Date: Sat, 4 Feb 2006 11:05:24 EST
Subject: Google Earth Hacks - GE Path

Good Morning Sgrillo! I saw your posting on the Google Earth Hacks bulletin board - WOW!  What a fascinating thing GE Path is.  I look forward to playing with it a lot, and thank you very much for posting the link on the GEH BB. Wow oh wow oh wow! 

Jim S.

Date: Sun, 5 Mar 2006 02:31:35 -0000
Subject: Excellent!
 

Excellent tool well done. I'm finding GEPath very helpful. Would it be possible to add the option of having *filled* circles for each point and give it a transparency a text box also?Many thanks and keep up the excellent tool, it's great! 

Cheers 
Marty :)

Date: Sun, 05 Mar 2006 07:44:24 -0300
Subject: Re: Excellent!
From: "Ricardo Sgrillo" <sgrillo@cepec.gov.br>

Hi Marty,
Thanks for your email.Yes, your suggestions can be easily implemented. I will try to work on it next weekend.

Cheers

Ricardo Sgrillo

Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2006 22:07:48 -0500
To: sgrillo@cepec.gov.br
Subject: GE Graph v 2.0

To whom it may concern, I posted a response to your posting on the GEarth bbs here.  Can you take a look at the CAB file?  Also, I had some problems with the Help File.  I could not get anything to appear on the right.  The contents bar and search function worked, but I just couldn't display the information.  Here is the text of my response:

rsgrillo,

This utility is a MUST HAVE and looks outstanding. Hopefully, I will get to use this program often. However, when I tried to start the program, I got the following error message:

Failed to load control 'ecGrid' from ecGrid.ocx. Your version of ecGrid.ocx may be outdated. Make sure you are using the version of the control that was provided with your application.

I looked at the properties for the file ecGrid.ocx, and I found this: 
File size: 106,496
Modified: 10/7/2005 8:47 PM

Can you provide any help? I am using Windows XP Pro. Thanks. 

Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2006 09:14:52 -0300
Subject: Re: GE Graph v 2.0
From: "Ricardo Sgrillo" <sgrillo@cepec.gov.br>
Organization: CEPLAC/CEPEC

Hi Jim,

Tanks for your email. I have posted in bbs.keyhole the answer below (ocx bug)

It seems that, for some reason, the application installer did not register the ocx control in your system.
If you have dll/ocx register tool as http://www.e-systems.ro/register_dll_tool.htm, or any other you can use it to register the control (recommended).
If you don't have you can register it for your self by typing in the run item of the start menu:

regsvr32 <control path & name>

For example if the control is in WINDOWS\system32 folder you shall type:
regsvr32 C:\WINDOWS\system32\ecGrid.ocx
Please let me know if this procedure solved the problem.

Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2006 22:51:00 -0500
To: "Ricardo Sgrillo" <sgrillo@cepec.gov.br>
Subject: Re: GE Graph v 2.0

Ricardo Sgrillo, I posted a response.  Thanks for helping me out.  Once I used the EMSA DLL register tool, everything worked, including the Help file.  By the way, I did not have this problem for the GE Path tool.
Respectfully, 
Jim M.

To: sgrillo@cepec.gov.br
Subject: GE Graph
Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2006 10:22:18 +0200

Hello Ricardi,

I try to use your GE Graph utilitity to display in GE some bathymetric data.
It seems I have some troubles when the number of rows is too important.

"Error9 (subscript out of range) in procedure faZ of Formulario Form1."

Enclosed my text file.

Many thanks for your assistance.

Best regards.

Peio E.
 

Date: 19 Apr 2006 11:49:59 -0300
Subject: GE Graph

You are right. The present version of GE-Graph has size limitations on the input and on the processed
 (kml) file.

The input file must have less then 5,000 placemarks/way points. The processed file (output) must have less then 100,000 lines of kml code. The file you sent has more then 10,000 points.

The effective size of the files the application can handle depends on the ratio “placemark/kml lines generated” that is a function of the options you have choose.

This ratio varies from 20 kml lines by each placemark (bar graph with no labels) to more then 50 kml lines by placemark (circles/squares with labels).

This restriction shall be removed in the next versions of GE-Graph.

The suggestion I can give you is to split your file in three or four parts and then run each one in a separate process. Then you show all together in GE.

You have keep the minimum and maximum values repeated in each file, so your scale will remain constant for each file part.

R.Sgrillo

To: <sgrillo@cepec.gov.br>
Subject: GE-Path Version 1.3
Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2006 15:11:17 +0200

Hi, I´m Matthias from Germany and have downloaded your tools which is really great!!! However, could you please check or advise on the area calculations...? The calculated circumference is always right - a square of 100m X 100m in google earth gives 0,4 km -> this right.The calculated area is wrong - it gives me approximate 3,5 ha, but should be 1 ha. If I generate a square of 1km everything is fine -> circumference is 4 km and the area is 100 ha. I believe that also the square meters are calculated wrong in the 1st sample. What is going wrong or do I think wrong...? 

With best regards from Germany, 

Matthias

Subject: Re: GE-Path Version 1.3
Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2006 12:20:22 -0300
From: "Ricardo Sgrillo" <sgrillo@cepec.gov.br>
Organization: CEPLAC/CEPEC

Hi Matthias,

Thank you for your email. You are right. There is a bug in small area calculation. This may be 
because of:

The number of decimals used in the calculations,
The results of trigonometric functions (arcsin, arctan,...)
The algorithm used
Others???

I am trying to find out.

By now I would advise you to do not trust in the results of small area results. I will try to fix 
this bug (and others) in the next version.

Greetings from Brazil

Ricardo Sgrillo

Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2006 17:12:20 +0200
To: sgrillo@cepec.gov.br
Subject: Error in GE-Path 1.3.0

Hi Ricardo,

I'm the user Southernman from the german GE Community. Just found your email-addy on your webpage. In the attached files I send you the KLM file and screenshoots from the settings and results of the two versions of GE-Path. I hope, this helps a little bit more for finding out, what causes this strange 
behaviour. As you can see, there are some german special characters in the placemark descriptions, which are not displayed correct only in version 1.2.03, but in the resulting Path KML they are ok again.

Thank you for this fine tool. After finding this program I decided to start my project, which is about some verry old streets of the roman Imperium here at Bavaria from 2000 years ago. One of them is called today Via Julia and I'll still need a lot of time of recherching for finding all the remainig traces, which left until today.

Greetings from Munich, Germany to Brazil,
Juergen

Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2006 11:20:35 -0300
Subject: GE-Path
From: "Ricardo Sgrillo" <sgrillo@cepec.gov.br>
Organization: CEPLAC/CEPEC

Hi Southernman,

I think I have found the problem. Both versions of GE-Path are dependent of your locale settings concerning the decimal separator symbol. They will work correctly only if your computer is configured to use dot as decimal separator. However it is most likely that the previous version will show problems only if you choose to draw circles or grids, while the new version (because of the data grid) will also show problems in paths.

I configured my computer for comma and got the same strange path that you have posted in the forum (file VIA_JULIA_V2-Path_comma_1_3_0.kml). The version 1.2.3 draw right paths with comma (in this case-no guarantee) (file VIA_JULIA_V2-Path_comma_1_2_03.kml).

Then I configured my computer for dot and the new version draws the right paths (file VIA_JULIA_V2-Path_dot_1_3_0) (Note that the file generated by the new version is much smaller than the old one).

I know that this is inconvenient but it is a restriction of the language I used to develop the applications (Brazil, where I live, also use comma as decimal separator). I will try to remove this restriction in a future version.

I will be glad if you could try the new version again. If you confirm my thoughts it will be nice if you could post a note on this matter, then the other people will be aware also.

Best Regards

Ricardo Sgrillo

Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2006 21:15:09 +0200
To: Ricardo Sgrillo <sgrillo@cepec.gov.br>
Subject: No error in GE-Path 1.3.0

Hi Ricardo,

you found the solution. The comma is the separator in Germany too.
Switching  to the point  in the  system configuration  solves  the problem.
I'll post a hint in the german GE Community for the other users.

Thanks and greetings,
Jürgen

To: <sgrillo@cepec.gov.br>
Subject: 
Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2006 19:23:12 -0600

Thanks for the FREE path tool.  May I humbly suggest that you add altitude
as a point variable.  This would allow placing either/both ends of the path
a set distance above ground level.

