+GAZ Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 I use Google Earth to look at caches and have noticed that they aint there anymore! Is it a Premium member only thing now, or am I missing something? I have Google Earth Plus on the laptop, and can see them on there (which is strange, as I am a basic member, if the feature is now Premium only), but haven't used the main computer for a while........and can't see 'em. I have downloaded the latest version. I see you can make a new network link in Google Earth, anyone know the exact link? Any ideas, you techy peeps? Link to comment
+HazelS Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 I get the same problem sporadically.... I dunno what causes it!! Pain when I'm cache planning for when I'm abroad - sometimes it shows no caches, and sometimes it shows some caches, but not all!!! Link to comment
+deejay44 Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 The Google Earth kml has been discontinued in the latest round of "improvements" Link to comment
+Handsyhands Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Happened to me recently too, I re-downloaded the KML link from the bottom right of my profile page and it worked again. Wonder if its something to do with the recent upgrades to GE. Link to comment
+Handsyhands Posted April 25, 2009 Share Posted April 25, 2009 Happened to me recently too, I re-downloaded the KML link from the bottom right of my profile page and it worked again. Wonder if its something to do with the recent upgrades to GE. After reading Deejays comment I dashed over to my profile page to check for the link and there it was ... gone! Here's a link to the explanation KML Removed Link to comment
+GAZ Posted April 26, 2009 Author Share Posted April 26, 2009 If it's no longer available, why can I still get them on Google Earth on my laptop? I see there is the facility to do the same thing on Google Maps on the cache page, but I preferred the full screen on Google Earth.......a bit pickey, I know! As for the acuracy of Google Earth, I used to copy and paste the co-ords from the cache page into Google Earth.....dead acurate then!! Ah well, it will be a miss on my main computer! Link to comment
GerritS Posted April 26, 2009 Share Posted April 26, 2009 If it's no longer available, why can I still get them on Google Earth on my laptop? I see there is the facility to do the same thing on Google Maps on the cache page, but I preferred the full screen on Google Earth.......a bit pickey, I know! As for the acuracy of Google Earth, I used to copy and paste the co-ords from the cache page into Google Earth.....dead acurate then!! Ah well, it will be a miss on my main computer! Get the feeling they have miscalculated thier 200. I know of atleast 2% of that 200, and thats on a global scale! Either I am very popular or its a case of lies dam lies and statitics ... I will be missing it to.... Link to comment
+molfrew-mosstoad Posted April 26, 2009 Share Posted April 26, 2009 Thanks for the explanation. I had the same trouble when I updated GE to the latest version. In the end I downgraded back to the older version and the kml file I was using works again. Im another one of the 200 regular users Link to comment
+reddeeps Posted April 26, 2009 Share Posted April 26, 2009 They cant get rid of kml. I shall stick with the old version, as my sat nav only take poi's as kml files, and I like having the caches on the sat nav especially in a strange area. Link to comment
+Over and Out Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 Never felt the need to write on the forums until now..... I can't believe only 200 cachers use this klm..... I use it every time a plan a caching day out or visit somewhere new to check on nearby caches. This will be a sad loss and will limit my caching in the future. Link to comment
+speakers-corner Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 Hi all, I am also a user of the kml-file and miss it dearly. How about all users writing a protest E-Mail to geocaching.com requesting the return of this facility. I am sure they are wrong with the number of users, there are loads here in Germany. Link to comment
+HazelS Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 Never felt the need to write on the forums until now..... I can't believe only 200 cachers use this klm..... I use it every time a plan a caching day out or visit somewhere new to check on nearby caches. This will be a sad loss and will limit my caching in the future. Yup - same here - it's how I plan caching abroad........ not only for me, but for my parents too... Hmmmmmmm Link to comment
