Google Earth is a very cool 3D viewer, but under that shiny exterior it is basically a data presentation tool. In many ways, it has more in common with Adobe Acrobat Reader than it does with desktop GIS. Like PDF, KML is also a presentation format. It is not a suitable format for spatial data storage or transfer.
Google Earth is a thick client application, so you have to play within it’s boundaries. The good news is that a published data product (a KML or KMZ file) can be created in a very short period of time if the data that you need are already available. The trade-off is that you have less control over the way your information is displayed, and how the user interacts with it.
Google Earth is a thick client application, so you have to play within it’s boundaries. The good news is that a published data product (a KML or KMZ file) can be created in a very short period of time if the data that you need are already available. The trade-off is that you have less control over the way your information is displayed, and how the user interacts with it.
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