Chris 

Subject: Re: GE-Path
Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2006 22:36:15 -0300
From: "Ricardo Sgrillo" <sgrillo@cepec.gov.br>

Hi Chris

Thank you for your email. Yes, this is a good suggestion. I am writing it in the list of bugs to fix/new features for the next  version.

Greetings from Brazil

Ricardo Sgrillo

On Sat, 22 Apr 2006 19:53:32 -0300

Dear Ricardo,

thank you for your reply,
I really appreciate your work!

Hope that you will find the time to get the small bug(s) fixed some day,
but already now it is a great tool.

I made some messurements (bigger size) for my friend Buddy, and this
area results (ha) are right and confirmed by his official records (the
lake and the field).

What I was also wondering is that at bigger size distances, meters are
not working - I have attached therefor the two JPGs which should give
you together with the kml-file the opportunity to track.

Keep up the great work,

with best regards 

Matthias, from My Home.kml
 

Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2006 23:18:26 -0300
Subject: Re: AW: GE-Path Version 1.3
From: "Ricardo Sgrillo" <sgrillo@cepec.gov.br>
Organization: CEPLAC/CEPEC

Mathias,

We have a problem, because I was unable to reproduce the meter error here, with the kml file you have sent. I also can't imagine any local configuration settings that could cause this behavior.

Is the perimeter wrong also in GE folders? (see small image)

Please, uncheck "open in GE", run the GE-Path and click in cancel in the save dialog. Then change the distance unit in the combo box. What happen with the perimeter? Is it wrong only for meter?

Best regards

Ricardo

To: "'Ricardo Sgrillo'" <sgrillo@cepec.gov.br>
Subject: AW: AW: GE-Path Version 1.3
Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2006 10:51:13 +0200

Dear Ricardo,

as it worked for you, but not for me, I investigated by myself.

I changed now in my "Windows XP Professional - German" Regional Settings
the symbol for the "digit aggregation" from dot to comma - see point 2
from the regional setting-jpg.
Then it gives me the right results.

When I worked with the dot before and tried to open the kml-file in GE,
I got an error message in GE - see also attached.

With kind regards,

Matthias

By the way, I read your RESUMÉ. My respect! I´m wondering that you find
the time to follow up this kind of requests.

Date: Sun, 23 Apr 2006 08:39:46 -0300
Subject: Re: AW: AW: GE-Path Version 1.3
From: "Ricardo Sgrillo" <sgrillo@cepec.gov.br>
Organization: CEPLAC/CEPEC

Matthias,

I thought on "decimal separator", but, as you already were using the dot, I forgot it and did not think on" digit aggregation" symbol.

Well, it seems that the application is running ok now (at least for larger distances).

Hope you can enjoy it. Don't hesitate to contact me if you have any other problem or suggestion.

< I´m wondering that you find the team to follow up this kind of requests. 
 

Well, I can always take apart a couple of hours at the evenings and weekends. It is important to get bugs identification and suggestions from the users. I intend to release yet one or two improved versions for the applications.

Regards

Ricardo

To: sgrillo@cepec.gov.br
Bcc: 
Subject: GE-Graph
Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 04:39:48 +0000

Hi SGRILLO,

I tryied GE-Graph its great thanks .

I will like to ask if tere is a way of showing for your frinds where you har via the internet?

Say I have a mobile phone a gps is there a software that makes you visible to other in the internet?

I have used MeHere http://mehere.glenmurphy.com/ ,But you can´t show your friends where you are. Not if 
you use the mobile.

Mais uma vez muito obrigado pelo exelente trabalho com GE-GRAPH

Helio

Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 21:55:10 -0300
Subject: Re: GE-Graph
From: "Ricardo Sgrillo" <sgrillo@cepec.gov.br>
Organization: CEPLAC/CEPEC

Oi Helio,

Desculpe, mas, por problemas diversos, só hoje consegui ler seu email. Fico feliz que voce tenha gostado do programa.

Acho que não posso ajuda-lo na sua duvida, pois não tenho experiencia com aplicações para internet.

Talvez voce possa obter ajuda no forum do Google Earth http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php/Cat/0)

Um abraço

Ricardo Sgrillo

Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 09:10:28 -0700
Subject: GE-Graph
To: sgrillo@cepec.gov.br

Hello,

Do you know if it possible to use GE-Graph to make bar graphs on the
fly, outside of the GUI?  I would like to be able to invoke GE-Graph
with some configured options from an external application, submit data
to it, and have it automatically generate the kml.  Possible?

Thanks,
Brian 

From: Ricardo Sgrillo [mailto:sgrillo@cepec.gov.br] 
Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2006 9:39 AM
Subject: Re: GE-Graph

Hi Brian,

I am afraid no. It would be necessary to include a procedure to process
command line options, so you could pass to it, from other application, a
file name with the data and options.

May be in the next version.

Regards

Ricardo Sgrillo
 

 Mr.  Ricardo; When I  am setting my computer to GE graph ,I am getting an error message as follows. Can you help me please?

Thanks a lot. 

error message: C.//System32/scrrundll 
My computer properties
Pentium 4 CPU 3.0 GHz1 GB RAMWindows XP2002 Service pack 2 

Mustafa 

Hi Mustafa,

This is the first report of this error. It seems it is linked to the Microsoft script library (scrrun.dll). GE-Graph uses this library to create and delete temporary folders, needed to generate kmz files.

Lets try to findout what is happening. What is exectly the error message?

When do you receive the error message?

- when you try to install GE-Graph
- when you open it
- when you run it

Is there a file named "scrrun.dll" in your "system32" directory ? (you will have to set the Windows Explorer to show system and hidden file)

What is the file verion ? (if you have it) - right click in the file and open the context menu. then click in "proprieties", "version" tab and "product version")

I hope that with your information I can identify and fix the bug.

R.Sgrillo

To: <sgrillo@cepec.gov.br>
Subject: Saludos desde Valladolid, Spain
Date: Sat, 13 May 2006 12:06:51 +0200

Gracias por sus programas: son estupendos. Tuve algún problema con los separadores de decimales (la configuración regional en español usa . para millares y , para decimales). Un saludo,

Date: Sat, 13 May 2006 07:53:16 -0300
Subject: Re: Saludos desde Valladolid, Spain
From: "Ricardo Sgrillo" <sgrillo@cepec.gov.br>
Organization: CEPLAC/CEPEC

Ola Angel,

Gracias por tu email. La proxima version, que estara disponible en pocas semanas, ofrece la opcion de hacer automatica la configuracion del separador decimal , volviendo a la configuracion original al encerrar el programa.

Saludos

Ricardo Sgrillo

To: sgrillo@cepec.gov.br
Date: Wed, 17 May 2006 16:47:57 -0500
Subject: GE Path

Hello, I have a .kml file of about 140 cities in GE Free.  I can read the .kml fine with GE.  Unfortunately, that same file shows only 14 cities in GE-Path.  How do I fix this? 

abedit

Subject: Re: GE Path
Date: Wed, 17 May 2006 19:31:00 -0300
From: "Ricardo Sgrillo" <sgrillo@cepec.gov.br>
Organization: CEPLAC/CEPEC
 

Hi abedit

First time I receive a report of this kind. GE-Path will load, show and process more the 4000 places. 
Could you send me your original file?

R. Sgrillo
 

Dear Sgrillo, 

at first thank you for your very helpful tool and sorry for my bad English.

Now my little problem. I'm using the latest version of GE and GE-Path
1.2.03. Your Program works really properly and so it is no problem to create
a path.

But when I'm flying, the path, the view-direction doesn't change. In
example- I fly to east but my view is to north. And sometimes the flight
accelerates really fast and then it goes quite slowly.

The solution that I want to have is that "path-flights" are exactly to the
GE-"car-tours". I don't know if it is a thing of GE or wrong settings in GE
or GE-Path? And I don't know that GE+ can solve this issue?

I tried several GE parameters and snapshot-views but in view to the
flight-view-direction of the path they are no difference.

What also can be the problem? I hope you can give me help to find a
solution. If it is a thing of GE, I hope you can explain it to me. And it
would be nice if you could tell me that this problem would be solved by
using GE+. I ask in any communities but nobody knows this problem or a
solution.

