped traffic,
yellow for caution areas, white where no data is available, and green if traffic is
moving normally. If you click on the dots, you get information about the
conditions including the speed traffic is going.
•
Borders and labels - this layer folder lets you see the outlines of countries,
island names, coastlines, and administrative orders (states, counties, provinces,
etc.). It even includes details on some disputed border regions. It also contains
a sub-layer for populated places (names of cities and towns). The level of zoom
determines the amount of information that can be seen.
•
Geographic features - this layer folder contains sub-layers for things like
locations of volcanoes, names of mountains, and water bodies. This layer folder
is now found under the Places of Interest layer folder near the middle of the
list. This folder contains the same kind of information you get with a modern
car navigation device (or GPS) for finding hotels, restaurants, etc. Examples of
these kinds of layers in GE are: Dining, Lodging, Shopping and Services,
Transportation, Travel and Tourism, Parks and Recreation, and
Community Services. Like with the roads, Google has been steadily deploying
this kind of information for more countries.
•
Geographic web - All of the layers mentioned above are useful and important,
but the really interesting layers are coming from a variety of sources not
originally maintained or created by Google. In 2006, Google released the
"Geographic Web" layers which consist of a careful selection of useful
information inlcuding millions of user-generated photos, and articles from
Wikipedia of places all over the planet. And, when that isn't enough, you can
turn to the Gallery -> Google Earth Community layer which show
placemarks from posts made by hundreds of thousands of contributors about
virtually everywhere on the Earth. When you are viewing a location, you may
notice several different icons across the landscape. Each icon serves as a link to
more information about the location. The purple note icon ( ) indicates the
presence of a notable location along with its photograph. The black and white
box with W icon ( indicates a link to that location’s Wikipedia page. To turn
off these features go to the “Layers” panel and uncheck the options under the
“Geographic Web” heading.
•
Gallery -the "Gallery" layer folder highlights content from a variety of
organizations. Here you will find information from National Geographic
Magazine, Discovery Channel, European Space Agency, and even the United
Nations. These layers highlight information of human interest, science, history,
the environment, and more.
Visualizing Data Created by Other Agencies:
Exercise: Go to http://www.atmos.uiuc.edu/web/google_earth.shtml and click on
the Google Earth Bungle (KMZ file). It will open number of layer under Temporary
places panel in the Google Earth. user can right click and select the Save Target As
option to save that weather bundle file in local disk then open in Google Earth.
The following figure shows the all the weather layer:
Now by enabling and disabling the layers differentiate each weather region separately.
There are current weather, forecast weather and historical layers.
Hint: first disable the historical layers that will give a clear view of map weather
locations.
Think about, how you would apply or accommodate these details in your work.
Visualizing Watershed Data Exercise: Go to http://edna.usgs.gov/watersheds/kml_index.htm
The page shows all the watersheds in the USA that can be viewed on Google Earth.
On the right side of the page, you will see a list of major watersheds. Just move the
mouse point over one of the watershed on the list (without click on it). That will
highlight the region on the map, so you can easily visualize select your choice.
The following figure shows the highlighted Savannah watershed.
¾ Right click on the name of the watershed and select the Save Target As option,
for downloading and saving the file to your local disk. Once the download is
complete, double click to open the file in Google Earth. You can also open the
saved file by going to File >Open and double click the file of interest.
¾ If you double click on the name of the watershed directly under the list, it will
save the file under Temporary Places and open in Google Earth.
The following figure shows the watershed in Google Earth:
You can see that a number of layer have been added under Temporary Places panel.
¾ You can type in the name of your city of interest in the search field and click
Begin Search button. Google Earth will fly to your city and Zoom in. You can
see features like streams, river, land type around your city.
¾ Notice a brown color circle in the middle of the watershed map labeled
“Watershed Characteristics”. Click on it to open a description dialog box. You
can open the same dialog box by clicking on Watershed Characteristics under
“Temporary Places” panel.
¾ Now click on “Watershed Layers” under Temporary Places panel. It will zoom
out and show entire watershed outline.
The following figure shows the characteristic dialog box:
¾ Notice hyperlinks on the left side of the dialog box in blue color. You can click
on any of the links that interests you and get relevant details. Enable Land
Cover 2001 layer to view land area under different crop cover in the Land
legend.
¾ Click + sign by Watershed Layers. Turn on the Terrain layer under “Layers”
panel. Select the land layer by click on the land layer name under the Land
Cover (expand to see the land layer under the Land Cover). If you want to set
transparency for land cover layer then you can see the map under your land
cover layer by sliding the bar which shows in the bottom of the following
figure.
The following picture shows the transparency slider set at almost half way mark for
NLCD 1992 land cover layer:
¾ Turn off all the layers except Boundary and USGS Identifier. Expand the
Streams layer, you will see a number of stream layers according to their capacity
in cubic meters per second (CMS). You select the stream with highest flow
value by checking the box on the left of the value. Activate Stream Legend.
The following figure shows watershed model with streams enabled:
¾ Select several streams and click the Play Tour button located next to the slider
bar in the figure given below. The Goggle Earth starts to zoom to the selected
line or stream and move along the line from start to end point. This tour may
not be the best way to visit the watershed therefore, towards the end of this
session, we have included an overview of creating a watershed tour using
Google Earth.
