Importing the geometry of a location from a KML file

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REQUIREMENTS
Permission Operation Administrator or higher
Connectivity Online only

This document describes of to import the geometry for a new or existing location from a Google Earth KML file.

Background

While this document describes how to create a location in Google Earth and import it into the InfoEx system, it is also possible to export geometries in KML format in most other Geographic Information Systems (e.g.,ESRI ArcGIS, Q GIS). If geometries are exported from a high quality source, it is advisable to simplify the geometries to reduce the number of points included in the geometry to a reasonable number before importing them into the Infoex system. Having geometries with excessive numbers of points will unnecessarily slow down your InfoEx application.

Step-by-step description

1.
Fig. 1: Creating a line geometry for a ski run in Google Earth.
Create the geometry for a location directly in Google Earth (Fig.1). See Location types and symbology for more information on supported location types and geometries.
2.
Fig. 2: Right-click menu in Google Earth.
In Google Earth, right click on the location in the location catalog in the side bar of the application (Fig. 2) and select the 'Save Place As ...' menu item. This will open the standard 'Save as...' dialog window on your computer. Choose KML as the file format and save the file on your computer in a location of your choice.
NOTE It is important that the location is visible in Google Earth (check box in the location catalog checked) when you save it and that you choose KML as the file format. The InfoEx system is not able to read 'KMZ' files, which is the default format for Google Earth files.
3.
Fig. 3: Location editing popup window in InfoEx system.
After you have entered the name and abbreviation of the location in the fields of the location editing popup window of the InfoEx system (Fig. 3), click on Choose File at the bottom of the popup window. This will open the regular window for opening a file on your computer. Navigate to the KML file that you saved in the previous step. Select the file and click on Open to import the file and closed the window. You will return to the location editing popup window and the name of your KML file will now appear next to the Choose File button at the bottom of the window.
4.
Fig. 4: Location editing popup window with new geometry selected.
Navigate to the site of the location in the Google Earth interface in the location editing popup window and click on the new geometry. A small label will pop up with the label 'selected this feature:' and the name you had given to the location in Google Earth.
5. Click on Add (new locations) or Edit (existing locations) at the bottom of the popup window to commit the information to the InfoEx database.
NOTE Depending on the detail of the location geometry (i.e., the number of included points) and your internet connectivity, it might take a few second to upload the information and close the window.
ISSUE Even though the information for the new location is committed to the system, the pop-up window does not always close.
Workaround: After clicking on Add or Edit, click on Cancel to close the window.
JIRA: -795 (Aug. 24, 2013)

Related documents

Functionality tested by

  • Oct. 21: Pascal Haegeli / QA Server / Test Version 0.31.00)
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