Thank you very much for your very useful programs and also for your answer
and maybe for your help. I'm a great fan of GE like you and it would be very
nice to share our Home.kmz.

Have a nice day and with best wishes from Germany! 

Marcel

Hi Marcel,

It seems that the problem is with Google Earth. The path file generated by GE-Path is practicaly 
equal to the ones generated by GE Plus.

Did you try to change the configuration in menu Tools/Options Control tab and checking Advanced?

I have found several observations, similar to yours, about following a path and tours in GE Free and 
GE Plus.

Take a look in the following topics of the GE Comunity.

  One ,  Two ,  Three, Four , Five
 
 

Greetings from Ilheus, Brazil

Ricardo Sgrillo
 

When using GE Path to create polygons around points, I'm getting
strange results.  I set up a .kml file with a group of points near +20 lat,-156
lon, and tried to create squares around them with a 5 nautical mile
side length (3.53 mile radius around point).  The longitudes in the
generated .kml file were all around -2315 lon, in other words wrapping around the Earth 6 times before landing on the correct point.  I tried this in version 1.3, and got similar results.

 Ken
 

Hi Ken,

Could you send me the original .kml file? I will try to reproduce the 
error here and feedback to you.

Regards

Ricardo Sgrillo
---------------------------------------------
Ken,

Thank you very much. You have found a bug. It is interesting because it occurs only in few specific lat-lon combinations. I have fixed it (I hope). I am attaching the (new) GE-Path1_4_1.exe (zipped). It is not necessary to install it again. Just extract it to the ge-path folder. It is not necessary to delete your current version (1.4.0). However you should delete it after testing this new version. Don't forget to update your shortcuts.

Could you please send me a feedback after testing it?
 

Regards

Ricardo

I'm getting an "error 13 (type mismatch) in procedure faZ..."
Any tips?

Thanks,

Quinton

Hi Quinton,

This error is generated by wrong type of data assigned to a variable (ex: 
assigning a literal to a numeric variable, etc.)

If you can send me the original data I can try to reproduce the error here 
and advise you.

Regards
 

Ricardo Sgrillo

Thank you for Ge-Path, and Ge-Graph,
These tools are really usefull for me !!

But I have problem with Ge-Graph...

On my system (Windows 2000, GeGraph v2.1.1), it seems to export color with
too many digits :

       <PolyStyle>
         <color>ff0095f2</color>
         <outline>0</outline>
       </PolyStyle>

So all the squares are grey...
If I do a search/replacement of "<color>ff" by "<color>"  (supress the first
"ff" for color), everything go all right !

Thank you
A.

Hi Arnaud,

Thank you for your email. You are right. This is a bug. I only discover 
this after the release of GE4 last weeks. It seems that GE3 ignore this 
two additional digits and presents the right colors. Next week I will be 
releasing the new version of GE-Graph, with many new features and several 
bugs removed (I hope).

Thank you again

Ricardo Sgrillo

I can't make GEPATH 1.4.1 to work, it gives an error dialog box that says:
______
GEPath:
System Error &H8007007E (-2147024770). The specified module could not be found.
______
I've tested in 2 pcs. One WinXp Sp1 and another with WinXP Sp2.
It's installed the vb6 runtimes as indicated and also re-registered the ecGrid.ocx with RegisterDllTool.
(GEGraph_2.2.0 is working well though.)

Any ideas?
Tks a lot 

ps: thanks rsgrillo for those excellent programs.

Hi Javier_py,

This version of GE-Path uses a library with a set of controls, called FM20.dll. The developers are not allowed to distribute this .dll with their applications. In most of the computers this file is installed with Microsoft Office.

I advise you to go to Microsoft site in this page and just download and instal the Microsoft ActiveX Control Pad (free). This should fix the installation of FM20.dll and GE-Path shall then work well.

Please, feedback 

Sgrillo

GEPath is a Great tool for google earth, very useful.

but i have a problem:

when i convert a KML include Chinese Places Name, Google Earth Call error.

i use text edit open KML file wrong code  was found near Place name.

can you give  me some suggest ? Thanks.
 

x.p.o.i.n.t.
---------------------------------------------------------

From: xP01nt 
To: "Ricardo Sgrillo" <sgrillo@cepec.gov.br>
Subject: Re: GE-Path
 

hey:

I edit place name in GE-Path or other text editor now.

thank for GE-Path that's great, and thank for your help, and so glade
to heard can help you test next version GE-P :)

Hi,

Unfortunaly I was not able to reproduce the error here. The pictures you 
sent shows that there are several place names that are empty and this 
generated the error when GE try to open the file generated by GE-Path.

When I tried here, with the kml file you have sent, all the names appears, 
although the characters were translated to "???" because I have no support 
for Chinese language installed in my computer. Because there are no empty 
names there is no error when GE opens the file.

You can try to open the file and type directly in GE-Path's table the 
place names, if they are empty. It seems that there are some character in 
Chinese alphabet that are misinterpreted by GE-Path and make the name be 
empty. You could change the place names just for testing.

Please note that the current version of GE-Path and GE-Graph have no 
support for oriental languages. I am working in the next version and will 
try to include support for Chinese. May be you can help me to beta test it 
in the near future.

Regards

Ricardo Sgrillo

Thanks for making such a useful tool. As a suggestion maybe you can add an
automatic buffer creator around paths, so one can specify a certain radius
and the program will make that radius around that path or point. That would
be real interesting.
Thanks for your hard work.
-Esin

Hi Esin,

Thank you for your email. I keep a list of suggestions, bugs and comments 
on the applications.
You suggestion will be considered for the next version.

Greetings from Bahia

Ricardo Sgrillo

Caro Ricardo

Fiquei muito contente ao ver um brasileiro gerando soluções para pessoas 
de todo o mundo, parabéns pelas excelentes ferramentas desenvolvidas  para 
o Google Earth.

A minha dúvida é como poderia criar path no Google Free, p.q. ele avisa 
que essa opção é somente para a versão Plus ... ou se a tua ferramenta é 
somente para Kml já prontos.

A minha dúvida seria essa ...

Muito Obrigado por hora

Ivo 
Quaraí - RS

-------------------------------------------

From: iglw4
To: sgrillo@cepec.gov.br
:

Ricardo

Muito Obrigado pela resposta e pela explicação parabéns pela excelente 
ferramenta.

Abraço

Ivo
 

Oi Ivo,

Obrigado por seu email. GE-Path foi desenvolvido justamente porque a GE 
Free não gera Path. No GE-Free voce deve criar um diretorio e colocar ali 
os Placemarks que vão marcar o seu path. Depois vc grava o diretorio com 
os seus placemarks como seunome.KML. Este arquivo vc abre com o GE-Path, 
escolhe suas opções e clica em "Run". O GE-Path gera novo arquivo KML 
(seunome-Path.kml) com o seu path e as opçoes que vc escolheu. Este 
arquivo é aberto automaticamnete no GE se vc escolheu "Open in GE"

Um abraço

R.Sgrillo

the attached file was loaded correct, but the output is bad-encoded it seemed that the chinese chars is bad encoded.

btw, I made a online translation web page for kml:
http://lvdong.net/steeven/gep2p.jsp, welcome to give me suggest. if u like, we can exchange links :)

regards,
steeven

Hi Steeven,

Thank you for your email.

< the attached file was loaded correct, but the output is bad-encoded. 
 it seemed that the chinese chars is bad encoded.>

Well, GE-Path/Graph were developed in VB6 and VB is an ASC based language.
So, any other character have to be encoded to utf-8. The application
encodes the characters (see this keyhole post)

but it is only working for Latin characters. I think that this might be 
linked to the regional configurations. I have also, in my computer, a
strange behavior of GE. Take a look in here

I shall go deeply in this matter and try to fix the programs.
 

< I made a online translation web page for kml:
 http://lvdong.net/steeven/gep2p.jsp , welcome to give me suggest>
 

I tried your page. I entered a file path in clicked in convert to path. It
opened GE but the generated file was not there.