Thus, Google Earth could be a useful tool for educating your stakeholders about
location of dam, change in population and land cover, stream flow and drainage
divide in the watershed of interest.
Create Content Using Google Earth New features can be added to Google Earth by using toolbar located at the top of the
3-D Viewer.
The following figure shows the content bar functionalities.
Adding a placemark, polygon or region, line or path are commonly use features.
Add Place Mark and Organize The Google Earth has a number of functionalities that we can use to improve our
application. One of the functions is placemark. The second button from left in the
following figure shows the placemark in the toolbar (bounded by a red box).
Add place mark
You can add placemark to Google Earth in two ways. One of the ways is to click the
on the content bar. A blinking placemark will appear on the
placemark button
map and a New Placemark window opens up. You can drag the placemark by clicking
in the middle of the blinking box and place where ever you want. For better
placement, zoom the map then try to create the placemark. This will allow you to
place it more accurately.
Once the placemark is located at the position of your choice, you can set the
following properties for the placemark in the New Placemark window:
¾ Enter s representative Name for the placemark
¾ Provide a Description, including HTML text, photo, and video files
¾ Define Style, Color - Choose a color, scale (size) and opacity for the placemark
icon
¾ Modify View properties – Modify as you like. If you click Snapshot current view
then the current view (altitude and camera angle) information is applied to this
placemark. By saving the current view you can make sure that each visit to the
placemark shows the same saved view. It will involve specifying a particular
orientation around a given place and then setting the orientation.
¾ Altitude - Choose the height of the placemark as it appears over terrain with a
numeric value or the slider. Choose Extend to ground to show the placemark
attached to a line anchored to the ground.
¾ (Icon) - Click the icon for the placemark (top right corner of the dialog box in
the Name row) to choose an alternate icon.
Adding Video, Images etc. to Description panel
User can use plain text or HTML code. The HTML code will enable to use picture or
video on the placemark. If you want to add YouTube video in your description box,
copy the YouTube HTML code and paste anywhere in the description box.
The following figure shows the pasted HTML code in the description box that we
copied from YouTube website.
Then click OK. The placemark appears on the map. Click at the placemark and now
you will notice the picture of the video with a play button.
In a similar way you can display pictures by using the HTML code for picture. If you
use URL in place of a picture, the description box will show URL as a link. Click on
the link that will open particular URL in the internet browser.
Repeat these steps for adding additional placemarks. Each placemark gets added to
My Places folder on the left side of the screen.
Edit place mark
You can always edit the placemark by right clicking and selecting Properties option. In
this editing mode, the description window will once again pop up.
The placemark will again start to blink indicating that we can drag and drop to a new
location or change all properties on the New Properties window.
You can also change the shape of Placemark icon. Click the icon for the placemark
(top right corner of the dialog box in the Name row). The window as shown in the
right hand side will appear. Please note that you can also add Custom Icons by
clicking at the bottom left button Add
Custom Icon… .
You can also change select the color, scale,
and opacity of the placemark by exercising
your choice at the options available in top
middle part of the window.
The second way to add Placemark is to go to Add option and then click Placemark.
Add region or polygon
Before adding a region or polygon to the 3-D Viewer, make sure that you have
positioned the viewer to a location that contains the region of interest. A detailed view
of the region of interest will allow your drawing to closely follow the features on the
land. To add region or polygon from the content bar, click on the
button. This
action will open a New Polygon window. Similar to New Placemark window, you can
change several properties for the new polygon. You will also notice the cursor
changes to a square drawing tool. Enter the properties for your drawing as per your
requirement. It is recommended that you change the style color (Style, Color tab) for
the polygon from the default white to better visualize the shape you are about to try.
Click in the viewer to start your drawing and use the following methods to achieve
your desired shape:
¾
Free-Form shape - Click once, hold, and drag. The cursor changes to an
up-arrow to indicate that you are using free-form mode. As you drag the
cursor around the 3D viewer, the outline of the shape follows the path
of your cursor. A shape evolves from the path of your cursor, always
connecting the beginning and ending points.
¾
Regular shape - Click and release. Move the mouse to a new point and
click to add additional points. In this mode, the cursor remains a square
drawing tool.
You can use a combination of these drawing modes to combine curved edges with
straight edges. To transition from a free-form mode to a regular mode, just release the
mouse button, position the pointer to a new place, and click. A straight edge is drawn
between the last point and the most recent one. Reverse the process to enter freeform drawing mode again.
The polygon shape also gets added to My Places folder on the left side of the 3-D
Viewer.
You can edit this shape by right clicking on its name and then selecting Properties
option. Make changes as you like and click Ok to save the changes.
Add path or line and Record Tour
You will learn about these two functionalities later on while creating a tour of the
watershed.
