Don’t have access to Access (ha ha), but stumbled across this and thought some might find it useful: a VBA macro for Microsoft Access that exports a table/query with latitude and longitude to Google Earth’s KML format. The original code has disappeared, but a page that offers explanations and augmentations to the original code can be found here.
Also tucked away in my bookmarks was this link to a Google Earth community post offering an XSL-based tool for exporting from Access to KML. The link to the downloadable file seems to be missing, but I snagged it at the time, and you can download it from this link.
As I said, haven’t tried any of these – use at your own risk/discretion.
This is one of the neater online mapping applications I’ve seen in a while. Create a list of addresses and related information in a Google Docs spreadsheet, and map a list will geocode the addresses (convert the address to latitude/longitude), and plot the location and data in a Google Maps interface:
You can also export the data as a KML file for use in Google Earth.
- User-selectable icons
- Also plots latitude/longitude locations
- Includes data in other spreadsheet columns in the data bubble
- Lets you embed images and hyperlinks as well
- Data can be public or private
- As you update the spreadsheet, the map data is updated as well (daily, or on demand)
- Not a lot of documentation, but it’s fairly easy to use, and a healthy number of example spreadsheets will show you how it’s done (scroll through the list at the bottom, and click on the link to see the sample spreadsheet for each list item)
- Completely free (though they’ll take donations, and offer premium consulting services for a fee)
Definitely worth bookmarking.
ogr2ogr is a simple command line utility that converts between supported vector file formats. For those who don’t like dealing with command line programs, and need only limited conversion capability, Inventis has written a simple Windows front-end for ogr2ogr called ogr2gui:
Documentation is limited, so it’s not clear which input formats are fully supported. For example, input shapefiles work, but I had problems getting E00 files to convert (see this post for an E00 to shapefile conversion process that does work). Hopefully documentation will improve with time along with functionality (this is already the fourth release).
Output formats are limited to:
- Shapefile
- MapInfo
- KML
- GML
- CSV
Converting shapefiles to Google Earth’s KML format works as long as the shapefile is in latitude/longitude format, WGS84; attribute table data added to the placemark pop-up for point shapefiles, but not lines or areas. There are better converters for shapefiles to KML conversion like shp2kml, but this is a good choice for converting other less-well-supported vector formats into the supported output formats..
Got coordinates in degree-minute-second degrees, and need them in decimal format fast? Or the reverse? Go to Google Maps, enter the coordinates into the search box. e.g. +34 59′ 59.00″, -109 59′ 59.00″, and get a map with a pop-up containing the converted coordinates:
You can then copy and paste the pop-up text into another application. It does have one minor bug – type in an even latitude/longitude, like 3,-110, and you’ll get this:
Obviously, instead of 59 minutes and 60 seconds, the degree numbers should be one higher. Not a situation you’ll see often, though …
If you do this on a regular basis, you might take a look at some earlier posts on this blog that talk about stand-alone options:
Via Mapping Hacks.
I’ve covered ColorBrewer, an application for assessing color schemes for maps, in a previous post. In the same spirit comes TypeBrewer, an online application that “offers a quick and easy way to explore typographic alternatives and see the impact that various elements of type have on the overall look and feel of a map”. It doesn’t actually design a map, but rather shows you how different fonts and styles appear on a sample map. Select a set of sample font types from the initial choices:
Continue reading ‘Assessing Map Font Styles With TypeBrewer’
Placemarker, a custom placemark creator for Google Earth, was covered on this blog a few weeks ago. Valery Hronusov, one of its authors, writes to say that additional features have been added, and it’s pretty much complete. The new features include the options for linear gradient, crosshatch and custom backgrounds:
Late last year, Magellan introduced their new Triton series of handheld GPS units, whose higher-end models let you download raster topographic maps to the unit from the commercially-available National Geographic Topo! series. Initial reaction to these units was very bad; you can see how bad by reading the Amazon.com reviews for these units:
Magellan Triton 400 Handheld Navigation System
Magellan Triton 500 Handheld Navigation System
Magellan Triton 1500 Handheld Navigation System
Magellan Triton 2000 Handheld Navigation System
Supposedly many of the initial problems with these units have now been fixed. And now there’s a free program on the GPS Tools website by Mikhail Sharonov called TritonRMP that lets you calibrate and convert any raster image, map or photo, to a Triton-compatible format. I don’t own a Triton, so I can’t try it out, but users on the Triton forum are reporting good results with many different kinds of raster images. And at less than $175 for the Model 400 Triton, this may be the cheapest way to get decent raster imagery on a handheld GPS.
If you own a Magellan GPS of any type, the entire GPS Tools website is worth a look. While there are lots of tools for map and data creation for Garmin handheld GPS units, there is far less support for Magellan units, and Mikhail’s website has more tools for the Magellan than I’ve seen anywhere else.
Via GPS Tracklog.
The Java-based GPS and geotagging application Prune, covered in earlier posts, has been updated to version 6.0. New features include:
- Map view using OpenStreetMap images is now integrated in the main window, with control for map transparency; you can open up an OSM map or Google Map for the track location in a browser as well
(You may have to turn off the firewall in Windows to get this to work)
- Pov export has a new option to use sphere sweeps for better appearance
- New function to check online for a newer version of Prune
- New function to take a section of track and cut/paste it to another position
- New function to add or subtract a time offset from point timestamps to correct for time shifts between a GPS track and camera time
- New function to call gpsbabel to load data directly from GPS receiver
- Additional file filter options on load and save
- Italian language support
Full support for all its features requires downloading of the Java3D library, exiftool, and GPSBabel.
