Comments on: KML Circle Generator

By: Laur E Baan

Laur E Baan — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:41:27 +0000

Thanks, good post, KML-Circles is a handy tool! If you like to learn how to create basic shapes for Google Earth using KML and the Python programming language, take a look at “http://zoolboolcode.blogspot.com/2008/10/draw-simple-shapes-in-google-earth_09.html” for a basic introduction.

By: Leszek Pawlowicz

Leszek Pawlowicz — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 18:22:30 +0000

I’m not the author of the KML Circle Generator, so I can’t help you on that front. But this is the sort of project that would literally take less than half-an-hour with even a basic free GIS like MapWindow or gvSIG.

1. Gather up the coordinates of all the farms into a single file of points (a point shapefile).

2. Use the buffer feature to draw circles of the right size around every farm.

3. Merge all of the circles into a single area (an area shapefile)

4. Convert that area shapefile into a KML file for viewing in Google Earth, using shp2kml.

If you can send me a file (spreadsheet or point shapefile) with the locations of the farms in question, the precise details of the exclusion zones, and the exact details of what you want, I can have a crack at it, and write up a step-by-step description of the process as a post. I’m always looking for good topics :).

By: Guy Cosnahan

Guy Cosnahan — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:58:35 +0000

Last year we had a Foot and Mouth outbreak in the UK. The Govt created exclusion zones (500m diammeter) and controlled zones (10km) out from each occurence of the outbreak. Since the outbreaks were often on farms within less than the exclusion zone size an envelope of overlapping circles was created.

Could you create a solution to write only the external sections of the overlapping circles?

Thanks
GUY