View Historical Imagery in Google Earth
You can turn back the clock and look at imagery that is available from all around the world. To use this option, click on the clock icon in the content bar or View‐>Historical Imagery from the main menu. The historical imagery time slider appears just beneath the content bar. You can use the time slider to change your view to imagery which is older than the date shown on the slider. The presence of tick marks on the slider represents images that are available in Google Earth’s database for your current view. Move the slider back and forth along the timeline or use the arrow buttons in the upper left corner to step from one date to the next. If there are just too many ticks marks grouped together try using the zoom in and zoom out buttons to expand or contract the timeline. Ruler Tool in Google Earth
You can measure linear distances using Google Earth Ruler tool. On the content bar,
click Ruler tool
A new window pops up as shown below:
You can select the unit of measurement and then click box figure to mark two
locations for measuring distance. The two end points are shown in red and a yellow
line marks linear distance between the two. The result appears on the Ruler window.
Thus, linear distances can be easily measured using free version of Google Earth.
Open/Save data in Google Earth and Share
The Google Earth saves file in the KML or KMZ format. User can open the KML
file in the Google Earth or Save the Google Earth application as KML file or share
the KML file.
Open
User can open a KML file from hard disk or open through internet .
1. Open the local file
On the main menu, go to File and select Open option. This will pop up open dialog
window. You select any stored KML file in your computer and open it. The KML file
will be added either to My Places or Temporary Places folder depending on the folder
that has been selected by you.
2. Open through internet
This option will allow you to use the most updated data provided by source agencies.
By using Network link option, you can open KML or KMZ Google Earth files that are
saved in different location or sever.
A network link allows you to point to another KML file that is generated by a
program running on a remote computer or server. Depending on the setting used, the
network link can automatically refresh. You can update as fast as once a second, or
just have it update once. You can also update network links based on when the user
moves their view in Google Earth (this is called View Based Refresh).
The use of network link is shown through an example below:
Go to Google Earth home page and click Gallery in the left side. That will guide to a
new browser with list or galleries. Type weather and search Earth Gallery.
For Weather Stations Report, right click on Open in Google Earth and select Copy
Shortcut.
Now, Go back to Google Earth and select Network link under Add menu option.
The small pop up window will appear.
Type-in the name (1) and paste the
Shortcut string that you copied from
weather gallery. In the Refresh frame,
change the time refresh option to
periodically (3). Select “When Region in
View” option under View-Based Refresh
(4) and click OK. This will refresh the
Google Earth periodically as and when
original data change (weather data- every 15
minutes).
The following figure shows the map with nearest weather station data:
Note: There is another site that has Stream gage data. That is real time data and
colored by stream flow condition throughout the US. The following is the website
link and if you click on the data that will automatically open in your Google Earth.
http://waterwatch.usgs.gov/kml.html
The real time stream flow data will refresh automatically in every hour. The following
figure shows the data in Google Earth.
Additional Weblinks
Some suggested websites for obtaining KML files of your interest for viewing in
Google Earth are as given below:
1. http://edna.usgs.gov/watersheds/kml_index.htm
Major watershed KML files are in US through USGS data.
2. http://www.nps.gov/biso/photosmultimedia/virtualtour.htm
US Stream flow data, Kentucky Stream flow, Tennessee Stream flow, Big South Fork
Watershed & regional features.
3. http://www.nps.gov/sacn/photosmultimedia/google-earth-st-croix-nsr.htm
This is St. Croix National Scenic River way data.
4. http://www.sjsugeology.org/nest/water.html
There are USGS data, NASA data.
5. http://maps.aqua.wisc.edu/urpl590-spring09/mashups/Great_Lakes_kml_22June08.pdf
This includes number of source data like NASA, US Geological Survey, NOAA Etc..
6. http://www.dlese.org/library/query.do?q=streamflow
This is also for Stream flow data and other data.
7. https://hazards.fema.gov/femaportal/wps/portal/NFHLWMSkmzdownload
It has FEMA NFHL data.
8. http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/wsf/earth/index.html
It has Google Earth Water Supply Forecast Layer (NRCS).
9. http://waterwatch.usgs.gov/?m=stategage&r=wa&w=pa01d_nwc%2Cmap
It has USGS stream flow data
10. http://www.atmos.uiuc.edu/web/google_earth.shtml
It has the weather Bundle for US.
Save
You can save Google Earth file in both KMZ and KML file format. Select the project
file that you want to save. Under Places panel, select the file then click save option.
That will show number of options. If you select save to My Places, it will save your
file at My Places folder. If you select the option “Save Place As”, then it will save only
that selected project under the panel in the KML file format.
Use File > Save > Save Image to save the current view as an image file to your
computer's hard drive. When you save an image, a Save dialog box appears and you
can locate a folder on your computer to save the image to, just as you would for any
document you might save. The image is saved with all visible placemarks, borders, or
other Layer information visible in the 3D viewer.
You can save images in the following resolutions: Screen and 1000 pixels
Google Earth PRO/EC users can save images in the following resolutions:
•
•
•
1400 pixels
2400 pixels
4800 pixels
Share
There is an email option that allows emailing the 3D map or Snapshot of 3D or any
Placemark/Folder. The following figure shows the email button with red box as well
as available options to email.
User can choose the option and send the mail with as attachment.
