Export Google Earth File

The Export Google Earth File allows you to produce a KML (Keyhole Markup Language or alternatively a KMZ which is a compressed form of KML) file of points, polylines, 3D faces, text, solids, images, lines and arcs for rendering in other mapping and GIS applications such as Google Earth and Google Maps. Throughout this discussion, KML will be used to also describe KMZ files unless explicitly noted.

Drape on Google Terrain (2D): When this option is selected, entities written to the KML file will have an Altitude setting of "Clamped to ground."

Use Elevation from the Drawing (3D): When this option is selected, entities written to the KML file will have an Altitude setting of "Absolute."

Include Selected Points: When enabled, this option exports selected Carlson point information to the KML <Placemark><Point>...</Point></Placemark> tag structure.

Include Selected Text: When enabled, this option exports selected Text and MText entities to the KML <Placemark><Point>...</Point></Placemark> tag structure.

Include Layer Information: When enabled, this option organizes exported information based on the layer of each entity, with each CAD layer becoming a KML <Folder>...</Folder> entry with the color of the group taking the general color of the CAD layer.

Shade Closed Regions: When enabled, all closed polyline regions (e.g. building pads, ponds, etc) will be fill-shaded.

Include Solids and Images: When enabled, Solid entities and Images are included in the KML as <Placemark><Polygon>...</Polygon></Placemark> and/or <GroundOverlay>...</GroundOverlay> tags, respectively.

Export to KMZ Format: When enabled, the KML file is written to the more compact (zipped) KMZ version of the standard KML file format.

Display Results in Google Earth: When enabled, the results of the KML are passed to and automatically opened with Google Earth.

Share Results through Dropbox: When enabled, the results of the KML are passed to a personal DropBox account.

Linework Opacity: Use the horizontal slider control to indicate the desired level of opaqueness that should be applied to linework entities. A lower opacity results in increased entity transparency and is helpful for viewing underlying map data found in applications such as Google Earth.

Solids and Images Opacity: Use the horizontal slider control to indicate the desired level of opaqueness that should be applied to Solids and Image entities. A lower opacity results in increased entity transparency and is helpful for viewing underlying map data found in applications such as Google Earth.

Note:

• When the Use Elevations from the Drawing (3D) option is selected, be aware that elevation values lower than the Google Earth terrain may be obstructed in the Google Earth display.
• Attribute information (e.g. Number, Elevation, Description) of selected Carlson points are also written to the KML and will display in the "balloon" when a point is picked in the Google Earth display or data hierarchy.
• The formatting of any selected MText entities is not propagated into the KML/KMZ file.
• When the Shade Closed Regions toggle is enabled, note that all closed polyline regions will become fill shaded and may lead to undesired results for items such as closed contours.
• When Image entities are included, the size of the image itself is incorporated into the KMZ file and my significantly swell the size of the KMZ file which may result in lengthy load times into other applications.
• To have results posted to Dropbox, the Dropbox Application for Windows must be first installed to your PC using its default folder specification for the location of shared/synchronized folders/files.
• When prompted for the name of the KML/KMZ file to write, the appropriate KML or KMZ file extension based on the Export to KMZ Format toggle will be added to the file if the file extension is not specified.
• Arcs and polylines with arcs are converted into chord segments that closely approximate the arc(s).
• Other entities not supported for direct export to a KML file (e.g. circles, ellipses, splines, multilines, etc), can be first turned into polylines with the Entities to Polylines command.
• The graphical symbology of any/all items sent to the KML file can be manually modified via the Google Earth interface.

Prompts

Select points, polylines, text, solids, images, lines and arcs to write.
FILter/<Select entities>: Select the desired entities and press Enter when complete.

See Also:

• To import a Google Earth image into your drawing, use the Place Google Earth Image command.
• To import a Google Earth terrain data into a Carlson TIN (surface model), use the Place Google Earth Image command.
• To import KML content into your drawing, use the Import Google Earth File command.

Pulldown Menu Location(s): File → LandXML/RoadXML/Google Earth
Keyboard Command: kmlwrite
Prerequisite: Points, lines or polylines in the drawing with an established projection zone through Drawing Setup.