Pierce County Google Earth Tutorial

Brett Holt

Informations

• Publié par: Lomif
• Nombre de lectures: 130
• Langue: English

Extrait

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Pierce County Trails: Google Earth™ Tutorial
Pierce County is in the process of planning for its regional trails network. The first phase allowed
us to collect data from a number of sources, including individuals contributing trails information
using Google Maps™, to develop an inventory of existing and planned trails in Pierce County. At
this phase of the process we have inventoried the existing and planned regional trail alignments.
The inventory is presented in several formats.

You can find the PDF trails inventory on the Needs Analysis page of the Pierce County Regional
Trails Plan TownSquare website. Additionally, PDF Maps and a folder of KML files are located in
the Documents Library. All are available for you to download. The use of Google Earth™ is
intended to supplement your review of the Draft Needs Assessment Summary Report available
for download here: http://www.piercetrailsplan.org/docs.php?oid=1000000119

This guide is intended to specifically introduce you to using the KML files in Google Earth™. This
guide will not teach how to use everything in Google Earth™, but will let you interact with the
trails information developed to date. If you would like a tutorial on how to use Google Earth™,
please visit the Google Earth™ User Guide at
http://earth.google.com/userguide/v4/ug_toc.html.
What is Google Earth™?
Google Earth™ is a desktop virtual globe, map, and geographic information database program
available for download from Google. We recommend you play around and get use to the
many features it has.
What is a KML file?
KML is a file format used to display geographic data in an earth browser, such as Google
Earth™, Google Maps™, and Google Maps™ for mobile. A KML file is processed in much the
same way that HTML (and XML) files are processed by web browsers. Like HTML, KML has a tag-
based structure with names and attributes used for specific display purposes. Thus, Google
Earth™ and Maps act as browsers for KML files.

You can use KML to:
Specify icons and labels to identify locations on the planet surface;
Use image overlays attached to the ground or screen;
Define styles to specify feature appearance;
Write HTML descriptions of features, including hyperlinks and embedded images; and
Use folders for hierarchical grouping of features.
System Requirements
To use Google Earth™ on a Windows PC, you must have at least the following:
Operating System: Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista;
CPU: 500Mhz, Pentium 3;
System Memory (RAM): 256MB minimum, 512MB recommended;
Hard Disk: 400MB free space;
Network Speed: 128 Kbits/sec (DSL or Cable will work fine);
Graphics Card: 3D-capable with 16MB of VRAM;
Screen: 1024x768, "16-bit High Color" screen; and
DirectX 9 (to run in Direct X mode).

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To use Google Earth™ on a Mac, you must have at least the following:
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4.11 or later;
CPU: G4 CPU, 1GHz or faster;
System Memory (RAM): 256MB minimum, 512MB recommended;
Hard Disk: 400MB free space;
Network Speed: 128 Kbits/sec;
Graphics Card: 3D-capable with 32MB of VRAM; and
Screen: 1024x768, "Thousands of Colors".

Regarding Linux, Google Earth™ has been tested on Ubuntu version 6.06, but certainly works on
others. Hardware requirements include:
CPU: 500Mhz, Pentium 3;
System Memory (RAM): 256MB RAM;
Hard Disk: 500MB free space;
Network Speed: 128 Kbits/sec;
Graphics Card: 3D-capable with 16MB of VRAM; and
Screen: 1024x768, "16-bit High Color" screen".

If Google Earth™ appears to be slow and unresponsive, it is likely that your system needs
different video drivers.
Using Google Earth™ and KML Files
Figure 1. Download Page for Google Earth 4.3

1. Download and install Google Earth™ from http://earth.google.com/download-
earth.html. We recommend downloading Google Earth™ 4.3 rather than the latest 5.0
Beta. This will allow you to easily use the features discussed in Step 8. Based on this,
please use the link we provided. When you click the link, you should be a page that looks
like Figure 1. The download link for 4.3 is under the heading “Download the previous
version”.
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2. Download the full zip KML files from the Pierce County website:
http://www.piercetrailsplan.org/docs.php?ogid=1000000068. Unzip these files into one
folder.

