+2Dee2Dee Posted October 23, 2006 Posted October 23, 2006 When I select "View In Google Earth" from my TB page, http://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?id=127022, Google Earth opens just fine to my account but I get an error that says "Google Earth Error" "Open of the file "C:\DOCUME~1\DDuffy\LOCALS~1\TEMPOR~1\Content.IE5\LC43HT09\7C59AD~2.KML" failed: Parse error: Parse error: Invalid character (Unicode: 0x1B) at line: 18 at line: 10 Here is the text (below) from the created KML file but I couldn't see any obvious "Invalid character" on line 18 or on line 10. Maybe someone can check on the parsing issue for this file. Thanks for the great tools. They really add a lot of interest and more fun to the sport. Keep up the good work. I give Caching schools and encourage responsible caching at every opportunity. 2Dee2Dee Dennis KML TEXT <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <kml xmlns="http://earth.google.com/kml/2.1"> <Document><Style id="tbTravelStyle"><LineStyle> <width>3</width> <color>ff00ffff</color> </LineStyle><PolyStyle> <width>3</width> <color>ff00ffff</color> </PolyStyle></Style><name>BILL WON</name><description><![CDATA[A memorial tribute to our friend Bill who not long after retiring as a local freight delivery driver lost a too short battle with brain cancer on 1/22/05. If the winner is the one who dies with the most toys, then Bill Won. He loved collecting old toys, gadgets of any kind and eclectic antique stuff. He once bought a huge Buffalo head from a closed bar, cleaned it up and hung it in his family room. He brought an old family outhouse from two states away for his garden and he always enjoyed browsing through the 99 cent store a couple times a week looking for the latest NEW bargain. On 8/24/1947 Bill won the Sacramento Soap Box Derby and forever after was hooked on cars, whether involved with stock cars, jeeps, trucks, campers or hotrods including his last cars, a Willys Pickup hotrod and his beautifully restored red 1947 Ford hotrod. Bill was the best trader and swapper of STUFF we ever met. It was so much fun visiting and hearing the stories about the latest acquisitions. I once needed water pump packing for a 1932 Buick. Guess who had it. Bill never met a stranger, seldom spoke an unkind word and will mostly be remembered as the life of the party whose sense of humor brought laughter to all. He enjoyed life, loved his family and displayed great care and concern for others. He and his family volunteered their time and resources to help others in so many ways. They were the first ones to show up without being asked when help was needed. He was the free handyman to his wifes older beautician customers. Bill and his wife Connie are involved in Christmas Promise, a group who secretly provides a real Christmas for whole families in need. Bill will be truly missed by us, by his family, his little dog Bud and by so many others whose lives he touched. Be sure and log your story, WITH PICTURES, of anything you and Bill did before moving him to his next Geocache adventure. Please keep him moving. We all anticipate watching our friend Bill's continuing adventures with his new friends. May his legend live on forever. BILL WON has traveled 11478.82 miles.]]></description><Folder><Style /><name>Travel Bug Stops (11478.82 mile(s))</name><description /><open>0</open><Placemark><name>Stop 1 (GCNXJN)</name><Point><coordinates>-121.3644, 38.6539, 100 </coordinates></Point><Style> <Icon> <href>root://icons/palette-4.png</href> <w>32</w> <h>32</h> <x>32</x> <y>128</y> </Icon> </Style><description><![CDATA[]]></description><visibility>1</visibility></Placemark><Placemark><name>Stop 2 (GCNXJN)</name><Point><coordinates>-121.3643, 38.6542, 100 </coordinates></Point><Style> <Icon> <href>root://icons/palette-4.png</href> <w>32</w> <h>32</h> <x>32</x> <y>128</y> </Icon> </Style><description><![CDATA[]]></description><visibility>1</visibility></Placemark><Placemark><name>Stop 3 (GCG5PP)</name><Point><coordinates>-121.3887, 38.6358, 100 </coordinates></Point><Style> <Icon> <href>root://icons/palette-4.png</href> <w>32</w> <h>32</h> <x>32</x> <y>128</y> </Icon> </Style><description><![CDATA[]]></description><visibility>1</visibility></Placemark><Placemark><name>Stop 4 (GCMRM9)</name><Point><coordinates>-121.4948, 38.4624, 100 </coordinates></Point><Style>
+alexrudd Posted October 23, 2006 Posted October 23, 2006 What is this: ? For me it comes out as a wierd box, but I'm guessing it's a smart quote or something. Change it to a regular apostrophe and see if that fixes the problem. If it does, all that needs to be done is to remove it from the TB description.
+PeterNoG Posted October 23, 2006 Posted October 23, 2006 I saved the kml then manually changed "wifes" to "wife's". The kml worked fine then. The TB description just has to changed like alexrudd suggested.
+2Dee2Dee Posted October 23, 2006 Author Posted October 23, 2006 What is this: ? For me it comes out as a wierd box, but I'm guessing it's a smart quote or something. Change it to a regular apostrophe and see if that fixes the problem. If it does, all that needs to be done is to remove it from the TB description. Thanks, I see the 'box' in the .kml text BUT it is NOT in the TB page. It shows the apostrophe correctly: "...He was the free handyman to his wife’s older beautician customers..." So the problem occurs when the .kml is created by GC.com. For some reason it changes the apostrophe to an unknown character. I've seen this kind of thing before when changing between HTML and text. Again, not sure why. At least you kind folks have found the problem and I have a workaround. Perhaps someone could determine why the HTML to .KML misidentified the apostrophe as an unknown character. Dennis
+PeterNoG Posted October 24, 2006 Posted October 24, 2006 The TB page shows a wife’s. The apostrophe is not a standard apostrophe. Notice the slant. A normal apostrophe is more vertical as in wife's. (Apostrophe size has been increased for clarity.)
+alexrudd Posted October 24, 2006 Posted October 24, 2006 Isn't that some sort of "smart" quote crap, usually added by Word?
+somainer Posted August 14, 2007 Posted August 14, 2007 The TB page shows a wife’s. The apostrophe is not a standard apostrophe. Notice the slant. A normal apostrophe is more vertical as in wife's. (Apostrophe size has been increased for clarity.) I recently ran into the same kind of parsing error as the OP. The culprit turned out to be commas and quotation marks, in addition to the apostrophe - all as a result of copying and pasting text from another program (presumably MS Word, although I cannot remember). So it is likely best to type text directly into the text boxes, rather than using copy and paste.
robertlipe Posted August 14, 2007 Posted August 14, 2007 Submit a report to Groundspeak. The KML is malformed and Earth is correct to reject it. They've had variations of this problem in GPX through the years where "naughty' characters show up in strange places and they're in forbidden locations or insufficiently UTF-8 and/or entity encoded, so be sure to pass along the test case with your report. Ask the help desk guy to NOT "fix" the offending cache, but to keep the problem in captivity for the programmer that needs to fix it.
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