Remy Paternoster writes to announce a new tool he’s created, an Excel app called KMLxl that imports a KML polygon/placemark file created in Google Earth, and lets you both attach data to each polygon and scale the height of the polygon to a variable value:
The process is straightforward, involving creating polygons and associated placemarks in Google Earth, importing the KML file into Excel with the app, adding data, and then exporting the results as a new KML file. You can update the Excel spreadsheet at any time with new data, and create a new KML that reflects the newer data. In addition to the app, Remy has an easy-to-follow step-by-step tutorial of the process in an accompanying PDF file.
Just announced: a new version of Google’s online Spreadsheet Mapper tool (version 1.0 posted about here). Enter data in a Google Docs spreadsheet using the provided sample template, and create a network link to display the data in Google Earth. New features include more pre-made balloon designs, an HTML templating system for designing your own balloons, and it now works with both Google Earth and Google Maps. Visit the announcement page for more info, instructions on use, and a video demonstration.
Bill Clark, the author of the useful Google Earth Public Land Survey System (PLSS) tool, has a new online app for converting spreadsheet data into point KML files, and opening them directly in Google Earth. Spreadsheet files can be in XLS (Office 2003 or earlier for now, Office 2007 support coming), CSV, or TXT (tab-delimited format); the minimum data required includes only latitude and longitude (either decimal or degree-minute-second formats are acceptable). Optional additional data accepted includes:
- Name for each point
- Description (text for pop-up balloon)
- Icon (use the table on the web app page to select a number corresponding to the desired icon graphic)
- Formatting tags (size and color of icon, altitude, connecting lines)
Make sure the column headings are included, exactly as specified on the web page’s instructions; there’s an option on the web page to review the spreadsheet data online to make sure it’s correct. The data is formatted into KML at the server, then sent back to your computer to be opened in Google Earth; the original data is then deleted at the server end for security. If you want to save the data displayed in Google Earth, make sure you right-click on the data item in the Places window on the left, and save it in either KML or KMZ format.
I’ve posted before on several programs and websites that will convert spreadsheet point coordinate data (CSV or XLS) to Google Earth’s KML format (here and here). XLS2KML is another option, but it does a few things the others don’t:
- You can have additional data fields automatically appended to the Description section in the KML file
- You can automatically put points into folders and subfolders
- Columns labeled with case-insensitive KML descriptors (like Altitude, Range, Tilt, Heading, Icon, Time Start and End (for Timespan), etc. will have their data properly encoded in the proper KML format for that descriptor
- There are additional options for drawing paths, polygons and grids from this Excel spreadsheet, but they’re not well-documented with recently-added documentation. Still, you’d probably be better off converting line and polygon shapefiles into KML for the first two, or using GE-Path to create paths, polygons and grids, rather than doing it point by point with this method.
Download the spreadsheet from this site (see the link at the bottom). Click on the “Important” button near the top of the spreadsheet to get what little “Help” information come with this Excel macro-enabled spreadsheet.
Newer Garmin GPS units support the upload of sets of POIs, containing both position data and descriptions of the Points Of Interest. The KMLCSV Converter is a Java application that lets you convert placemarks created in Google Earth and saved as a KML file into a CSV (Comma-Separated Values) file compatible with Garmin’s POI Loader; this CSV would also be compatible with most spreadsheet programs as well. The process is straightforward:
1. Create placemarks in Google Earth using the “Add Placemark” tool, search, or other means.
2. Add a description to the placemark.
3. Drag all the placemarks you want to save into a single folder.
4. Save the folder as a KML file
5. Convert it to a CSV file with the KMLCSV Converter Program (screenshot from website)
6. Upload the CSV POI file to your Garmin with the POI Loader program, or into your spreadsheet as a standard CSV file.
There’s a short PDF tutorial file that covers these steps quite clearly with screenshots.
You can also convert CSV files, either POI files or spreadsheet files created by yourself or someone else, into KML files for viewing in Google Earth; a search for “Garmin POI” files on the web will bring up links to many sources, both free and paid. But I prefer the program csv2kml for that purpose.
Back in 2005, EarthPlot software released several shareware tools for plotting data and creating graphic overlays in Google Earth. The most recent versions of their software are now available as freeware. If you’re interested in plotting spreadsheet data or creating annotated overlays in Google Earth, you should definitely check these out.
More after the fold …
Continue reading ‘EarthPlot Software Tools For Google Earth’
So I saw the article on the Google Earth Blog about the new Google Earth Outreach program, and was reading the tutorial page when I noticed that there’s now the capability to create a network KML link from a Google Spreadsheet to Google Earth. When did they do that?!
There’s been the ability to create a network link from the EditGrid online spreadsheet site for a while now, developed in part by Valery Hronusov. The new Google capability seems like it has more options and flexibility in terms of displaying information, but it’s still not exactly pushbutton simple, either - you’ll have to follow the directions quite carefully. And of course you’ll also need a Google account to do this as well. Visit the tutorial page, click on the link for the starter spreadsheet, and follow the instructions step-by-step either on the tutorial page itself or on the instruction page that shows up at the starter spreadsheet.
It’s probably best to first make a working copy of the starter spreadsheet using the File=> Copy command before doing anything else. Click on the links at the bottom to access the Template, where you can specify the file information, icon and colors to be used for the placemarks and info balloon. Click on the Placemarks link at the bottom of the spreadsheet page to enter the actual data you want to plot in Google Earth. For location, you can enter latitude/longitude directly, or enter an address and have Google geocode it for you automatically (you can cut and paste this data from another spreadsheet). Then follow the convoluted tutorial directions for creating first a network link to this spreadsheet data, then adding the network link to Google Earth. I have to believe they’ll come up with an easier way, eventually, but this will do for now for a network-linked spreadsheet.
For a static spreadsheet file, there are other options for creating a plain KML file that might make more sense; take a look in this website’s “spreadsheet category” for any number of ways to do that, like this link:
or this link:
From the abstract at the Geographically based Economic data (G-Econ) website:
“The G-Econ data set calculates gross value added at a 1-degree longitude by 1-degree latitude resolution at a global scale for all terrestrial cells. These data allow better integration of economic and environmental data to investigate environmental economics, the impact of global warming, and the role of geophysical factors in economic activity. On of the major results is to show that the true economic deserts of the globe are in Greenland, Antarctica, northern Canada, Alaska, and Siberia.”
Downloadable spreadsheet data includes not just economic data, but also environmental data:
- Precipitation (monthly)
- Temperature (monthly)
- Terrain
- Elevation
- Roughness
- Standard deviation of elevation
- Vegetation
- Soil Types
Convert the spreadsheet data to shapefile format, or plot it directly in Google Earth using GE-Graph.
Site also has rotating globe animations with data plotted:
Via Vector One.