Importing Your Data in Google Earth Free version of Google Earth allows to import following types of data:
A)
From a GPS Device
B)
Imagery Data
Using GPS Devices with Google Earth (Source: Google Inc.) You can connect your GPS device to your computer and import features data such as
tracks, waypoints and routes into Google Earth. Google Earth currently supports
most GPS devices only from Garmin and Magellan. The GPSBabel web site lists the
devices officially supported by the Google Earth GPS import feature. You can try
other devices, but they might not work correctly. If you're using a device that is not
supported, you can try importing GPS data from the device to your computer as a
.gpx or .loc file and then opening it in Google Earth (File > Open). Third party tools
could also be used to import GPS data from other brand of GPS receivers and we will
go over a few tools later on in the workshop.
Take a note of the following:
(a) Make sure that you have either a serial or USB cable to connect the GPS device to
your computer.
(b) Be informed that when your GPS data is imported into Google Earth, it is
categorized into three possible folders, depending upon the type of data collected by
the GPS receiver. These folders are:
¾
¾
¾
Tracks - Tracks (or trackpoints) are the points automatically recorded by the
GPS device periodically along the recorded route. They can be imported into
the Google Earth application as paths.
Waypoints - Waypoints are points entered manually by the user and typically
marked with a name, such as "home" or "turnaround point."
Routes - Route points are those points that the GPS device uses to creating the
routing, such as when you instruct the device to "go to" a recorded point from
another recorded point. Route points can contain multiple connected "go to"
instructions. They can be imported into the Google Earth application as paths.
Importing GPS Data Tip - If you have a .GPX file on your computer, you can import it by dragging and
dropping the file into Google Earth.
Follow the instructions given below to import the data from your
Garmin/Magellan/Wintec WBT-201 GPS receiver to Google Earth:
1. If you are using a Garmin USB device and a Windows computer, please install
the Garmin USB driver from the CD that came with your GPS device or
download this driver from the Garmin website. For Magellan receivers, go
through the steps given at the Magellan support. The recorded data from
Wintec WBT-201 receiver can be downloaded by Bluetooth or mini-USB and
uploaded to Google Earth with bundled utility for viewing and analysis. In
addition, the new TimeMachine X software can now combine photos into
Google Earth.
2. In this workshop, you have collected data using Garmin eTrex GPS receivers.
To import this data in Google Earth, please connect your receivers to your
computer using USB cable. If your receiver came with a serial cable, you can
use that, too.
3. Turn on the GPS device. Once your device is on and activated, it is not
necessary to wait until it
connects to satellites.
4. From the 'Tools' menu, select
GPS.
5. The 'GPS' window appears.
6. Select Garmin as manufacturer for
your device.
7. Under Import, Select the types of data
you want to import.
8. Under Options, choose your drawing
preferences. Check Draw icons at track
and route points if you want an icon to
be displayed in the 3D viewer for every
track/route point recorded by your
GPS device. Check Draw lines for tracks and routes to draw each GPS track
and route as a solid line.
9. Check the Adjust altitude to ground height check box to adjust all recorded
point to ground level, such as when importing a track taken on foot, car, or
bike. However, if your GPS track was recorded while hang gliding or flying,
make sure this option is not selected so that your points appear as aboveground points.
10. Click OK. When your GPS data is finished loading into Google Earth, a
confirmation dialog box appears.
Your data appears in the 'Places' panel with the label 'Garmin GPS Device' or
'Magellan GPS Device', or “Wintec WBT-201” depending upon the device used
(see Supported Devices). If you expand that folder, you can see the data sorted
into the appropriate folders depending upon the type of data, as illustrated in the
example below.
You can expand those folders and explore the information within as you would
any other type of places data. This includes organizing, editing, sharing, saving,
and more.
Note - If you receive a connection error, turn off the GPS device, turn it on again,
and start again from Step 4 above.
Viewing Real-time GPS Information
If you have connected your portable computer to a
GPS receiver, you can view GPS information in
realtime. For example, you can view a live GPS
track of your progress in a car on a laptop in Google
Earth as you travel (it is assumed that you are
connected to internet at all the time). To do this:
1. Connect your GPS device and portable
computer as described earlier.
2. In the GPS dialog box, click the '>Realtime' tab.
3. Choose the appropriate options:
¾
¾
¾
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'Select protocol' - If you don't know which one to use, choose 'NMEA'.
'Track point import limit' - This is the maximum number of points
imported per poll of the device. A smaller number can result in faster data
but a less accurate depiction of your journey, while a larger number can
mean the opposite.
<'Polling interval (seconds)' - This is the frequency of which Google Earth
collects data from the GPS device.
'Automatically follow the path' - Check this to have the 3D viewer center
on and follow the current realtime GPS track.
4. Click Start to begin realtime GPS tracking.
Add Image Overlay
You can overlay any map or image on top of the 3-D Viewer. Use the following steps:
¾ Click the Add Image Overlay button
on the content bar or click Add-Image
Overlay option from the main menu toolbar. A New Image Overlay dialog box
appears, and a green outline is placed on the Earth.
¾ Resize the Green outline by grabbing either corner or side anchors and move it
by grabbing it at the center cross-hair marker. Once you identify a proper
location, return to the New Image Overlay dialog box and type in “UofA_logo” in
the Name field.
¾ You can type in address link for the new image into the Link field, or click
"Browse..." and find an image to add from your local hard drive. In this
example, I will add the Logo of University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture
from my hard drive.
¾ Move the Transparency slider to the left to observe as to how it changes the
transparency of the image.
