Google Earth

[marc_54140]

OK, I finally decided to give this thing a try.

I have 15 placemarks for locations across Iowa. I want to create a route that goes from one to the next, following a designated state highway.

When I ask for directions, it keeps changing the route, and always goes to a Federal highway, instead of staying on the state highway where the placemarks are.

Looked in alot of places, but can not find answers. But then I am not sure what ‘word’ is being used for what I want.

I must be missing something obvious, but …..

[Team Hemisphere Dancer]

Boy I know how to start my next puzzle.

[Team Deejay]

I’m assuming you want to do this for “Caches along a route” on geocaching.com. This is one of those “works somedays, not other days” features, so be patient. The hot ticket is that you need to create a KML file for each stage of the route. I believe it will route you by the “fastest route” algorithm. So, now you will have, say, 13 KML files. Each of them will have a section which looks like this (truncated to save bytes):

-88.22711000000001,42.74445,0 -88.22707,42.7433,0 -88.22707,42.7433,0 -88.22535000000001,42.74333,0 -88.22535000000001,42.74333,0 -88.22536000000001,42.74435,0 -88.22547,42.74604,0 -88.22546,42.74846,0 -88.22546,42.74846,0 -88.22432000000002,42.75096,0 -88.22399000000002,42.7519,0 -88.22305,42.75684,0 -88.22279,42.75721,0 -88.22255000000001,42.75742,0 -88.22211,42.75769,0 -88.21835000000002,42.75937,0 -88.21797000000001,42.75959,0 -88.21773,42.75980000000001,0 -88.21745,42.7602,0 -88.21590000000002,42.76363,0 -88.21590000000002,42.76363,0 -88.21678,42.76385,0 -88.21856,42.76462000000001,0 -88.21889,42.76480000000001,0 -88.21973,42.76558,0 -88.22105999999999,42.7665,0 -88.22448,42.76927,0 -88.2251,42.76961,0 -88.22530999999999,42.7697,0 -88.22638000000001,42.76998,0 -88.22882,42.7704,0 -88.23006,42.77054,0 -88.24565,42.77039,0 -88.27502,42.77023,0 -88.28721,42.77008000000001,0 -88.29975,42.77004,0 -88.30096,42.77009,0 -88.30128000000001,42.7702,0 -88.30158,42.77038,0 -88.30174,42.77058,0 -88.30316999999999,42.77351,0 -88.30410000000001,42.77595,0 -88.3043,42.77627,0 -88.30485,42.77696,0 -88.30517999999999,42.77724,0 -88.30704,42.77799,0 -88.30761,42.77808,0 -88.30794,42.77808,0 -88.31202,42.77775,0 -88.31286,42.77775,0 -88.31415,42.77806,0 -88.31739,42.779,0 -88.32492000000002,42.78109,0 -88.32684999999999,42.78165,0 -88.32729000000001,42.78181,0 

Presumably, the last coordinate of each KML is the first coordinate of the previous KML, so you just cut and paste the coordinates into one big section. Then, try to upload it to geocaching.com. (Be sure to chant and dance around the room for maximum probability of success.) Most of the stuff in the KML can be pitched, but gc.com checks certain fields (like the time/date stamp) so it is best to leave the whole mess in there in case they decided to check it this week.

[Team Deejay]

Oh, and it only puts you back on the federal highway if its faster to get from point A to point B. To stick with the state highways, you will need even more intermediate points. If this is too annoying, Streets and Trips or Street Atlas, or Mapsource will also work, but you need to do some file manipulation (more than shown above.)

[Team Deejay]

OK, forget all that. They have managed to break that particular hack with the new upload. Here is the hot ticket.

FIRST, assuming you are using Firefox, click on the following link and follow the instructions to place the gmap2gpx program in your favorites (note: This program appears to be broken in IE 6.0, seems to work well in Firefox):

http://www.elsewhere.org/journal/gmaptogpx

Next, go to maps.google.com. Use the “directions” tab to create the route you want. Note that you create the stops in order, and after you get the basic route in, you can drag the route to whatever roads you want to take if it doesn’t select them by default. (so don’t create a bunch of unnecessary stops, but do create all the REAL stops so your route doesn’t try to bypass them).

Once you get the route the way you want it, click the GMap2GPX button. This will put up a text of the GPX file on the screen. Click the “full” button. Now, right click, select all, copy.

Open a text editor. Paste in the text and save it as a GPX file.

In theory, this should be loadable to the caches along the route function. Unfortunately, this is ALSO currently broken. So….

Open Google Earth. Open the GPX file in Google Earth. Save the file as a KML (NOT KMZ) file. This file can be used (today) in the caches along a route.

Sounds like a lot of steps, but it goes pretty quick and the Google maps routing is really about the best you will find.

[marc_54140]

Well, Deejay, it sounds no more complicated than the process I have been using with Streets & Trips and several PQs.

So, I’ve deleted GE, and am going back to the old way og doing it.

Thanks.

[Vegas Gamblers]

I don’t know if I saw it here or where but there was a google map that allowed you to drag the route line anywhere you wanted to give you a different route. I am searching for it now.

[Team Deejay]

Thats is just the normal Google Maps “directions”, VG. The advantage to this versus other methods is use of the caches along a route feature on gc.com. For example, if I wanted to capture all the cache along a route from Milwaukee to Minneapolis, I would need to run 4 or 5 PQs centered at various points along the route, then filter in GSAK using an arc filter (come on Saturday to learn about arc filters). By using the caches along a route, you can run just one query and get all the caches within a specified distance of your route. The only catch is that you have to make it work, and gc.com keeps finding ways to break it. As far as I know, you could always take the google earth route and just load that, but like Marc says, those routes are not always the way you want to travel.

[TyeDyeSkyGuy]

@marc_54140 wrote:

Well, Deejay, it sounds no more complicated than the process I have been using with Streets & Trips and several PQs.

So, I’ve deleted GE, and am going back to the old way og doing it.

Thanks.

Don’t delete it just because that function does not work! There are so many other things GE is good for. Solving one of my puzzles is near impossible without it for instance. 😉

It’s also awesome for planning caching trips, and searching and planning new areas to plant caches.

[marc_54140]

Solving one of my puzzles is near impossible without it for instance. 😉

[/quote]

I’ll keep that on mind, but from what I’ve seen (and heard) with GE, it’s not worth the hassle.

[Team Deejay]

At this point, unless you have specific needs (such as needing to identify nearby schools and railroads….), I see GE as more of a toy than a really usable program. The graphics are not as good as are available on many of the free online mapping resources, route determination is below average, and personally I’m not a fan of the interface. It is fun to play with, however.

[TyeDyeSkyGuy]

@Team Deejay wrote:

The graphics are not as good as are available on many of the free online mapping resources

Better grafix? I’m in. Where do you find that?

[Team Deejay]

Does this cache site look familiar, Jay? I REmemBAR it well. (This is shot toward the south. I left the border on to identify the website, maps.live.com.)

This is just the regular Microsoft Mappoint link from your cache page. The trick is to either use IE or use an IE simulator in Firefox.

[Author]

Posts