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)

• Zoom to Street View

• Helpful Layers – City Limits – Borders – Labels – Roads

Space

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?