1. By Jim Graham May, 2008

2. 1. How GoogleEarth Works 2. Display Excel Data in GoogleEarth 3. Creating KML Files for GoogleEarth

4. Local ComputerWeb Server Internet GoogleEarth KML Files Satellite Images Spreadsheet Files

5.  Created by Denver-based company, Keyhole  An application that runs on your computer  GIS Services for various layers  A system that you can add data to  Commercially owned

6.  Common file formats: ◦ Word (*.doc) ◦ PowerPoint (*.ppt) ◦ Excel (*.xls)

7.  Shapefiles  Coverages  GeoTIFF  Lots of others  Is KML a GIS format?

8.  Small Graphics Markup Language (SGML)  HyperText Markup Language (HTML)  Extensible Markup Language (XML)

9.  Based on XML  Very simple, flexible format  Can be create very complex files  Not an industry standard (could change at any time, only works in GoogleEarth)  KML Documentation: http://code.google.com/apis/kml/docu mentation/  Or search on ‘KML’ into Google

10.  Rasters (photos) ◦ Satellite ◦ Aerial  Vector Data ◦ Points ◦ Polylines/Paths ◦ Polygons

11.  Add Placemark  Add Path to and from somewhere  Add Polygon around your school  Save As… KML files

12.  KML is still very new  Shapefiles are the most common GIS vector format  Converters are coming  Shapefiles are much more limited than KML files (i.e. it’s easy to go from Shapefile to KML, can be harder to go from KML to Shapefile)

13.  When should data be in a local file vs. on a web server?  What are the possible futures for KML? Local ComputerWeb Server Internet

14.  Problem: Display spreadsheet data in GoogleEarth  Solution: ◦ Use an Excel “Add-In” that converts data in spreadsheets to a KML file ◦ Open the KML file in GoogleEarth

15.  Actually Excel files that include “Macros”  Hidden in your “Add-In” folder

16. 1. Install WriteToKML Add-In to your system 2. Make WriteToKML available to Excel 3. Add a custom tool to Excel 4. Use the tool to save a KML file 5. Make more interesting descriptions

17.  Discussion point: What type of data would you collect to make this work?

18.  The WriteToKML Add-In is limited  Does not support: ◦ polygons and paths ◦ Graphics ◦ Icons ◦ Lots of other features of KML  http://earth.google.com/kml/index.html http://earth.google.com/kml/index.html

19.  Simple text files without any formatting  Write in NotePad (TextEdit on the Mac), not MS-Word or other “word-processor”

20. 1. Search on “KML” in Google 2. Click on “KML Documentation Introduction” 3. Click on “KML Tutorial” 4. Scroll down to light blue boxes 5. Copy everything in the box into a new NotePad file 6. Save as “text.kml”

21.  What is the approximate coordinate?  What is the name?  What is the description?

22.  Open GoogleEarth and Notepad  Steps: ◦ Edit in NotePad ◦ Save to a file on the desktop ◦ Double click on the file ◦ Click “Yes” to reload and view the file ◦ Repeat  Change name, description

23. Name of the Placemark Description appears in the balloon 102.595626,14.996729

24.  Multiple points ◦ Add “Document” tags” ◦ Add another point, save, view  Some fun stuff - Photos, paths, etc.  KML “Developer’s Guide”  KML Reference

25.  How would you use this in your classroom?  What types of data would kids find cool to put into GoogleEarth?

26.  Web server/client architecture  Spatial Data File format: KML  Converting from Excel to KML  How to edit KML files