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? .