I suggest putting on option to save OR to open the generated file. I think 
also that would be nice if, before exporting the file to GE, you could
check if GE is already open, or to leave Windows choose the application
that will handle the file. May be you can use the file protocol handler 
(Shell("RUNDLL32.EXE URL.DLL,FileProtocolHandler " & fileName,
windowStatus). When I tried your page GE was already opened and your
script tried to open it again.

< we can exchange links :) 

Sure. I will be glad. Just tell me what name do you want for the link.
(may be Steeven_GEp2p ?)

Greetings from Brazil

Ricardo

Hello I have been having a look at GEGraph. I have a kml file that I have tried to open and I get an error message.

Error 9 (subscript out of range) in procedure Carraga Poligono in Form Main.

This may be because of the way my kml file is setup. It however does open in GE

Any help would be fantastic

Many thanks

Scott

GIS Programmer--
------------
Hi Ricardo

I am still having a few issues but I am really just hacking around. The kml file is attached with the coordinates of my polygons but I created this from a shape file and used a application called arc2GE to translate. Perhaps the format is not the same. I removed the carriage return. Any help would again be most appreciated.

Scott

-------------

From: "Scott" <ScottPt>
To: "Ricardo Sgrillo" <sgrillo@cepec.gov.br>
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 06 Jul 2006 04:10:47.0672 (UTC) 

Thanks very much for your help Ricardo. I realize what I missed out doing.

This is really interesting as an output. Things are working well and I am looking at other ways of showing some data in this fashion, because people here in the pacific don't have much idea of GIS and this is one way to show them.

Once again many thanks for your help with this

Scott

Hi Scott

This error says that the number of lines of the file is too large. The
input file for GE-Graph is limited to 5000 lines of kml code. However I
have tried it with polygon files up to 6 Mbytes and it worked well. May
be you have each set of polygon coordinates (lon,lat,alt) separated by a
carriage return?  If this is the case you could put all the coordinates
of the same polygon in the same line. You also could, if possible, split
your file in two parts, or to convert it to a cvs text file (there is
samples in the application page)

Well, to give you a precise help I would have to look at your file or at
a representative part of it.
Could you send it?

Regards

Ricardo Sgrillo
-------------------------

Hi Scott,

I am sending two edited original files and two processed file.

You need, at least, one  <name>polygon_name</name> after the first
<Placemark> tag.

I edited your original file and put de name a1 for the first placemark
(doc2.kml). If you have only one name, every polygon below will belong to
the same place and will have the same color, altitude, etc
(doc2_graph.kml). It will be shown as a single row in the application's
table.

I edit again your file a put one name (a1,a2,a3,..) for each placemark
(doc1.kml). If you have one name for each polygon then each polygon will
be considered as a single unit, and you can assign different colors and
height for each one (doc1_Graph.kml). Each place will be shown in a row in
the application's table.

You can have any number of polygons under one name and all will be
considered as a single unit.

Note that you have always to work with the original files. If you try to
open a file already processed by GE-Graph you will, probably, receive an
error msg, because it remove the names of the polygons (it create a
different folder only for the names)

Please feed back and tell me if the things are working well, now.

Regards

Ricardo

I even have the runtime library installed.
I read that fm20.dll is not part of that library, but VB^ itself, and /or Office, which I do not have, nor will not, in the near term.

What can I do to get GE-Path 1.4.1 working, so I can use GE4, or will I 
have to reinstall the older versions of each, which worked okay

Hi Gary,

No, you don't have to reinstall the older version.
Just go here:  http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/358193/page/0/fpart/5/vc/1
and read the post of Javier_py and the respective answer.

Greetings

Ricardo Sgrillo

Good morning,

I just downloaded GE Graph.  I am working with ArcGIS.so converting shp
files to KML. I reporojected my data to GCS_WGS_84 and converted to KML.
When I go to run GE Graph it states it doesn't understand my data. I tried
downloading your sample (#D) data to see what it looks like in GE Graph and
it didn't understand that data either. 

I don't know if you support this data, but I could really use your help. 
 

Suggestions?
 

Thanks for putting this together.once I get it working I hope to incorporate
into many of my projects.
 
 

Rich

Hi Rich,

Thank you for your email. This error msg may be generated by different
factors.

The figure D was generated using as input the file  brazil_borders.zip
(kml) or it txt equivalent BrazilStateBorders.zip (in the bottom of the
page). The height of each polygon was random generated by GE-Graph.

If you look at the txt file its format will be evident. Both file will
open well in GE-Graph. Note that you have always to work with the original
files. If you try to open a file that was generated by GE-Graph you will,
probably, receive an error msg, because it remove the names of the
polygons (it create a different folder only for the names)

For kml formated files, one of the most common error is the use of file
that do not have any filled <name> tag. You need, at least, one
<name>polygon_name</name> after the first <Placemark> tag and before the
first <linearRing> tag.

If you have only one name, every individual polygon below will be
considered to belong to the same place and will have the same color,
altitude, etc. It will be shown as a single row in the application's table.

If you have one name for each polygon then each polygon will be considered
as a single unit, and you can assign different colors and height for each
one.  Each polygon will be shown in a row in the application's table.

You can have any number of polygons under each <name> tag.

Another common factor of this error msg could be the use of symbol
characters (like <, /, >, &) in the place name/description tags.

Note that, in the txt file, the first line after each group of coordinates
have the altitude of that polygon. The altitude in the coordinate group
(lon,lat,alt) will not be used by GE-Graph.

Please feed back and tell me if the things are working well, now. If not
please send me your kml file (or part of it) so I can try to find out
where is the problem. Feel free to contact me whenever you need.

Greetings

Ricardo Sgrillo
 

First off, thanks for the great tool! I have gotten a lot out of it.

Currently, I am trying to create a grid but not getting any color in the grid cells. I have attached the text file I am using along with a screenshot of the GEGraph interface with the values I am using.

I hope you may be able to offer some advice.

Thanks in advance for your help.
 

Sincerely,

Pete Cutter

Hi Peter,

Thank you for the email. I have tested your file here and it presented the
same problem. I re-checked the kml file generated by GE-Graph and it is
correct. It seems a bug of Google Earth.

However there is a workaround. If you locate the flat graph in a small
altitude above the ground the colors will be shown ok.

To do this you have, first, to update to the latest version (2.2.0) of
GE-Graph. It is not necessary to re-install it, just download
(http://www.sgrillo.net/googleearth/) the executable, unpack it in
GE-Path directory and create a shortcut. You can keep the older version,
if you want to.

Now you can choose between 3d graph and flat graph. In 3d graphs the
colors will be shown ok. For flat graphs, like the one you was trying to
make, choose "3D" option and constant "Height'. In the Height text box
enter a small altitude, like 150 meters. The generated flat grid will now
be correctly presented in GE.

I am attaching two images of your data.

Please feedback and don't hesitate to contact me if you need further
assistance.
 

Greetings

Ricardo Sgrillo

Fiz download do GEPATH 1.4.0 tenho o Google Earth 4 instalei as bibiotecas do VB6 mas quando clico no ícone do GEPath apresenta a mensagem:

---------------------------
GEPath
---------------------------
System Error &H8007007E (-2147024770).   Não foi possível encontrar o 
módulo especificado.
---------------------------
OK 
---------------------------

Já testei em dois computadores. Sendo que num deles tem Google Earth Plus 
O que eu faço?
 

Flávio Junior

 Oi Flavio,

 O GE-Path usa uma biblioteca chamada fm20.dll da Microsoft que os  desenvolvedores não tem permissão para distribuir nos seus> instaladores. Na maioria dos computadores esta biblioteca é  normalmente instalada quando se instala o Office. Em alguns computadores, no entanto (não sei porque) este erro pode ser apresentado.

 Para resolver o problema va no site da Microsoft  (http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnaxctrl/html/cpad.asp)  baixe e instale o Microsoft ActiveX Control Pad (gratis). Isto deve  arrumar a instalação da fm20.dll. O GE-Path deve funcionar então sem  problemas. Não é necessario re-instalar.

 Avise, por favor, se resolveu (ou não) o problema.

 Um abraço

 Ricardo Sgrillo

 complementando: veja esta mensagem no forum do Google Earth  (http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php/Cat/0/Number/470216/page//vc/1) > e a respectiva resposta.
 