3. Let’s open the KML files in Google Earth™.
a. File > Open > Find the folder where the KML files are located and select all the
KML files, then click Open.
b. Or drag the KML files directly in the Google Earth™ window and they will be
added automatically.

4. Google Earth™ will now zoom to Pierce County where you can view all visible KML
attributes. In the left column in the Places Menu, you will see the layers located under
Temporary Places.

Note: When you close Google Earth™ the next time, you will be asked to save any files in es to My Places. Save them to My Places so you that next time you open
Google Earth™, you will easily access them without importing them again.

5. All of the files will be selected and viewable. We recommend that you deselect all of the
boxes so that you can begin to view each layer separately. Some of these layers are on
top of each other and may not be viewable with multiple layers selected.

Figure 2. Layer Organization Screenshot


6. Let’s look at what each layer is and determine what is useful attribute information. See
Figure 2 for a screenshot of how the layer layout is shown in Google Earth™. Those layers
marked with an ** in the list below are considered more useful attribute information. The
others layers are less useful because they contain only default ID information. The order
of these layers is recommended for best viewing.
a. **Regional Trails (off-street): This layer depicts existing and proposed regional
trails. The features in this file are organized by trail name listed in the inventory and
throughout the Needs Assessment Report.
3 b. **Regional and County Parks: This is a point layer of Pierce County’s regional and
county parks as defined in the adopted PROS Plan 2008.
c. Existing Trailheads: This is a point layer of existing trailheads. There is no attribute
information associated with this layer. These are depicted on all maps within the
Needs Assessment Report.
d. Proposed Trailheads: This is a point layer of proposed trailheads. There is no
attribute information associated with this layer.
e. Regional Trail Concept: This is the regional trails concept described in the Needs
Assessment Summary Report and represents the proposed spine of the regional
trail system. The regional trail concept is discussed on pg. 25 of the Needs
Assessment Summary Report.
f. **Trails by Trail Class: This file depicts the classification of the existing and
proposed off-street paved trails described in the Needs Assessment Summary
Report. Each trail segment is classified into on of the three trail classifications:
regional, sub-regional, connector. The trails are defined on pg. 25 and 26 of the
Needs Assessment Summary Report.
g. **Bikeways by Trail Class: This layer depicts the on-street bikeway linkage
opportunities described in the Needs Assessment Summary Report. Each bikeway
segment is classified into one of the three trail classifications: regional, sub-
regional, connector. Bikeways are discussed in the trail linkage opportunities on
pg. 17 of the Needs Assessment Summary Report.
h. **Roadways by Trail Class: This layer depicts the on-street linkage opportunities
described in the Needs Assessment Summary Report. Each road segment is
classified into on of the three trail classifications: regional, sub-regional,
connector. These are discussed on pg. 21 of the Needs Assessment Summary
Report.
i. **Water Trailheads: This is a point file of the Washington Water Trails Association
identified water access points for Washington’s water trails.
j. Water Trails: This file depicts Washington’s water trails in the Sound. There is no
attribute information associated with this layer.
k. County Boundary: This layer represents Pierce County’s jurisdiction.

Figure 3. KML Features Screenshot

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7. Each KML file has a number of features for you to access. Expand any layer by clicking
the + button. This will reveal the attribute folders in each layer. Click on them to see what
is available. See Figure 3 for what it looks like in Google Earth™.

You can click the box with the green check mark to turn a layer off or on.

If you want to know where a layer is located on the map, double click the name of the
layer and the map will zoom to that location.

Figure 4. Viewing Information Screenshot


8. To interact with the map, you can click on any point or line.
a. You can view the information on a point layer by moving your cursor to the point
(colored circle) and clicking on it. Figure 4 shows what you should see if you click
on a point.
b. You can v