Google Earth KML

[+traildad]

I have slightly noticed all the hubbub about the lack of Google Earth KML. I have never used it so I am not sure why anyone cares. What is so great that we can't get by downloading them to our GPSr. If I want to cache a new area I find a cache nearby and do a PQ or search off that cache. Since we are getting that feature back again, I thought I would like to know what I am missing. How do you use the feature and what can you only do when it is working?

[+Knight2000]

I geotag my pictures. When I view them I have the option to view them in GE. When i do that I can see which cache the pictures was taken at. Then I can upload it to the correct log.

 

This is just one reason I miss GE. It is handy. It is also much faster then the geocaching version which is slow and cumbersome to use. It is difficult to zoom from here to there.

[+traildad]

I geotag my pictures. When I view them I have the option to view them in GE. When i do that I can see which cache the pictures was taken at. Then I can upload it to the correct log.

 

This is just one reason I miss GE. It is handy. It is also much faster then the geocaching version which is slow and cumbersome to use. It is difficult to zoom from here to there.

A little more info would help. How does GE show the caches? Assume I know nothing about how it worked since I never used it.

[+FierceDeityLink1]

It shows them like other KMLs. Basically just like the Google Maps mash-up but for Google Earth.

[robertlipe]

Google Maps and Google Earth are similar, but they're different. If you live in an area that has no appreciable terrain, the value of a an actual 3D, pannable, scrollable map with points overlaid onto it will be hard to impress upon you.

 

A topo map isn't a substitute for a 3D model with aerial imagery with caches placed in it.

 

Google Earth and Google Maps aren't the same....

[+Astartus]

For me, the Google Earth Addon helped making trips to far away locations much easier as it is with the Google Maps maps.

 

Sadly, the "Search by address" option is not working very good for germany, you would have to know coordinates to immideatly get to the desired location within Google Maps. But how do you get these locations? Either by using Google Earth (wow, I already am using GE, so why do I have to use Google Maps then?) or by finding a cache close to the location and scrolling the map to the desired location, each time having to wait until the caches in the actual map area load up. And how can you find a cache close to the location? Searching by name might help but often you stumble upon caches in cities with the same name but not where you want to travel.

 

With Google Earth, you simple move to the place you want to visit and when you arrive at the dsired location, you simply click one little checkbox, and all caches, that are hidden in the current view appear (and disappear when you uncheck the box again).

 

So for me it is mostly the differences in usablitly that make this addon so desirable.

[Dinoprophet]

One thing I like a lot about using Google Earth is that you can overlay bitmaps on it. That means you can scan or download park maps, stick them into Google Earth, and have a far better idea of your route to caches. You can do the same with topo maps, though I gather there are topo map add-ins which are probably easier (overlaying a map takes some stretching and manipulating, but that's easy to do right in GE).

[knowschad]

One thing I like a lot about using Google Earth is that you can overlay bitmaps on it. That means you can scan or download park maps, stick them into Google Earth, and have a far better idea of your route to caches. You can do the same with topo maps, though I gather there are topo map add-ins which are probably easier (overlaying a map takes some stretching and manipulating, but that's easy to do right in GE).

 

No way!!! I didn't know that. Probably way off topic to go into that in depth in this thread, but could you provide a link to a site that talks about that?

[robertlipe]

http://earth.google.com/userguide/v5/ug_imageoverlays.html

[+FierceDeityLink1]

Google Maps and Google Earth are similar, but they're different. If you live in an area that has no appreciable terrain, the value of a an actual 3D, pannable, scrollable map with points overlaid onto it will be hard to impress upon you.

 

A topo map isn't a substitute for a 3D model with aerial imagery with caches placed in it.

 

Google Earth and Google Maps aren't the same....

Well, it's whatever features are available in Google Earth, but similar to how the Google Maps mash-up works if you've never used Google Earth before. Just like any other KML.

[jholly]

I geotag my pictures. When I view them I have the option to view them in GE. When i do that I can see which cache the pictures was taken at. Then I can upload it to the correct log.

 

OT:what do you use for geotagging?

 

Jim

[+user13371]

OT:what do you use for geotagging?

iPhone.

[+traildad]

Well I assume from the comments about people scrolling the map over 200 times or whatever it was that it is somehow connected to the Frog's database. I can download a pocket querry and put them in GE. It would show the caches but would not be using Groundspeak servers to display the info no matter how many times I scrolled. How did the old, soon to be new, GE KML work. Would there be something on my desktop GE application that would allow it to retrieve caches similar to the way maps on the cache page does it? Or was it something on the Groundspeak site that sends the info to my GE application? Or was there some kind of GE application that you would go to, similar to the way I can click "view map" on a cache page now? Thanks

[Dinoprophet]

One thing I like a lot about using Google Earth is that you can overlay bitmaps on it. That means you can scan or download park maps, stick them into Google Earth, and have a far better idea of your route to caches. You can do the same with topo maps, though I gather there are topo map add-ins which are probably easier (overlaying a map takes some stretching and manipulating, but that's easy to do right in GE).

 

No way!!! I didn't know that. Probably way off topic to go into that in depth in this thread, but could you provide a link to a site that talks about that?

 

http://earth.google.com/userguide/v5/ug_imageoverlays.html

Thanks, robertlipe, for posting that. My explanation would have stunk. And I didn't know about Terrain Integration, holy cow! Since you posted the detailed tutorial, I can just summarize:

- Go to Add->Image Overlay.

- Browse to and select your image

- Drag, rotate, and resize as needed. There's an Opacity slider so you can see the features in Google Earth to line your map up with (roads, rivers, lakes, etc).

