Google Earth Hot Links Bm's To Gc.com

[+Klemmer]

Maybe folks out there already know this, but I didn't until today!

I download a county worth of data from NGS, run it through BMGPX, use GSAK for sorting, and recently started using Google Earth (paid version) for "overhead" views (as opposed to topo maps). I've previously setup Google Earth with the "hot link" of caches back to Geocaching.com. OK, all expected so far.

 

What I didn't expect was that a gpx file of NGS benchmark data dropped onto Google Earth would ALSO have hot links enabled back to the proper geocaching.com benchmark data page. Cool! Don't know where along the way the URL was added to the NGS data, but I THINK it was added in BMGPX (not GSAK), since a file I believe was fresh from BMGPX (hadn't been "thru" GSAK) had the links. Very handy. Thanks, Parkrrrr, I guess. Wish I had a choice of GC.com or NGS, but I guess I can manage to type the NGS PID once in a while...

 

If this is commonly known already, well, never mind.

[2oldfarts (the rockhounders)]

This sounds interesting. Do you think the Google Earth that is down loadable from GC for Premium members would work? If not, how much is a paid Google Earth? Is it a subscription (monthly) or a one time fee like GSAK?

 

Thanks,

 

Shirley~

[+Klemmer]

Shirley:

I'm not sure if is part of the basic (free) one or not, since I have the paid one installed. Someone with just the free one will have to answer that. All I know, is that I like it! The Google Earth Plus I have was $20, and I just noticed that it IS ANNUAL. Oh well. I use it plenty, and now that I know it hot links to GC for BM's I'll probably use it evenmore. Google Earth Plus

[+GeckoGeek]

Hey, I didn't know Google Earth (free) could take GPX files! Thanks.

[+rhelt100]

Shirley:

I'm not sure if is part of the basic (free) one or not, since I have the paid one installed. Someone with just the free one will have to answer that. All I know, is that I like it! The Google Earth Plus I have was $20, and I just noticed that it IS ANNUAL. Oh well. I use it plenty, and now that I know it hot links to GC for BM's I'll probably use it evenmore. Google Earth Plus

 

The links work on the freebie version as well.

[+Firefighter Skippy]

Sorry, I'm a little computer slow. How do you get them on GoogleEarth?

[+Klemmer]

Glad to explain further:

 

First, go to the top of the Benchmark forum. Check the first topic, which is "pinned" to stay on top: Me First!. Open it. First entry has a list of eight things you might need to know. Click on 8) County Downloads there. That will explain how to get a county's worth of data from NGS, and convert it to a .gpx file using the BMGPX program. It's easy. It's a drop & drag.

 

Next, open GoogleEarth (GE), after you install it, of course. According to reports above, the free version works for this. Drag and drop the county .gpx file you made onto GE. Select "waypoints" from the selection box GE gives you. You will have a large group of marks and their numbers (PIDs) on GE.

 

As an aside: You can adjust the size and color of the marks & labels (at least I can on the pay version), by selecting the "waypoints" directory [which you should move under "My Places" so it gets saved, and re-name it], right click on the directory, select "edit", and click "advanced". You will se ethe color and scale controls for the waypoints and labels.

 

Then just zoom and pan GE in far enough to see the area you are interested in hunting. Just click on a mark, and it will offer you a hyperlink (blue) that takes you right to the Geocaching.com page for the benchmark. Just click on the link.

 

It's really more simple than it sounds. Best way I know of to "browse" an area, to see what is there, and go right to the GC.com page. Lots easier than older ways I used.

[ArtMan]

Another Google Earth query:

 

I have a spreadsheet (OpenOffice Calc) with (to simplify a bit) three columns: PID, lat, long. I want to convert that to some format that can be displayed in Google Earth, i.e. .GPX or .KML/.KMX.

 

Is there a relatively simply way to do this?

 

I'm not a programmer. Calc does have an XML export tool, but you apparently have to write a style sheet to do it, and there is scant guidance on how to do so.

 

My goal is to tie together my own list of marks visited with NGS-derived lists of all marks in a particular area.

 

Thanks for any help you can offer

 

-ArtMan-

[2oldfarts (the rockhounders)]

Artman, Could you drag & drop it onto BMGPX and get a GPX file that way?

 

John

[+Shorelander]

Another Google Earth query:

 

I have a spreadsheet (OpenOffice Calc) with (to simplify a bit) three columns: PID, lat, long. I want to convert that to some format that can be displayed in Google Earth, i.e. .GPX or .KML/.KMX.

 

Is there a relatively simply way to do this?

 

I'm not a programmer. Calc does have an XML export tool, but you apparently have to write a style sheet to do it, and there is scant guidance on how to do so.

 

My goal is to tie together my own list of marks visited with NGS-derived lists of all marks in a particular area.

Export the data into a CSV or tab-delimited file, with clearly marked "latitude" and "longitude" column headers. Then go to www.gpsvisualizer.com and upload it through their Google Earth file creation tool. As long as the file you have is less than 2 Mb, it should be no problem. Even then, you can break it into chunks and reassemble it later.

 

SLer