¾ Click OK when you are finished. The map is now listed in the Places panel, and
can be saved to a KML file with other Google Earth project data you have
created.
Edit: you will see your object name under My Places or Temporary places panel
depend on which one was active when you create your object. So right click on the
name and select the property option. It will change to edit mode and you will see the
name pop up window also appear. Now you can edit in the region or in the name pop
up window then click OK to apply all edit you made.
Importing Table, vector GIS data and Geocoding using third party software
The Google Earth handle KML file. The Google Earth Pro gives you power to
import data from tables and other forms of GIS data. However, these options are not
available for free version. You can use third party softwares to enhance the power of
free version of Google Earth.
Understanding Projection and Datum At this time, I would like to discuss a very important concept of projection and
datum. The term projection is used to describe any method that is used for
representing an ellipsoidal shaped 3D earth surface on a flat 2D map surface. This
process always results in distortion to one or more map properties, such as area, scale,
shape, or direction. Because of this, hundreds of projections have been developed in
order to accurately represent a particular map element or to best suit a particular type
of map. Data sources for maps come in various projections depending upon which
characteristic the cartographer chooses to represent more accurately (at the expense of
other characteristics). In the example above, the Mercator projection preserves the
right angles of the latitude and longitudinal lines at the expense of area, which is
distorted at the poles, showing the land masses there to be larger than they actually
are.
3D Earth
Mercator Projection
The term datum denotes mathematical model that is used for describing the actual
shape of the earth. A datum also defines the association of latitude and longitude
coordinates to points on the surface of the earth, and defines the basis for elevation
measurements. Google Earth uses WGS84 datum.
When building whole-earth databases, a single global projection is the most
convenient to use. Google Earth uses Simple Cylindrical projection for its imagery
base. This projections system is also known as Lat/Lon WGS84, Equirectangular,
Equidistant Cylindrical, or Rectangular. In this projection, the polar regions are less
distorted in scale and area than they are in the Mercator projection.
1. Simple Cylindrical (Plate Carree) Projection
2. Google Earth Image Base
Projection Conversion
Different data use different projection. The Google Earth use WGS84 projection.
There are free software that change the projection one from another.
MapWindow is an open source software for GIS application. You can freely
download the desktop version and install on your computer.
The following picture shows the download tab and download product by red box in
the MapWindow website.
Open MapWindow, select GIS Tools => Vector => Assign Projection to Shapefile,
and follow the straightforward process of selecting your shapefile and its coordinate
system to create a .prj file. Now you can set the output project to WGS84. It will
project to WGS84 system.
The following picture shows the MapWindow Projection selection.
Now, you are free to use any available tool relevant to Google Earth without
considering projection of your shape file.
Shape file to kml conversion
There are number of free software available to do this job. We are going to discuss a
simple tool that helps to convert shape file easily. Normally, ESRI shape file has a
number of extensions as given below:
Shapfile.shp: Main shapes file with coordinates and shapes.
Shapfile.dbf: Dbase file to store the attribute data relevant to every shape.
Shapefile.prj: Store the projection details.
Shapefile.shx: store the index of shapes.
You will use free version of Shp2kml software to convert the shape file.
The free Shp2kml version is 2.0. The main website is
http://www.zonums.com/shp2kml_down.html and user can download and install it
in your computer. There is one limitation though. One needs to adjust date option in
the computer before it can be used.
Even though, it may give some problem for handling poorly-formatted large shape
files. It works fine in most of the application that we checked.
Data Conversion
Step by step method for data conversion is given below:
Double click Shp2kml exe file, it will appear as shown in the following figure.
Open your shape file by clicking the browse button.
The open file shows up in the map display as shown below:
If you do not see the preview map, click on the first button that is shown by red box
in above figure.
The projection will automatically display under Datum, if you have .prj file in your
shape file. My file projection is WGS 1984 Global Definition. If it does not display, then
select manually by clicking drop down window in Datum.
The compatible data are geographic and UTM coordinate system. The output file will
have geographic/WGS84 coordinate system that is used by Google Earth
Click on next button to move to the next step.
The next window will appear as shown in the
adjacent figure.
Select the field name from attribute fields and click on display label option on either
always or never. When you select the field here, this field will be the main field to this
map.
The Symbology has three option based on the selected field.
Single Symbol: This will display same color for all fields in the map.
Unique Value: This will display different color for different field in the map.
Graduate Value: This will change the color gradually according to field value. It will
help to visualize the pattern of changing field value in the map.
Now click Next button.
Select the Field Values in the drop down bar, it will also display color coding as well as
colors on the map.
If you selected Graduate Value in the previous step, the following screen shows up
Here we have a number of options. Select the field value to apply color coding. It will
group by value ranges. If you want to normalize the value with some other values,
then you select the normalized value option to calculate normalized results and apply
color scheme for those values.
In my example, I divided area value by population of 1997 in every country in the US.
The color code applied to normalized area value.
You can click next button for next step. The figure shows the appearance for that
step.
Note: Free version software in Balloon option did not
work for me.
You can select the fields that you want to display in the Balloon. When you click on
the balloon, it will show the values of the field in the map.
You can also give the Title to Balloon and color.