 

Hello Ricardo,
I was also using Google Graph and saw a 3-d build up of Brazil.  I would love to know how to do that with other countries but I can not figure it out...Do you have any suggestions?
Thanks
Angela

Hi Angela,

You have first to find files with the borders coordinates. At the  GE-Graph's site you will find (in the bottom) files for France, Germany, Italy, Brazil, USA and England. There are many other in the GE/keyhole forum, posted by Valery35. Go to
http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/dosearch.php?Cat=3D&Searchpage=3D15&topic=3D
and search forward and backward.

After unpack open the file with GE-Graph and assign (or randonly generate) 
a value for each state/province. Choose the graph options and click in 
run. If the colors don't appears well check "Fix polygon draw order" and try again.

Cheers

Ricardo

Dear Sir/Madam,

I used your GE Path tool and I like it a lot.  I want to use it to show my
friends and family the path I will be taking for a long trip.  The only
problem is that I cannot do a loop using GE Path.  How do I show that I am
returning to a city that I already visited?  Can you please give me some
guidance with this?

Thank you for putting effort into making this program.

Regards,
Vijay 
Toronto, Canada
 
 

Date: Wed, 9 Aug 2006 18:29:28 -0400
From: "Vijay
To: "Ricardo Sgrillo" <sgrillo@cepec.gov.br>
Subject: Re: GE Path question

How silly of me.  Thank you.  It worked!
The only thing that looks slightly weird is that if I go somewhere twice,
there are two labels for it.  I guess you can't fix that - one label per
point, all on or all off.

thanks again,
Vijay

Hi Vijay,

Thanks for you email. GE-Path will draw the path line according to the 
sequence of the placemarks in your original kml file. You can have 
repeated placemarks.  If you start on place A then go to B then to C then 
back to A and then to D, then you have to create placemarks in the same 
sequence:

A
B
C
A
D

If you go back from place D to the start point A, just check "Link last to 
first" option.

Tell me, please, if you are succeeding now.

Cheers

Ricardo Sgrillo

Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2006 14:02:43 +0200
To: sgrillo@cepec.gov.br
From: Niclas 
Subject: Wanted: GE interface with exercise machine!

Hi!

I just wanted to thank you for kindly making your GEPath available on the web. I'm using it to draw long-distance training routes for my rowing machine exercises. I also would like to ask you how difficult it would be to create a live interface between a rowing machine (or exercise bike) and Google Earth? It would be absolutely great to exercise while watching my position move live on Google Earth (just like guys with GPS advices do). In this case I would draw a training path first (using GEPath, for instance), and then let the computer track my position along this path as I exercise.

My rowing machine (www.concept2.com) has a usb connection and can feed information like speed and total distance into a PC, and I imagine that many exercise bikes have the same capabilities. Do you have any idea how one could create an interface with Google Earth?

I have been looking at some real-time gps tracking software and I wonder if it would be smartest to write a small program that uses the rowing machine output to emulate a moving gps, i.e., using a pre-defined path together with outputs of total distance from the rowing machine to calculate lat/long coordinates.

All the best,
Nick
 

Niclas 
Landscape Ecology
Department of Ecology and Environmental Science

SWEDEN

Hi Nick,

Thank you for your email. Well, I am not a GE expert. My applications are 
very simple, they take user information and generate the respective kml 
files. I have no experience on GPS, etc. However I think the your 
suggestion could be developed trought GE's net-work link that can be 
refreshed every bit of time, but I don't know how to implement it.

I suggest you goto to the GE community 
(http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php/Cat/0) and post a msg at the 
"Support/KML Discussions" forum. I am sure you will get help through the 
people there.

Cheers

Ricardo

Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2006 16:46:56 +0200
From: "theo 
To: sgrillo@cepec.gov.br
Subject: Beautiful program small bug report
 

Dear Grillo,

Gepath is just beatufil. Trying to get my 1500 groundwater observation wells into GoogleEarth I've stumbled over a small bug which took me almost 3 hours to figure out. Others will encounter the same problem probably.

Your text files need and explicit \r\n (carriage return + line feed) and not
just a \n (line feed) otherwise it's declared illegal by GEpath. Som
programs (like Matlab) do not automatically add the \r. Also files from
linux and unix systems likely lack the \r and may thus cause headackes to
people trying to readin simple text files.

See attached files one with \r\n (char 13\char10) and one with onlye \n
(char 10)

Regards

Theo 
The Netherlands

Thanks a lot, also for the program GE-path, it's great to see our 1590 groundwater observation wells located correctly in GE

Theo
 

From: "Ricardo Sgrillo" <sgrillo@cepec.gov.br>
To: "theo 
Cc:
Subject: Re: Beautiful program small bug report
Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2006 19:03:03 -0300

Hi Theo,

Thank you for your email.

Yes, this is a problem of VB6. It saves files with an automatic CR at the
end and, when reading the file, if it does not find a CR, it will assign
the entire file to a single variable.

However there is a work around for this weakness. You can import any file,
regardless of the line terminator, to Excel and then copy and paste it to
GE-Path.

Hope this help you.

Cheers

Ricardo Sgrillo
 

Date: Tue, 22 Aug 2006 15:05:38 -0500
To: sgrillo@cepec.gov.br
From: Henry 
Subject: GE Path 1.4.1 bug

i created 2 pts, boston and washington d.c., then derived the angle 
and created a loc 1000 miles farther out.(not exact since i used low 
precision atm but basically I am wanting a way to extend lengths of 
lines to see what lines up with what else)

by adding the 3rd pt at the bottom of the list using your program, 
what happens is the 2nd one (boston) gets turned to no values on 
final output.

when sending to excel it works, but to text file it don't, nor when 
you click run.

test data for replication

Place   Latitude          Longitude       Altitude
dc        38.889916       -77.009046      0
boston  42.358322       -71.060264      0
test       -8.277815299  -134.9480042  0

what gets filed is:

dc, ,-77.009046,38.889916,0
, ,,,0
test, ,-134.9480042,-8.277815299,0

I am able to manually edit the output your program makes, but thought 
you might want to know about the bug.

     Thanks,

           - Henry 

Hopefully fixing the one may fix the other.

hopefully this will let you reproduce it.  if not let me know and i will go into a step by step for it.

  - Henry .'.

Hi Henry,

Thank you for your email.

I am not sure if I fully understood the problem because I was unable to 
reproduce the error here. This is what I did:

1. Create a folder in GE and create there 2 placemarks (1-boston and 
2-Washington) using your coordinates.

2. Save the kml file and open it with GE-Path

3. Insert a line at the bottom and type the test coordinates

4. Save as txt and click in run.

It seems the program worked as expected.

I am attaching the original file (Test Folder.kml), the kml file generated 
by GE-Path (Test Folder-Path.kml), and the txt file (Test Folder-Path.txt).

Please clarify me, if I am wrong, because I am very interested in fixing 
GE-Path's bugs.

Regards

Ricardo Sgrillo
 
 
 

Thank you very much.

Ricardo

To: <sgrillo@cepec.gov.br>
Subject: Question
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2006 16:18:13 +0200
 

Hallo,
I'm teacher in an german gymnasium for geographie und I'm using googleearth.
I produced task for my pupils ind different ways. If you are interested look
in www.fherrgen.de Now my question: Is the picture H a combination etween gegraph and gepath, or can I produce columns with placemarks in it, when shapes are in the same table.

Thanks for answer.
Fritz  (StD)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

First of all many thanks for your quick help. I´m working further on and
tried what you wrote.

I produced two files (see attachment). One with the shapes of the regions in
germany and some fictive values with it.
A second one with some maintowns of these regions and some values. In GE I
openend but they ocure not on the same level. Just one of it is aktive: I
can´t bring it in the way of your picture H.

A further question: can you tell me links or sources where I can find more
shape data files. E.g. I want to discuss the problem of birth rates in the
different states in the world. If I would have shapefile, pupils could write
in with your tool the values, and we could discuss. 

