Phil Walker wrote: > > Back in December, Roger Bailey set us a challenge for 2009, to > populate a sundial database and display the details using Google > Earth. I rose to the challenge, in a small way, and here is the result > on my website: www.shropshire-sundials.net I hope you to enjoy it. > > > > Roger also showed us how to start a sundial trail using Google Earth > and in a later post more ideas on how to add content to the KML file. > My approach was somewhat different, I decided to work directly with > the KML language. > > > > KML stands for Keyhole Markup Language and is a simple, human-readable > format used by Google Earth and now by other Earth browsers like > Microsoft Virtual Earth and NASA WorldWind. KML 2.2 is now an > international standard , located at www.opengeospatial.org. > > To give you an idea of what KML is like, here is a short > snippet: > > > > > ; > > > > line > > <?xml version='1.0' > encoding='utf-8'?> > > 1 > > <kml > xmlns='http://www.opengis.net/kml/2.2'> > > 2 > > <Placemark> > > > 3 > > <name>La Nef de > Tavel</name> > 4 > > > <description> > 5 > > La Nef Solaire was built in 1993 at a motorway stop > near Tavel in the Midi of France. 6 > > Designed by sculptor Odile Mir and well-known > "gnomoniste" Denis Savoie, this is > > one of the largest and interesting dials in the > world > > 7. > > > </description> > > 8 > > > <Point> > > 9 > > > <coordinates>4.70031,44.0013</coordinates> > > 10 > > > </Point> > 11 > > </Placemark> > > 12 > > </kml> > > & > nbsp; 13 > > > > Type it into your text editor, such as Notepad, save the file as "La > Nef de Tavel.kml" and then click on the KML file to open up Google > Earth and see the aerial view of the huge, incredible Nef de > Tavel..The KML text is quite simple to understand.The lines 1 and 2 > show that this is a KML version 2.2 file, itself a version of XML. The > Placemark beginning and end tags, line 3 and line 12, enclose the > mininum information for a placemark, a name for the location, line 4, > a description, in this case, line 5 to line 8, and a ponit, lines 9 to > 11,which contains the placemark's coordinates. Note that the > coordinates in decimal degrees are first the longitude and second ,the > latitude. N and E are positive (+), S and W are negative,(-). > > > > If you open up my "Shropshire Sundials" KML file with a Right-Click > and use your editor, you will see a number of KML features which I > have used to produce the effects in Google Earth, including: > > > > *Icon Style - the gold icons for the placemarks > > *Balloon Style - which prescribe how the balloons > created > > *Network Link - which links this KML file to another > KML file > > *Placemark - like the Placemark for "la Nef de > Tavel" but with two particular important features > > - Description includes hyperlinks > to either a website which contains photographs > > and a > more detailed description of the dial, the location and its history. > > - Look At feature which effectively > enables the "pilot" to fly towards the placemark from > > > whatever direction, height and range. > > > > > If you want to experiment with the KML language, there are several > options I could recommend: > > * KML Documentation: Introduction > http://code.google.com/apis/kml/documentation/ > > * KML > Tutorial > http://code.google.com/apis/kml/documentation/kml_tut.html > > * Discussion - Getting Started with KML > http://code.google.com/apis/kml/faq.html > > * Books - KML > Handbook > http://my.safaribooksonline/9780321574404 > > > > Regards, > > Phil Walker > For me, Google Earth uses too much memory / resources (even when Google Earth is embedded in the browser, as is required for Phil's site) so I am in the process of putting all the public sundials in the British Isles on Google Maps in the new BSS website (which is currently password protected during development, to hide it from the search engines) - I have already put up the public sundials in Kent (though I will be adding further details). I have been using the book by Sterling Udell, which is very good, and gives code examples, so that you only have to change the text and co-ordinates to suit. You can also embed Google Earth in Google Maps, for those people with flashy computers :-)
Perhaps we can collaborate with people from other countries to produce a world map of public sundials ? My Maps in Google Maps has collaboration tools built in, so that many people can work on the same KML file. -- Richard Mallett Eaton Bray, Dunstable South Beds. UK --------------------------------------------------- https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial
