Exporting Information to Google Earth

InterMapper exports the following information so that Google Earth can place devices in the proper location. This information is exported as a .KML file compatible with Google Earth.

Each InterMapper map appears as a place in the left pane of Google earth. Items are shown as follows:

To be displayed in Google Earth, a device must have geographic information; devices that do not have geographic information are not displayed at all.

Geographic coordinates may be set in two ways:

In the case where both explicitly set coordinates and benchmarks are used, InterMapper uses the explicit coordinates and ignores the benchmarks.

How it works

How to use it

The easiest way to get the URL is through the InterMapper web interface.

  1. Download and install Google Earth.
  2. From the Server Configuration section of the Server Settings window, click Web Server. The Web Server settings pane appears in the right pane.
  3. Make sure the web server is running, then click the URL to launch a browser with the InterMapper Web interface.
  4. In the InterMapper web interface, click Map List. A list of maps on your server appears.
  5. Click the link to a map that contains latitude/longitude information, either implicitly or explicitly. The map appears in the browser.
  6. At the bottom of the map, click View this map in Google Earth. This is a link to the map's .KML file, a data file used by Google Earth. Assuming Google Earth has been installed properly, your browser offers to use Google Earth to open the file.

If everything is set up properly, the status badges for your devices hover over the surface of the Earth in appropriate locations.

To view a device's status window:

The map refreshes automatically every 5 minutes.

What you see

The images below show the original map, the mapped devices displayed from two different zoom levels, and the status window for one of the devices.


Original map in InterMapper


Wide view in Google Earth


Closer view in Google Earth


Status window in Google Earth