Thanks for help
Fritz
 

Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2006 12:08:45 -0300
To: "Fritz 
Subject: Re: Question
From: "Ricardo Sgrillo" <sgrillo@cepec.gov.br>

Hi Fritz

Picture H was made using GE-Graph only. However you can't work 
simultaneously with shapes and placemarks. A picture like this one can be 
generated with the follow procedure:

1.Load the shape file with your borders, assign (or generate random) a 
value to each one (to generate the different colors), run it and export to 
GE

2. Load a file with the centroid placemarks that corresponds to each shape 
and assign values to each one. Choose flat graph, the polygon sides 
(3-triangles, 4-squares, >20 circles, etc), size according to value and 
constant color. Run and export to GE

(You can, naturally, choose any other graph options.)

3. In GE check all the exported files

You can use this kind of procedure to generate graph for several variables.

If you need further assistance let me know, please

Cheers

Ricardo Sgrillo

Your triangles do not appears because they are in a lower altitude then the borders. There are diferent options to fix this:

1. Choose "Flat" graph for the borders graph (as figure H) or
2. Use 3D graph (Bars) for the triangles graph or
3. In GE decrease the transparency of the borders graph or
4. In GE right click in the "Graph" folder of the triangles and in properties. Then increase the altitude of the triangles.

You can find borders kml files, for almost the entire world, at the GE community (http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php/Cat/0)
Search in the forum Education/Tools for posts from Valery35. There are many and you will have to be patient to find out what you want. Some files might not open in GE-Graph because they do not follow a standard. Let me know if this happens so I can assist you to fix it.

Cheers

Ricardo

Dear Dr. Sgrillo:

I am currently working for M...  as a Meteorologist.  I am using the GEGraph software that you have written to do various GIS data displays.  I am very impressed by its capability. 

Right now I am learning how to plot emission data by various power plant
point sources across the US.  I have successfully load the shape file
you provided at GE Tools web site http://www.sgrillo.net/googleearth/
and plot states a one color.  I scan at the data but I do not know how I
can incorporate additional data into this shape file to create "Color
according to value" plot.  Can you please help me.

In addition, I noticed some irregularities over the Great Lakes region,
including a horizontal line that originates from there as well.  Is that
Google Earth's fault for perhaps I need to so something to make it look
different?  Please see attached kml file for details.
Thank you for releasing this powerful software and any help you can
provide is greatly appreciated.

Duc,
 

Hi Duc,

Thank you for your email.

<...but I do not know how I can incorporate additional data into this 
shape file to create "Color according to value" plot >

The expression "according to value" in the graph's options refers to the 
last column in the GE-Graph's table, named "Value". You can test it by 
clicking in "generate random values" (below the table) and running again. 
It shall, then, generate a graph with different colors for each State, 
according to the color scale you have chosen.

You can directly input your value data into the application's table, or 
you can paste it from Excel (by clicking in "paste values". Don't forget 
to save your data (menu File/Save txt) so you can preserve it.

<I noticed some irregularities over the Great Lakes region>

Well, this is a problem with the original kml file. It is fixed know. You 
can download it from GE Forum 
(http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/315823/page/0/fpart/3/vc/1). 
Open in GE the kml file of the letter "U" and save the United States 
folder as kml file. Then you can open it in GE-Path.

I am attaching also a txt file with correct US state borders.

Please let me know if this has helped you.

Cheers

Ricardo Sgrillo
 

From: "Emil 
To: ricardo.sgrillo@terra.com.br
Subject: Graph altitude
Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2006 08:25:17 +0000

Dear Ricardo!

Thank you very much for GE graph, I find it useful displaying data regarding the tsunami recovery in Indonesia. I´ve encountered one problem though. I’ve been working with 3D polygons, and by making the outlines different colors I was hoping to be able to see the need of new housing and compare it to the number of houses built so far. My problem though is that the maximun altitude of the bars is the same in both “maps”. This means that when overlaying the two graphs the value of 550 rebuilt houses seems to have the same value as 1880 destroyed ones. I attach the two files so can see what I mean. I’ve tried to work with the “Height factor” but the result turns out the same. Do you have any tips on how to give value (number of houses) a fixed height (i.e. one house equals 10 metres) so that the differece becomes more visible?

Thank you!

Emil 
Student of Geography
Stockholm, Sweden

Date: Thu, 19 Oct 2006 11:42:47 -0300"
From: "ricardo sgrillo" <ricardo.sgrillo@terra.com.br>
To: "esteuch" <esteuch
 

Hi Emil,

Thank you for your email.

<My problem though is that the maximun altitude of the bars is the same in both "maps". This means that when overlaying the two graphs  the value of 550 rebuilt house seems to have the same value as 1880 destroyed ones.>

As long as your two sets (completed and needrebuilt) have the same maximum and minimum values and the "Automatic scale" is checked, the scale should be the same  for each set what means that the 1880 value will be higher the 550. If you keep constant the "Height factor" and the "Altitude to add" values the height scale will be the same. If you want to make a complete set  (every polygon) higher then other then enter an higher value (in meters) in the "Altitude to add" box. If you want to increase the height difference between the higher and the lower values then increase the height factor"

I am attaching a kmz file with your data. Open it in GE and look carefully to the numbers and polygon's height (changing the tranparency of the higher set). You will see that the sacle is correct (you can also play with the fill color, but you will have to check the "Fix shape's draw order" option and GE will have to be in OpenGL mode).

Cheers

Ricardo Sgrillo

From: "Fabio 
To: <ricardo.sgrillo@terra.com.br>
Subject: Duvida
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2006 21:14:53 -0200

Ricardo,

Gostaria de saber se a possibilidade de se usar o ge-path em forma de OCX ou ActiveX em outra aplicação

Sds,

Fabio

Date: Sat, 28 Oct 2006 11:28:41 -0300
To: "Fabio 
Subject: Re: Duvida
From: "Ricardo Sgrillo" <ricardo.sgrillo@terra.com.br>
 

Ola Fabio,

Desculpe, mas passei a semana viajando, sem acesso a internet.

Infelizmente nesta versão não tem maneira de vc usar o GE-Path com 
chamadas externas. Talvez na proxima versão, que deve sair em fevereiro do 
proximo ano, eu possa incluir uma dll que execute as funções do aplicativo.

Abraços

R. Sgrillo

hi,

I ve seen you link to GEgraph on page http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ 
showthreaded.php/Cat/0/Number/280831/page/vc/vc/1
I m looking for the formula to draw a point  relative to a center on 
a spherical coordinate system.It could be much easier if kml files 
accept a point and list of objects relative to this origin.

  MH

Hi Marc,

Most of the formulas used in GE-Graph I got from 
http://williams.best.vwh.net/avform.htm.

The particular equation you are asking for is not used in the application.  However I thing you can get it form http://mathforum.org/library/

Cheers

Ricardo

Hi Sgrillo,

       First of all Let me Congratulate and thanks for wonderful tools for Google Earth...Well  i am student and working on a project which is mainly integrating the application with Google Earth...I used the logic
behind GEGraph tool for represting of data in GE.  I want to build graphs on particular area depending upon the values from database(backend)..I have calculated all the required stuff for representing the graph on GE with help of your code.But there are few Calculation which i couldnt able to identify...which u need to clear..

For example here are 2 geocoords 
9.994621999999991,53.55686599999997,0
8.643057789151968,49.29337533284043,0

And your tool generated the following <lookat>..

1) <LookAt>
    <longitude>9.31883989457598</longitude>
    <latitude>51.4251206664202</latitude>
    <range>723294.940815658</range>
    <tilt>63</tilt>
    <heading>-45</heading>

I have no clue how you calculated the <range><tilt><heading> for the for multiple coordinates(for two coordinates which i mentioned above)... longitude and latitude(average of all Long and Lat). I want to know the logic behind this calculation kindly help me out with the logic behind it...This will be great help to build up the application.

2)I have some how calculated the height for the bar graph depending upon values ....but it is a constant one not like the tool of min and max.

If possible kindly send how you  calculated the logic for all the calculations for multiple coordinates.

                Kindly help me out with the detail sescription of logic behind it....Thanks for your time and effort..Hope to see your reply soon..

Regards,
Sai Prasanna Naidu 
 

Hi Prasanna

Thanks for your email.

