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Google Earth
Review by Jérôme Daoust. Created 2005/6/29, revised 2009/2/17

1.      Google Earth

1.1.   Elevation point display

1.2.   Ground shadow display

1.3.   Becoming a supplier of KMZ files

2.      Resources

2.1.   GPS flight recovery

2.1.1.      Generic GPS

2.1.2.      Bräuniger/Competino

2.2.   Convert IGC file to a KML format

2.2.1.      Paragliding Earth

2.2.2.      GPSBabel

2.2.3.      e-ality

2.2.4.      IGC2GoogleEarth

2.2.5.      Leonardo

2.2.6.      GPS Visualizer

2.2.7.      Richard Hunt

2.2.8.      Fly Arena

2.2.9.      IGC to KML

2.3.   Convert IGC file to a GPX format

2.3.1.      GPSBabel

2.3.2.      GPS Visualizer

2.4.   Google Earth to a Garmin GPS (USB)

2.4.1.      Transfer a Waypoint

2.5.   Flight Replay

2.5.1.      IGC Flight Replay

 

 

Google Earth

 

Install Google Earth, if not already done:

 

 

Elevation point display

 

Example of a flight I did: Marshall to Yucaipa 2005/4/16.

Equivalent KMZ file (to launch Google Earth to view it)

 

  • Input required: KML file.
  • Double-click the KML file, it will launch Google Earth, and also put your flight data into the "Temporary Places"
  • Save your flight data:
    • Expand the tree under Temporary Places / GPS Device
    • Drag the "Track" item to under "My Places"
    • Right-Click the moved "Track" item and select "Edit":
      • Give it a name like "2005_04_16_Marshall_TO_Yucaipa".
      • Enable the "Advanced" option.
      • Click the "Location" tab.

Change from "Clamped to ground" to "Absolute".

Optional: If you want to see vertical elevation lines: Enable "Draw lines connecting points to ground".

      • Click the "Custom" button near the Top+Right of the form.

Select the first green circle icon.

      • Click the "Style" tab.

In the "Icons" group, change the scale from 1.0 to 0.2 .

o   Close the form, by clicking "OK".

  • Manipulate the view.

 

 

 

Ground shadow display

 

  • Input required: GPX file.
  • Launch Google Earth
  • Input your file:
    • File: Open
    • Filter for files of type "Gps (*.gpx *.loc)"
    • Select your file, click "Open".
  • Save your flight data:
    • Expand the tree under Temporary Places / GPS Device
    • Drag the "Track" item to under "My Places"
    • Right-Click the moved "Track" item and select "Edit":
      • Give it a meaningful name like "2005_03_06_Torrey"
      • Enable the "Advanced" option.
      • Click "Share Style".
      • Icons File/URL: Empty out this field. Icons will disappear when you click in another field.
      • Lines: Change the color/width to your preference (Red, Width=3).

o   Close the form, by clicking "OK".

  • Manipulate the view.

 

 

Becoming a supplier of KMZ files

 

If you are hosting *.kmz files under your website (like I started doing), then users may have a file un-compression utility (like WinZip) intervene when they follow the link to your *.kmz file. Gerry Grossnegger supplied this valuable fix…

Your web server needs to know what to tell your browser those files are, depending on their extensions.  If your web host uses the Apache server program, put these lines in your /.htaccess file:

 

ErrorDocument 404 /errorpages/sn404.html

AddType application/vnd.google-earth.kml+xml  .kml   ß add this line

AddType application/vnd.google-earth.kmz  .kmz       ß add this line

 

 

Resources

 

GPS flight recovery

 

Generic GPS

 

GpsDump

 

Bräuniger/Competino

 

Getting the IGC file of your flight:

 

 

Convert IGC file to a KML format

 

Paragliding Earth

 

GPSBabel

  • Install GPSBabel if not already done:
  • Double click the "GPSBabelGUI" application.
  • Input File:
    • Select file with a free format (*.*) filter.
    • Format: FAI/IGC Flight Recorder Data Format
  • Output file:
    • Format: Keyhole Markup Language
    • Click "Use Default Filename"
    • Add the missing "kml" extension
  • Click "Process"
  • Close the application

 

e-ality

  • You will be able to use without installation the e-ality converter:
    • Webpage:
  • Steps (English version):
    • Click on the button that says Convert IGC file it will pop up a small window for selecting your .igc file
    • Click on Browse... to find your file
    • Click on Upload and convert file… to make the conversion.
    • Click on Your KML File for Google Earth... where you can download your .kml file.
    • If you have more files to convert, click on Convert another file…, or click on Close to close the window.
  • Steps (German version):
    • Click on the button that says IGC Datei Konvertieren it will pop up a small window for selecting your .igc file
    • Click on Browse... to find your file
    • Click on Datei übertragen und konvertieren... to make the conversion.
    • Click on Ihre KML-Datei für Google Earth where you can download your .kml file.
    • If you have more files to convert, click on Weitere Datei konvertieren..., or click on Schließen to close the window.
  • Stewart Midwinter writes:
    • One more tip: if you used something like MaxPunkte to generate your .igc file, then it should contain your name and glider type (otherwise you can open your .igc file with any text editor and add them - but beware, that will break your 'G' security record. That pilot data will be nicely displayed in GE so that you can readily identify your flight.

 

IGC2GoogleEarth

 

Leonardo

 

GPS Visualizer

 

Richard Hunt

 

Fly Arena, by Laurent Doudon

 

IGC to KML, by Maddy Household

 

 

Convert IGC file to a GPX format

 

GPSBabel

  • Install GPSBabel if not already done:
  • Double click the "GPSBabelGUI" application.
  • Input File:
    • Select file with a free format (*.*) filter.
    • Format: FAI/IGC Flight Recorder Data Format
  • Output file:
    • Format: GPX XML
    • Click "Use Default Filename"
  • Click "Process"
  • Close the application

 

GPS Visualizer

 

 

Google Earth to a Garmin GPS (USB)

 

Transfer a Waypoint

  • From Google Earth:
    • Select your placemark, then do "Save As…" and save it as a KML file (not KMZ).
  • Install GPSBabel if not already done:
  • Connect your GPS with the USB cable and turn it ON.
  • Double click the "GPSBabelGUI" application:
    • Select "Google Earth (Keyhole) Markup Language" as the input format.
    • Select the KML file you created from Google Earth.
    • Set the output format to "Garmin serial/USB protocol" and "USB" as the port.
    • Click "let's go"

 

 

 

Flight Replay

 

IGC Flight Replay

·         Website: http://www.ywtw.de/igcsimen.html

·         Discussion: http://www.paraglidingforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=16045

 

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