 

The overlay will become an item under My Places, and you can always go back and edit it.

 

I learned the trick somewhere in these forums a few years back.

Edited July 25, 2009 by Dinoprophet

[robertlipe]

How did the old, soon to be new, GE KML work. Would there be something on my desktop GE application that would allow it to retrieve caches similar to the way maps on the cache page does it? Or was it something on the Groundspeak site that sends the info to my GE application? Or was there some kind of GE application that you would go to, similar to the way I can click "view

 

No real secret that is hard to unravel. Groundspeak publishes a Network Link http://code.google.com/apis/kml/documentat...l#network_links with a view based refresh. After your view had settled, Earth would send a request to the Groundspeak site with the bounding box of the view window and Groundspeak would send back the KML with the Placemarks in that window. (Or not, depending if your zoom was too far out, your view count had been exceeded, etc.)

 

It's plain ole KML and the mechanisms are very well documented. It's the subject of many sites, a couple of books, and at least one international formal OGC standard. There may be some secret sauce in how the data is prepared, but at a data processing level, it's all very open and well documented.

 

Most of what you see in Google Earth is served in the same way. Most of the layers displayed by Earth in that left panel are plain ole KML. Earth has no code that special cases the Groundspeak site in this path (it does contain code that recognizes PQ's from Groundspeak, courtesy GPSBabel) and Groundspeak writes no code for Earth - it's all just plain data.

[+traildad]

OK, I think. I wasn't trying to understand the programming behind how it works. I was more trying to find out how to go about using it. Was it like "view map" where we just click a link on the cache page? Was it on the "hide and seek" page as a tool to find caches? Was it in the left panel of the GE application where I could have GE "ask" Groundspeak what if any caches are in the area that was being viewed?

 

How did the old, soon to be new, GE KML work. Would there be something on my desktop GE application that would allow it to retrieve caches similar to the way maps on the cache page does it? Or was it something on the Groundspeak site that sends the info to my GE application? Or was there some kind of GE application that you would go to, similar to the way I can click "view

 

No real secret that is hard to unravel. Groundspeak publishes a Network Link http://code.google.com/apis/kml/documentat...l#network_links with a view based refresh. After your view had settled, Earth would send a request to the Groundspeak site with the bounding box of the view window and Groundspeak would send back the KML with the Placemarks in that window. (Or not, depending if your zoom was too far out, your view count had been exceeded, etc.)

 

It's plain ole KML and the mechanisms are very well documented. It's the subject of many sites, a couple of books, and at least one international formal OGC standard. There may be some secret sauce in how the data is prepared, but at a data processing level, it's all very open and well documented.

 

Most of what you see in Google Earth is served in the same way. Most of the layers displayed by Earth in that left panel are plain ole KML. Earth has no code that special cases the Groundspeak site in this path (it does contain code that recognizes PQ's from Groundspeak, courtesy GPSBabel) and Groundspeak writes no code for Earth - it's all just plain data.

[jholly]

Was it in the left panel of the GE application where I could have GE "ask" Groundspeak what if any caches are in the area that was being viewed?

 

Yes you down loaded a kml file and a entery was made on the left panel. When it was active the caches would show up in the view area.

 

Jim

[+Albanysquad]

Does anyone know why the Google Earth KML was removed and when we'll get it back? I couldn't find much information about its removal.

[jholly]

Does anyone know why the Google Earth KML was removed and when we'll get it back? I couldn't find much information about its removal.

 

The April release notes. It was causing resource problems for the site. From what OpinioNate says we should see it back Tuesday the 28th.

 

Jim

[+traildad]

OK so kind of a add on to the GE application. Was it just one KML that would cause GE to show caches where ever you viewed, or do you need one each time you want to look in a different area? Thanks

 

Was it in the left panel of the GE application where I could have GE "ask" Groundspeak what if any caches are in the area that was being viewed?

 

Yes you down loaded a kml file and a entery was made on the left panel. When it was active the caches would show up in the view area.

 

Jim

[+boda]

OK so kind of a add on to the GE application. Was it just one KML that would cause GE to show caches where ever you viewed, or do you need one each time you want to look in a different area? Thanks

 

Was it in the left panel of the GE application where I could have GE "ask" Groundspeak what if any caches are in the area that was being viewed?

 

Yes you down loaded a kml file and a entery was made on the left panel. When it was active the caches would show up in the view area.

 

Jim

Download the KML once. You can then go to any area and, assuming the KML is active, the geocaches in that area will show up (up to 150).

[+traildad]

OK. That makes sense. I see that it would be useful for exploring a new area more easily. I wonder how I never heard about it until it disappeared. Thanks

 

OK so kind of a add on to the GE application. Was it just one KML that would cause GE to show caches where ever you viewed, or do you need one each time you want to look in a different area? Thanks

 

Was it in the left panel of the GE application where I could have GE "ask" Groundspeak what if any caches are in the area that was being viewed?

 

Yes you down loaded a kml file and a entery was made on the left panel. When it was active the caches would show up in the view area.

 

Jim

Download the KML once. You can then go to any area and, assuming the KML is active, the geocaches in that area will show up (up to 150).

[+BentRodeFam]

I just wanted to say thank you to all who posted on this thread. I had no idea you could over lay a map in GE. I did know about the Geocaching KML for GE, but hadn't heard that it was suspended. I've been combing the files here and on GE's blogs to find out where the addon was at. Thought I was a fool for not seeing it on my account at Geocaching.com. Can't wait for the addon to return tomorrow. Hope it's there. Thanks again.