<LookAt>
     <longitude>9.31883989457598</longitude>
     <latitude>51.4251206664202</latitude>
     <range>723294.940815658</range>
     <tilt>63</tilt>
     <heading>-45</heading>

longitude and latitude are the averages of the minimum and maximum coordinates. In your example is (9.99 + 8.64)/2 and (53.55 + 49.29)/2

range comes from empirical calculation:

1. in GE put 2 placemarks say 100 m apart. Zoom up to a comfortable view of both placemarks and write down the distance between the placemarks
and the corresponding altitude

2. repeat step 1, increasing the distance between the placemarks to 500 m, 1 km, 10 km, 100 km, 500 km, 1000 km, 5000 km, 10000 km..

3. when you finish you will have a table with 2 variables: distance(x) and altitude (y)

4. now you have to find out an equation to describe the relation between the variables. You can try polynomial or exponential relations. In Excel this could be easily done. Find out the parameters of the equation.

5. put the equation in your application, calculate the maximum distance between placemarks and, by solving your equation, come out with the range value.

in GE-Graph tilt and heading are constant for bars graph.
 
 

<2)I have some how calculated the height for the bar
< graph depending upon values ....but it is a
<constant
< one not like the tool of min and max.

Please reformulate this question. I am not sure if I understand it.
 

Ricardo Sgrillo

Hi Ricardo,

       Thanks for detail explanation.My second doubt was how will you calculate the height of the bar graph depending upon the values.In your Tool the user can set the values for the Max and Min and the height of
the bar is rendered depending upon the values set by the user.
        For the above query after generating code from the tool,i observed depending upon the user set value for max and min..the values for the height of the graph are generated...For example if the user set ..
min 0 and max 100..I took the value as follows.. For 100% its 3428 and the value given is treated as x(suppose x=60).
100 -- 3428 
60 --  x?

x=2056.8

Just want to confirm whether the method what i am following is correct(Its a constant one not like the tool).

                Thanks once again for your time and replying me in detail..Sorry for disturbance and i will get back to you if have any doubts..
 

Regards,
Sai Prasanna
 

Hi Sai,

Actually the min and max values the user enters in the Color options box 
are used only to calculate the color scale.

Behind the calculation of the bar's height there is the same logic used to 
calculate the altitude in the 'view at' tag: if the bars cover all Brazil, 
for instance, they must be higher then if they cover only few square 
kilometers.

Thus you have to find out the maximum distance between the bars and use 
this value as input in a function to calculate a multiplier factor that 
will be used to generate height values in meters from the raw values 
corresponding to each placemark:.

Placemark value * factor = bars height in meters

Factor = f(maximum distance)/maximum Placemark value

This function f can be found with the same procedure used to find the 
function for the “view at� tag.

Cheers

Ricardo

Hello Ricardo, 

Attached is a kml file of some city's border. It could be open in  Google Earth.  But it can't be read by GE-Graph. Could you tell me why?
The original file is a map of mapinfo format(tab file). I used globle mapper to trsform the tab file into kml file. But it can't be read by GE-Graph.
Thanks for help ! 

regards,
fanny
2006-11-23

Dear Ricardo, 

Really thanks for your quick help. The problem has been solved successfully after I save "Area features" as kml and open it in GE-Graph. Now I could easily use  GE-Graph to meke graphs. It is a great tool. 

Cheers,

------------------ 
Fanny
2006-11-24
 
 
 
 
 

Hi fanny,

This is because you have the folder "Area feature" inside dishi.kml. 

1. Open dishi.kml in Google Earth
2. Save "Area features" as kml
3. Open "Area features" in GE-Path

This shall fix the problem.

Feedback, please
Cheers
Ricardo
 

Mr. Sgrillo,

If your path file software works you are a guiding light from heaven.  I 
plot aircraft where I have received the time, the lat/long, and the 
altitude.  I want to position these plots on Google Earth ($20 version), 
obvious I'm new to GE.  I also want to either suspend the target (ball)
in the air at the appropriate mean sea level (msl) altitude or place the 
plots on top of poles from the ground that help represent the altitude 
of the aircraft.  These plots are about every 5 seconds so they are 
close together and I don't want a real cluttered map.  The last thing 
I'm trying to accomplish is to be able to tilt and fly the route. I'm 
looking for a sample spread sheet (Excel) or a text file to use and use
and use.  I am willing to pay for your services if needed. 

Gary S
Roseville, CA USA
 

From: "Gary " <@surewest.net>
To: "ricardo.sgrillo" <ricardo.sgrillo@terra.com.br>
Subject: Re: Re:Quick Question
Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2006 13:41:46 -0800
 

Ricardo,
Thank you for responding and being willing to solve my problem.  Attached are 2 pictures created using GE showing the aircraft position, one has the altitude displayed by the red dot with the white line attached and the other shows the altitude as wall.  I just put a ruler in the scanner to cover up some sensitive material.  The text (Gary.TXT) file is the format I use the data for the ID, lat/long, Altitude.  I can extract the columns to Excel using TSEdit (text editor program).  I experimented with your program but I would like to use feet for altitude and use degrees,minutes,seconds for lat/longs.  I hope this is possible with your expertise.  Take your time and have a great weekend.

Gary S

Air Traffic Control Consultants, Inc.
 
 
 
 
 

On Sat, 02 Dec 2006 14:36:13 -0300, Gary S <@surewest.net> wrote:

Ricardo,
Exactly what I was looking for.  Is that opaque wall in the IMG.txt picture file available in Graph?  I may use both or others to show the track of the aircraft.  In my picture IMG.txt file that I sent there is a white text box that with an arrow pointing to one plot.  Do you think that is created with an overlay in GE Earth or using some other picture/file editing software after the fact?

Gary S
Air Traffic Control Consultants, Inc.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

From: "Gary S" <@surewest.net>
To: "Ricardo Sgrillo" <ricardo.sgrillo@terra.com.br>
Subject: Re: Re:Quick Question
Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2006 12:08:21 -0800

Ricardo,
I finally got around to using the tools for path and graph in conjunction 
with Excel.  You are a flat ass genius.  I don't know how to thank you for 
your help on these aircraft tracks.  I wrote that the wall feature was in 
one of the other functions that is not a big concern right now, I have 
enough to digest and try to understand.  I'm sure there will be more 
questions later and I will not bug you on this stuff.  I try to limit the 
questions and to figure out these things before calling for help.  By the 
way what do you do for a living?  I saw the Cocoa Research in one of the 
emails.  I'm a retired U.S. FAA air traffic controller and now do consulting on aircraft accidents.  Please keep in touch and if I can be of any help in 
the area of air traffic control, airplanes, or any flying questions give me 
a call or an email.  Stay safe, healthy, and have a fantastic holiday 
season.
Gary S
Air Traffic Control Consultants, Inc.

Hi Garry,

Thanks for your email. I am traveling, this week  in the country side, visiting cocoa farmers, and
will be back to my office tomorrow or next Monday. I was able to check my emails only today.

GE-Path can do what you want. Send me a sample of your data in any format (text, word table,
excel ...) and I will send you the step by step procedures. No need of any payment.

Regards

Ricardo Sgrillo

 To: "Gary " <@surewest.net>
Sent: Friday, December 01, 2006 7:03 PM
Subject: Re: Re:Quick Question
 

Hi Gary.

I am attaching a kml file with your data. It has three folders: one with
the columns, other with the names (altitudes) in feet and the last with
the line path. As you can see the place names have the altitudes and the
place descriptions have the time and the coordinates (dd:mm:ss).

The coordinates and altitudes can be displayed as you want, but the input
file has to have the coordinates in decimal degrees and the altitude in
meters because these are the units that GE understands. Therefore I
converted your original file in  Excel.

To draw the columns I used GE-Graph and to draw the path line and to
display the names and descriptions I used GE-Path.

Let me know if is this that you are looking for and I will send you the
procedure.

Regards

Ricardo
 
 

Date: Sat, 02 Dec 2006 22:25:48 -0300
To: "Gary Shimon" <gshimon@surewest.net>
Subject: Re: Re:Quick Question
From: "Ricardo Sgrillo" <ricardo.sgrillo@terra.com.br>
 

Hi Gary,

<Is that opaque wall in the IMG.txt picture file available in Graph? >

No, Ge-Graph is unable to draw the wall. However I could develop a 
commercial version specially to draw flight path in GE. Do you think that 
I could sell many copies of such a version?