When you go to next step, the following screen appears:
Type in the layer name and add description for providing more details.
The bottom two buttons can be used to save the KML file on your computer or open
it directly in the Google Earth.
You can choose either option dependent on your convenience.
If you have any problem to locate correct place (correct projection), you can reproject you shapefile as discuss earlier to WGS84 projection then use this Shp2Kml
software to change to KML file.
Now your file is ready to use in Google Earth.
CSV format to kml Conversion
Make sure your file projection is WGS84 format with latitude & longitude are in
decimal format. If it is in degree, minute, second format, then you need to change it in
to decimal format.
The following figure shows the sample of CSV file opened in the Note-Pad.
You can use csv2Kml software for this conversion. The software can be downloaded
from the following site freely.
http://www.tchartdev.com/csv2kml.htm
Once you open the Zip file and double click on the executable file (exe), you will see
the following figure.
Click the browse button to open your CSV file.
Select Latitude and Longitude fields using the drop down menu. Select the name field
that is going to display on the Point in the Google Earth. You can select the relevant
field to include in the description for the points by click on the tick box in the right
side.
Finally, you click on the Convert button that will convert your CSV file to KML and
save it in the same directory where the csv2Kml.exe file saved. Open the newly
created file by following the instructions discussed earlier.
Excel file to kml Conversion
Excel files are widely used and in this exercise you will convert excel file to kml
format for viewing in Google Earth. A freely available tool called Earth Point software
can be used for converting excel files in kml format. The software is hosted online
and allows up to 200 lines for free conversion. Extra every line is charged (please
check details from the software provider). This software expects that excel files are
organized in a certain fashion. The projection system in all the files should invariably
be WGS84 and latitude & Longitude should be in decimal format.
Enter these words into separate cells on the first row of excel file: "Latitude",
"Longitude", "Name", "Description", and "Icon". The first two fields are necessary
and others are optional. Name field is going to be displayed next to the point in the
Google Earth and Description field will pop up when you click on the point. You can
include HTML text in the description text that will enhance the point description (as
discussed in previous sections).
The following figure shows the sample points in excel file.
For shape of the icon, you can put relevant numbers which will be discussed a little
later.
Now open excel to kml browser by clicking the following link:
http://www.earthpoint.us/ExcelToKml.aspx#ExcelColumns
The following figure shows the open software in the browser.
Click on the Browse button and select your excel file. When you click on the View on
Google Earth, It will open the converted KML file in Google Earth. If you want to
save that KML file then move it under My Places panel and save it.
The following figure shows the output KML points in Google Earth.
If you scroll down in the same browser,
you will find the instruction for this
conversion. The Icon Number table is
provided to select different symbols for
your points.
Altitude, Distance, and Area measurement
You can measure altitude, distance or area using free online software called Map Tool.
The latest version is Map Tool 2. Click the following website.
http://www.zonums.com/gmaps/maptool.php
Following figure shows the preview of tool.
This tool allows to measure altitude, distance, and area by selecting the point on the
map.
Altitude Measurement
It has number of option to measure in different unit. Let’s say, you want to measure
in meter. Click the Get/Tool drop down menu and select Elevation (meters). The
following figure shows the selection.
Click where ever you want to measure altitude on the map and the tool will display
the value next to your parameter. The following figure shows the result value.
Now you can see that the clicked point appeared in green color. Result is displayed
next to the parameter selection in meters.
Distance Measurement
You can measure distance between two points. Select the parameter to Distance. If
you click more than two points, the tool will connect all the points and show total
distance as well as distance between the last two points.
The following figure shows the distance measurement procedure.
On the results row, if you click Undo then last action will be canceled. If you click
Clear then it will clear all lines.
Area Measurement
Area measurement is similar to distance measurement. Select the parameter to Area
and proper unit of measurement. Then draw the region to measure the area. The
following figure shows the area measurement result.
If you have any area or line or point in Google Earth, we can measure its
measurement using this tool and display the values in the Google Earth object details.
There are more free tools available in this software. Click “More Tools” button on
the left side. The following figure shows that. You are free to use these tools
according to your requirement.
Area Measurement
Google Planimater (www.acme.com/planimeter) is another tool for calculating area of
polygons using Google Maps. It uses the same interface as that used in Google Maps
and can be used intuitively.
Township and Range Information
Click the link http://www.earthpoint.us/Townships.aspx for obtaining latitude and
longitude information for locations identified by Public Land Survey System. Enter
Township and Range. Optionally enter Section. Google Earth flys you there using
BLM data. Hint: pause for a moment after choosing each of the criteria. This allows
the data to be loaded into the drop-down boxes.
How to avoid retracing Polygons for obtaining Area
Click the site http://www.earthpoint.us/Shapes.aspx and follow instructions. This is a
subscription service depending on the use. Check further details from the provider
please.
Creating Watershed Tour Using Google Earth Drawing Paths
A helpful feature in Google Earth is the ability to draw a line, or path, over a
particular region so that you can navigate/fly over it. You can draw free-form paths in
the 3D viewer and save them in your My Places folder just as you would a placemark.
Paths share all the features of placemark data, including name, description, style view,
and location. Once you create a path, you can even select and play a tour of it.
