1. Importing Google Earth Data into a GIS Jason Parent jason.parent@uconn.edu Center for Land use Education and Research

2. 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. 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. 4 Creating features in Google Earth ► Create a folder to contain the features Right-click Enter single line description

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

6. 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. 7 Running the “Convert KML to SHP” tool ► Add toolbox to ArcToolbox Input kml fileFeature type Output shapefile

8. 8 Google Polygons to Shapefile Shapefile is not projected

9. 9 Feature Attributes

10. 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. 11 Georeferencing Snapshots

12. 12 Saving the Georeferenced Image

13. 13

14. 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: ► http://www.clear.uconn.edu/tools/geospatial/KML _to_SHP_ArcGIS.zip http://www.clear.uconn.edu/tools/geospatial/KML _to_SHP_ArcGIS.zip http://www.clear.uconn.edu/tools/geospatial/KML _to_SHP_ArcGIS.zip

15. Importing Google Earth Data into a GIS Jason Parent jason.parent@uconn.edu Center for Land use Education and Research Questions?