Importing Google Earth Data into a GIS Jason Parent Center for Land use Education and Research

2 Google Earth ► Provides free access to a rich resource of satellite imagery and geographic data ► Excellent for visualization ► On-screen digitizing capabilities allow mapping of features  Features can be saved as kml files  kml files cannot be directly loaded into a GIS

3 The “Convert KML to SHP” tool ► Converts kml features to shapefile features  Names and descriptions of kml features are retained in the shapefile ► Easy to use - run as a tool in ArcToolbox ► Runs on ArcView 9.2 – no extensions required. ► Works with kml files created by Google 4.2  May not work with older versions

4 Creating features in Google Earth ► Create a folder to contain the features Right-click Enter single line description

5 Creating features in Google Earth ► Create feature in the appropriate folder Select folder point polygon line name description

6 Saving features to a KML file ► Save the entire folder as a kml file (do not save as a kmz file) ► Folder can contain more than one feature type. Right-click

7 Running the “Convert KML to SHP” tool ► Add toolbox to ArcToolbox Input kml fileFeature type Output shapefile

8 Google Polygons to Shapefile Shapefile is not projected

9 Feature Attributes

10 Using Google Earth Imagery in a GIS ► Google Earth imagery cannot be downloaded. ► Screen captures can be georeferenced and used in a GIS. ► Reference points are needed to geo- reference a screen capture. ► Features digitized in Google Earth can be used as references.

11 Georeferencing Snapshots

12 Saving the Georeferenced Image

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14 Downloads ► The “Convert KML to SHP” tool, as well as other geospatial tools, can be downloaded through the Center for Land use Education and Research (CLEAR) website: ► _to_SHP_ArcGIS.zip _to_SHP_ArcGIS.zip _to_SHP_ArcGIS.zip

Importing Google Earth Data into a GIS Jason Parent Center for Land use Education and Research Questions?