To add a path in Google Earth, follow the steps below.
1. Position the 3D viewer to best contain the region you want to mark. The more
detailed your view, the more closely your drawing can follow the land feature.
From the Add menu, select Path (Ctrl + Shift + T), or click the Add Path icon
on the toolbar.
2. The New Path dialog box appears and the cursor changes to a square drawing
tool.
Click in the viewer to start your drawing and use the following
methods to achieve your desired shape:
o
o
Free-Form shape - Click once, hold, and drag. The cursor changes to an
up-arrow to indicate that you are using free-form mode. As you drag the
cursor around the 3D viewer, the outline of the shape follows the path
of your cursor. If you are drawing a path, a line appears as a result.
Regular shape - Click and release. Move the mouse to a new point and
click to add additional points. In this mode, the cursor remains a square
drawing tool.
You can use a combination of these drawing modes to combine curved edges
with straight edges. To transition from a free-form mode to a regular mode,
just release the mouse button, position the pointer to a new place, and click. A
straight edge is drawn between the last point and the most recent one. Reverse
the process to enter free-form drawing mode again.
When you are
creating your
path, remember
that…
Individual
clicks
produce a
rougher line.
Click-anddrag to create
a smooth
line.
To edit a line,
simply click-anddrag any vertex
to a new
location.
Type the path, or
line, name here.
Click several times to
create a path, or line.
Click here to change
the color and width
of the path or line
Type the description
for the path, or line
here
Setting Line Color and Width
With the New Path dialog box open, you can use the Line properties in the Style,Color
tab to modify the display of the line in the 3D viewer.
¾
Color - To set the color for a line, click on the Color swatch and choose a color
using the standard color selector. You can choose preset colors or define your
own in a variety of ways. Your color choice is added to that of the existing line
data in the same way as icon color is modified.
¾
Width - The default setting for line width is 1 pixel. You can adjust the
thickness of the line from 0 to 4 pixels by clicking on the Width button and
using the up and down arrows to adjust the width within the allowed range.
You can enter other values for the line width by typing in a number in the
Width field.
¾
Opacity - The opacity setting indicates how transparent the line is relative to
the imagery beneath it. By default, the opacity is 100%, which means that it
completely obscures any imagery beneath it. If you have changed the width and
color of your line, you might want it to be partially transparent so imagery
beneath is visible. To do this, enter a percentage opacity in the Opacity field or
click on the Opacity button and use the slider to adjust transparency to your
preference.
Setting Altitude
With the New Path dialog box open, you can also modify the altitude settings of your
line. You can change altitude settings in the Altitude tab of the Edit Placemark/Folder
dialog box (Edit > Properties).
Altitude Settings
There are three options for altitude:
¾
Clamped to ground - By default, all folders and placemarks are set to this
option. Here, because the altitude for the placemark is locked to the ground, no
height value is allowed for altitude. This ensures that the placemark remains
fixed to the earth, regardless of whether terrain is on or off.
¾
Relative to ground - When this option is selected, altitude of the placemark is
relative to the actual ground elevation of the view. For example, if you set 9
meters as the altitude of a placemark in Venice, Italy, the elevation of the
placemark will be 9 meters above the ground because Venice is at sea level.
However, if you set the same placemark above Denver, Colorado, the elevation
of the placemark will be 1616 meters, because the elevation of Denver is 1607
meters. You can see this how this appears in the 3D viewer by setting elevation,
tilting the view, and turning terrain on and off.
Placemark over the Google campus with relative o
altitude set to nine meters, terrain off. o
¾
Same placemark, terrain on.
You can adjust the altitude using the slider or by entering a value in
meters in the Altitude field.
Absolute - When this option is selected, altitude of the Placemark is above sea
level. In the example above, if you have terrain on and keep altitude to 9 meters
but set the altitude type to Absolute, the icon would disappear from view
because it is actually below the level of the terrain at Denver, Colorado. You
can adjust the altitude using the slider or by entering a value in meters in the
Altitude field.
Click OK to save your new path or polygon.
Using Tours
Note: This updated touring feature is available only in Google Earth 5 and later
You can create and play tours of places and content. Tours are a guided experience
where you fly from one location to another, view terrain and content and look around
as you wish. You can create tours that record your exact navigation in the 3D window
and even add audio. You can then share these tours with other Google Earth users.
Playing Tours
To play a tour, double click the tour in the Places panel. To create and play a new tour
of a line (path), select the appropriate line in the Places panel and click the Play Tour
button
.
The tour begins playing in the 3D viewer and the tour controls appear in the bottom
left corner of the 3D viewer. To pause or resume the tour, click the Pause/Play
button. To fast forward or go back on the tour, click the arrow buttons (press these
repeatedly to accelerate back or forward). To replay the again and again tour, click the
Repeat button. Use the tour slider to move to any part of the tour.
These controls disappear if the tour is inactive for a period of time, but you can make
them reappear by moving the cursor over the bottom left corner of the 3D window.
1. Go back, play/pause and fast forward buttons
2. Tour slider
3. Current time in tour
4. Repeat button
5. Save tour button
6. Close tour button
As a tour plays, you can look around by dragging the view. Note that this is different
than navigating, as you can only look around from the view points of the tour. When
you pause a tour, you can navigate anywhere. When you click the play button again,
the tour resumes where it left off. Once you create a new tour, be sure to click the
Save tour button.