< Do you think that is created with an overlay in GE Earth or using some 
other picture/file editing software after the fact? >

In GE the overlaid image stays clamped to the earth surface. If you tilt 
your view the image will also be tilted. Therefore it is not an image 
overlay. Could be an screen overlay, but screen overlays stays fixed in 
screen coordinates while the earth move under it. It would not be very 
useful in this case.

It seems that the GE image was saved and then the white text box was added 
with a graphic software.

The procedures (see attached Excel sample):

1. Import the original data to Excel and convert latitude and longitude to 
decimal degrees. Don't forget that the S latitudes and W longitudes are 
negatives. Convert altitude to meters.

2. To make the path line and display points name/description with GE-Path:

Copy and paste in other sheet the converted data in the following columns 
sequence (don't forget to use "paste special" and check "values"):

Altitude(feet) - Time - Latitude - Longitude - Altitude(meters)

The altitude (feet) and Time will be used as place names and place 
descriptions to be displayed in GE and the other values will be used to 
plot the path line.

Copy and paste the values in GE-Path. Choose your options for place names 
and descriptions, check "Make path" and uncheck every thing else. Click in 
"Run" to generate your kml file and export it to GE. In GE clik over the 
"Names" folder and in "Properties" and then remove or change the place 
icons and adjust the labels font size.

3. To make the columns graph with GE-Graph. Copy and paste the converted 
data in the following columns sequence (don't forget to use "paste 
special" and chek "values"):

Time - Latitude - Longitude - Altitude (meters)

The time column is the place name and will not be used in the final file. 
However it is necessary to have any string there in order to correctly 
paste the data in GE-Graph.

Copy and paste the data in the application. Load the option file (menu 
"File" and "Load options") that I am sending attached (garygr.ggo) and 
click in Run. You can change some of the options, as polygon sides and 
size (I used 25 meters as radius) but you have to always use an "Height 
factor" = 1 and "Altitude to add" = 0.

In GE-Path erase the new "Names" folder.

You can also, put all created files  under the same folder.

That is all.

Please feedback and let me know if you need further assitance.

Regards

Ricardo

Dear Ricardo,

It looks very nice. But I am still trying to figure out how to draw a
circle when I only have information of one point that is center of
circle.
And I am wondering if you could let me know how to draw a band.
Thanks very much for your help in advance.

Best regards,

Junsang C
Exposure Management
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

De: "Choi, Junsang  (Sean)"@lloyds.com
 Para: "ricardo.sgrillo" ricardo.sgrillo@terra.com.br
 Data: Wed, 6 Dec 2006 10:30:40 -0000
 Assunto: RE: GEgraph

  Dear Ricardo, 

  Thank you very much. It looks great. 
  In terms of drawing band, I took your advice. That was exactly what I have done. 
  It can be very difficult when it has a shape such as curve or fluctuations. 
  Do you have any idea? 

  Best regards,

  Junsang Choi

  Hi Jusang,

  Thanks for you email. 

  < But I am still trying to figure out how to draw a  circle when I only have information of one   point that is center of circle.

  1.In GE-Graph load your single placemark kml file
  2. Check in Graph Type "Flat"
  3. Choose the number of sides of the polydon (for circle above 20)
  4. In Size check "constant"
  5. In Color check "constant"
  6. Enter the radius length (in Size) and its unit
  7. Choose fill and outline color and click in run

  You may also use GE-Path to draw polygons. If you have a single placemark unchek the Make   Path and the Area, Perimeter options. Enter the radius lenght in "Lenght" in Make polygons box.   Its unit will be the one choosed in perimeter lenght. 

  <And I am wondering if you could let me know how to draw a band. 

  GE-Graph doesn't draw bands. However you can draw several squares, side by side, and get a   similar effect.

  Feedback, please
 

  Regards

  Ricardo
 

From: ricardo.sgrillo
 Sent: 06 December 2006 12:32
 To: Choi, Junsang (Sean)
 Subject: RE: GEgraph
 

 Hi Junsang,

 Well there is other way using shapefiles. It is a workaround because my applications where not  projected to do this.

 First you have to create the placemarks for the band:

 1. In GE create a folder  and create all the placemarks in this folder. You have to create  placemarks to delimit completely your band (or any other shape), all the way around. 

 2. Save the folder as kml and open it in GE-Path. Check "Remove names and icons", "Make path"  and "Link last to first". Uncheck "Open in GE" click in Run and save de file, say, as prov-path.kml

 3. Open the file prov-path.kml in a text editor (ASC).

 4. Locate the tags <coordinates and </coordinates and copy the numbers between they
 5. Created a new text file. Type in the first line [ShapeFile]. Type in the second line Band1. 
Paste  the numbers you have copied in the third line. Type 0 (zero) in the fourth line.

 Your shapefile should look like:

 [ShapeFile]
 Band1
 -96.025188,37.137574,0 -97.462479,37.535980,0 .....
 0 

 6. Copy and paste lines 2,3 and 4 bellow the 0

 Now your shape file should be:

 [ShapeFile]
 Band1
 -96.025188,37.137574,0 -97.462479,37.535980,0 .....
 0 
 Band1
 -96.025188,37.137574,0 -97.462479,37.535980,0 .....
 0 

 Change the second name from Band1 to Band2. Change the first lat/lon of Band2 to a different  value, say adding 1. Your file should be:

 [ShapeFile]
 Band1
 -96.025188,37.137574,0 -97.462479,37.535980,0 .....
 0 
 Band2
 -97.025188,38.137574,0 -97.462479,37.535980,0 .....
 0 

 7. Save the file as text.

 8. Open the text file with GE-Graph

 9. Check "Flat" in Graph Type  and "Constant" in color. Choose your outline and fill color and click  in Run.

 10. In GE erase the second "+" icon in the folder Graph

 If you want only an outlines band (not filled) just follows the steps 1 and 2 above.
 
 

 Probably you can find less complicated ways to make bands. I have only the free GE version. 
May  be in the paid version it is possible to draw bands

 Regards

 Ricardo

Subject: Removing data in GE
Date: Wed, 20 Dec 2006 16:49:08 -0000
From: "Monica D - DEGW " <@degw.com>
To: <ricardo.sgrillo@terra.com.br>

Dear Prof. Sgrillo:

I'm using GE Graph to map statistical data onto Google Earth but am
unable to remove the image from a previously-run set. I've tried
uninstalling (and re-installing) Google Earth, but haven't had much
luck. Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks,
 

Monica D
Consultant

Subject: RE: Removing data in GE
Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2006 15:49:24 -0000
From: "Monica D. @degw.com>
To: "Ricardo Sgrillo" <ricardo.sgrillo@terra.com.br>
 

Hi Sgrillo,

The problem has since been solved, but I now have another question: is
there a way to do stacked bar graphs in GE Graph, or to map multiple
data sets at once, for comparison?

Thanks,
Monica

Subject: RE: Removing data in GE
Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2006 16:34:12 -0000
From: "Monica D. @degw.com>
To: "ricardo.sgrillo" <ricardo.sgrillo@terra.com.br>
 

Hi Sgrillo,

Thanks for your prompt reply. Can you tell me how to use option files, =
and to keep the different datasets?

Thanks
Monica

Hi Monica,

I am not sure if I understood your question. Any way, in Google Earth 
uncheck or erase the folders and/or icons created by GE-Graph (see pic 
attached).

Please, clarify me if the problem is different.

Sgrillo
 
 
 

From: ricardo.sgrillo [mailto:ricardo.sgrillo@terra.com.br] 
Sent: Thursday, December 21, 2006 11:24 AM
To: Monica D.
Subject: RE: Removing data in GE

Hi Monica,

No, the current version of GE-Graph doesn´t support multiple datasets. However you can save your 
graph options as an option file and then load different data sets, keeping the same scale, color, 
etc.

Regards

Sgrillo 

From: ricardo.sgrillo [mailto:ricardo.sgrillo@terra.com.br] 
Sent: Thursday, December 21, 2006 11:43 AM
To: Monica D.
Subject: RE: Removing data in GE
 
Monica,
 
After choosing your options and processing the data set you go to menu=>file=>save options, and save your option file (.ggo). Then, any time you need to process other data keeping the previous options, you have to load the new data set and then load the option file. That´s all.
 
Sgrillo