+PSHAX Posted April 29, 2009 Share Posted April 29, 2009 Never felt the need to write on the forums until now..... I can't believe only 200 cachers use this klm..... I use it every time a plan a caching day out or visit somewhere new to check on nearby caches. This will be a sad loss and will limit my caching in the future. Yup - same here - it's how I plan caching abroad........ not only for me, but for my parents too... Hmmmmmmm I use the KML almost daily, only when work gets in the way do I leave it alone! I don't know where the magic number of 200 came from, but someone somewhere must be picking random numbers out of thin air! The discussions on the main forums kinda prove that the KML is a very useful and wanted feature. Link to comment
+JeremyR Posted May 1, 2009 Share Posted May 1, 2009 (edited) Count me amongst this mythical '200' users of the KML layer. Count me amongst the annoyed too. Another barking mad decision from Groundspeak, the most useful tool for scouting out a new area before you start building PQs is now gone. Totally bonkers Edited May 1, 2009 by JeremyR Link to comment
+GAZ Posted May 1, 2009 Author Share Posted May 1, 2009 Count me amongst this mythical '200' users of the KML layer. Count me amongst the annoyed too. Another barking mad decision from Groundspeak, the most useful tool for scouting out a new area before you start building PQs is now gone. Totally bonkers Quite agree......I know the caches shown were VERY approximate, but it gave you a nice visual of all the caches in an area. I copy and paste the actual co-ords from the cache page to see the exact cache position.....I can still do this on my laptop Link to comment
+rodz Posted May 1, 2009 Share Posted May 1, 2009 LordElph has a handy Greasemonkey script which puts (amongst other links) a GE one on the cache page. So no more cutting and pasting. It does seem to use a golfer as its default pin symbol and seems to be disabled on foreign caches (as some of the other links wouldn't be relevant). Not as good as the overlay but I find it useful as the coords are actual coords. The excellent hulmgulm GSAK macro is a worthy substitute for the GE overlay, although your caches do need to be in GSAK. Still it is sad to see the GC GE overlay go. I'll keep making use of it while it is still going. Link to comment
+The Brat Pack Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 We are also users. How near to 200 are we now? Link to comment
+rutson Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 We are also users. How near to 200 are we now? Errr... no. 49! Link to comment
+Teuchters Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 My kml still works with this GM install. (5.0.11337.1968 (beta)) This is reasonably recent - Build date Jan 29 2009 although there is an update to 5.0.11733.9437. But this probably isn't a significant update just looking at the version number difference? If I stick with this, then I assume it will still work? For how long? Is it only more recent upgrades that are denied its usage? I'm staying where I am for now. Link to comment
+JeremyR Posted May 13, 2009 Share Posted May 13, 2009 Updating Google Earth will not stop the overlay working because what you add to the 'My Places' folder is not affected by changes to the actual software. What matters is that you don't remove the GC KML layer for any reason because there's no way to add it again afterwards. It seems to me that those who 'have it' are being allowed to keep it. I certainly hope that they don't pull the plug on the service for those that still have it because as I said, it's the #1 way that I scout out caches in an unfamiliar area. As well as not buying the 200 users line, I also highly doubt the line that the KML layer has a detrimental impact on server performance. Unless the code that converts cache data to KML is horribly inefficient, there should be only a negligible difference between the resource usage of the KML layer versus any other location search like the Google Maps view and plain old coordinate searches because all of these fundamentally boil down to 'get the caches nearest to position X'. It's only the method of output/display that's different. I reckon 49 signatories in a couple of days is quite good considering it's being promoted by word of mouth on forums. Remember that a lot of geocachers (probably most) don't use either this or any of the regional forums. Link to comment
+GAZ Posted May 13, 2009 Author Share Posted May 13, 2009 I've added my name to the list......even though it still works on my laptop Link to comment
+MissJenn Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 Please have a look at the thread Google Earth add-in, Networked KML for Google Earth, and especially Post #64 from the lackey OpinioNate. I'll close this thread as it duplicates the conversation happening there. Feel free to respond in the open thread. Link to comment
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