Setting Tour Options
You can control touring behavior, as described below. To access these settings, click
Tools > Options. (on the Mac, click Google Earth > Preferences).
When you are creating a tour that follows a line (path), use these settings:
•
Camera tilt angle - Use this to set the angle of the view displayed when
following a line
•
Camera range - Use this to determine how much of the earth (example 10,000
meters) is displayed in the tour
•
Speed - Use this to set the speed of the tour
Useful references for extra details
These details provide the link and explanation of that link. The above sides are useful
to get more knowledge in Google Earth and relative activities.
1. http://nsdl.org/collection/geosciences/#G
Most of the details are relevant to Geosciences in National Science Digital Library
(NSDL).
2. http://nhd.usgs.gov/newsletters/News_July_08.pdf
This is Colorado National Hydrographs Dataset Stewardship Pilot Report.
3. http://earth.google.com/outreach/tutorials.html#tab1
This is Google Earth & Maps Tutorials.
4. http://www.hol.edu/syllabusuploads/Google%20Earth%20Basics.pdf
This explains simple Google Application like class activity.
5. http://alicechristie.org/gearth/index.html
This has the Visual Tour of Google Earth document.
6. http://serc.carleton.edu/files/sp/library/google_earth/examples/google-earth-tipsheet.v2.pdf
This has Google Earth Tip Sheet for all tool functionalities.
7. http://www.juicygeography.co.uk/gpsschool.htm
Tools:
Expert GPS (http://www.expertgps.com/) - View your GPS waypoints and
tracklogs and draw over Topo Maps and Aerial Photos with ExpertGPS desktop
mapping software for Windows 7, Vista and XP.
ExpertGPS is a software system for Windows 7, XP and Vista. View GPS waypoints
and tracklogs from any handheld GPS receiver over aerial photos and US topographic
maps. Plan your next outdoor adventure over scanned USGS topo maps and send a
route directly to your GPS receiver to guide you in the field. View your GPS tracklog
over an aerial photo to see exactly where you went.
ExpertGPS downloads aerial photos and topo maps for any location in the US, saving
the maps to your hard drive. Disconnect your laptop and head out on a trip, and all of
your data is available. ExpertGPS keeps track of which maps need to be retrieved
from the Internet, so you can quickly define an area to map and let ExpertGPS gather
the data later.
GEtrax (http://users.xplornet.com/~perkins/GEtrax/ )
GEtrax is a Windows application that can...
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Plot various format track files in Google Earth...
o GPX
o XML
o OziExplorer
o Raw NMEA data (text)
o CSV data (text - one type only)
Plot GPX or OziExplorer format waypoint files in Google Earth (as
placemarks).
Read live (NMEA) data from any gps (COM port) and plot location and track
in Google Earth.
Read a track file directly from a Garmin gps and plot it in Google Earth.
Put tracks (including live data) on a server and email a recipient for remote
viewing.
Save tracks in GoogleMap and OziExplorer format.
Save track and waypoint files as GPX format for archiving.
Read track data from existing KML files.
Read Ham radio tracking data from Findu.com or from a receiver and plot the
location and track in Google Earth.
KML to GPX (http://www.takitwithme.com/ge2gps.html )
Use this tool to upload Google Earth KML directly to your Garmin GPS or convert
them to GPX format. Simply copy KML text in the form and click 'Convert KML to
GPX' to get started. To get KML simply right-click-copy on a placemark or folder in
Google Earth and the right-click-paste in our form.
Goop Tool (http://goopstechnologies.com/ )
Plug a GPS into your laptop -- Fire-up GooPs -- Jump into your car, boat, or plane -and get ready for the Ride of Your Life!
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Track yourself in breathtaking 3D with Google Earth and GooPs, an amazing
companion to Google Earth that shows you where you are in REAL-TIME!
Watch yourself zooming through the landscape, while laid out behind you is a
colorful track showing your traveled path and speed.
Use all of Google Earth's fantastic zooming and panning features to survey the
landscape around you as you travel. Or use GooPs' built in AutoView feature
for hands free control of tilt, rotation, and zoom.
GooPs is great for all types of vehicles, land, sea, or air and is compatible with
almost any GPS (NMEA).
No network connection is required (you can pre-load your trip into Google
Earth and run standalone)
Use GooPs' built in record/playback capability to re-live your trip (Pro only),
or save your trip directly to Google Earth as KML
Track your friends and family too! GooPs can track other GooPs users if you
have peer-to-peer network visibility (mobile vpn or static IP) - no servers or
monthly subscriptions required. GooPs can also track GpsGate users!
KML Tours (http://krolik.net/KMLTours/ )
Upload your trail / track KML, KMZ, or GPX file that you wish to convert to a
virtual tour. You can then watch your tour within a web page using the Google Earth
plugin for web browsers or you can choose to download the tour as a KML file in
order to be able to view in full screen mode by opening the file in Google Earth 5.0
or greater.
Navigator (http://navigator.geoblogspot.com/ )
Navigator is a stand-alone application for real time GPS navigation in Google Earth
(FREE).