Google Earth for Surveyors
Presented by: Chris Ambourn, LS February 7, 2013 About Google Earth
• http://www.google.com/intl/en/earth/index.html
• Purchased in 2004 by Google from Keyhole Inc. – Initially CIA funded
• Two options: – Free – Pro ($399 Annual Fee) • Better resolution printing • Measure areas • Import Shapefiles directly
Google Earth Basics
• Fly to – Places (Cities, Counties…) – Addresses – Destinations – Lat. / Lon. (DD MM’SS.SS”N,S,E,W or DD.DDDDN,S,E,W) Space • Zoom to Street View
• Helpful Layers – City Limits – Borders – Labels – Roads
Google Earth Basics
• Settings – Tools-Options • Feet/Meters • DMS/DDS/UTM • Place Marks – Attribute data – Label and Icon type/color/size • Polygon – Adjust Shading with Opacity • Path • Ruler – Measure distances in any unit
Google Earth Basics
• My Places – Stores and organizes • Placemarks/Paths/Polygons • Imported data – Create Folders and Sub-Folders
• Historical Imagery – Use slider bar to view imagery over the years
• 3d Terrain, Street View and Buildings – Automatically rotates to oblique view when zoom in – Holding down the wheel button and drag to return to planimetric
Data Files
• KML and KMZ files • Keyhole Markup Language (KML) – XML notation for expressing geographic annotation – International standard of the Open Geospatial Consortium
• KMZ – A compressed (zipped) KML file
• Just drag and drop into Google Earth
Sources for data
• Metzger + Willard, Inc. – http://www.metzgerwillard.us/EarthSurvey.html – Free Google Earth tools for surveyors – Android 2.1+ apps
• Earth Point – http://www.earthpoint.us/ – Some free tools, some you pay a nominal fee per use
• MnDOT Office of Land Management – MnViewControl – http://www.dot.state.mn.us/surveying/ToolsTech/survsoft.html – Keeps Control Stations kml current
Sources for data
• FEMA – https://hazards.fema.gov/femaportal/wps/portal/NFHLWMSkmz download
• MN DNR – WMA, WPA Boundaries, Parking Areas
• Vendor Software – Civil 3D – Trimble Business Center
Civil 3D 2012 and Prior Civil 3D 2013
• PlexEarth – http://www.plexearth3.com/ – Free Beta Version – Export/Import to Google Earth and Bing Maps – Does not support County Coordinate Projections Civil 3D 2013
• Map KML Tool – http://www.dotsoft.com/appstore/index.htm – Freeware lisp routine – Exports AutoCad Map/LDD/C3d to Google Earth Trimble Business Center Sources for data
• Convert Shapefiles – Shape to kml – http://www.zonums.com/shp2kml.html – ArcGIS toolbox
• Convert .asc, .txt, .csv files – http://www.tchartdev.com/csv2kml.htm
Project Estimating
• Virtual Site Visit – View improvements (aerial and streetview) – Check the vegetation and canopy
• Visualize boundary – View section lines
• View Control
• Clients are beginning to provide kmls with RFPs
Project Databases
• Store Project Info in My Places – Project Areas/Boundaries – Client Name – Project Number – Coordinate System – Control – Monuments with pictures • Use Picasa to geo-tag photos or use Android phone camera
Sharing From Google Earth • Printing – Turn on/off My Places info – Printing in Pro is better
• Exporting kml/kmz – Right click and email any folder or feature in My Places
• Create Fly-through tours of site
• Geotag photos on android smartphone or with Google Picasa
• Exporting waypoints to handheld GPS – http://www.gpsbabel.org/download.html – http://www.mcrenox.com.ar/gps/ (GE2GPX)
Questions?