Google Earth User Guide - Manual (Page 103)

Google Earth User Guide
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Table of Contents
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Introduction
● Finding Places and
Directions
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Marking Places
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Using Layers
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Using Map Features
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Using Places
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About KML
● Sharing Places
Information
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Touring Places
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Editing Places and
Folders
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Managing Search
Results
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Measuring Distances
and Areas
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Drawing Paths and
Polygons
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Using Image Overlays
and 3D Models
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Importing Your Data
Into Google Earth
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Using Style Templates
❍ Applying a Style Template
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Mapping Color Styles
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Using a Single Color
■
Using Random Colors
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Setting Colors Based on
Field Values
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Mapping Icons to Point
Data
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Setting Icons Based on
Fields
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Mapping Height Values
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Height Values for Text
Fields
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Height Values for
Numeric Fields
Using Style Templates
Note - This feature set is available to users of the Google Earth Pro product. Visit http://earth.google.com/products.html for
more information.
Often the data you import into Google Earth contains multiple features that are not automatically converted into a readily
visible feature in the 3D viewer. For example, a shape file defining the population boundaries for a specific region might have
a field that supplies the population number for each boundary defined in the data. Or, a CSV file might contain real estate
listings with a field showing the square footage of each listing.
You can use style templates when importing this data in order to display fields in your data in meaningful ways.
This is accomplished by mapping or connecting specific fields in your imported data to one of four template display features:
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Name - By default, if a field for your data contains the phrase name as its label, Google Earth maps that field to the
name displayed in the viewer for your point. However, you can map any field in your imported data to the Name
element.
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Color - The color field applies color to your data. Icons are colored if you import point data, and shapes or lines are
colored if you imported that type of data. For more information, see
Mapping Color Styles .
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Icons - You can use the icon display feature to select an icon from the list for your imported point data. You can select
a single icon for all point data, apply icons randomly, or select specific icons for specific fields. See
Mapping Icons to
Point Data .
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Height - The height feature generates a height for the selected column in your data. If the selected data is numeric,
height values can be spread across a range of values. If the data is text, icons can be supplied to individual fields. See
Mapping Height Values .
The rest of this section covers:
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Applying a Style Template
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Customizing the Value Ranges for Numeric Data
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A Style Template Example
Applying a Style Template
This section covers the basic steps for applying a style template to vector data that contains fields you want to have displayed
in the 3D viewer. You can apply style templates to newly ingested data or to existing KML data. In addition, you can modify
existing templates using the steps below.
Note - Bear in mind that style templates are quite specific to the data you are working with. While you can use the same
style template for different data that has the same fields, the template settings will often have to be adjusted to represent
the data properly. As your original data set changes with new data, you might also need to adjust the template to
accommodate new information.
1. Choose the data that will have the style template applied to it. If you are importing the data for the first time,
simply click the Yes button when prompted to apply a style template.
2. If you already have this data in your Places panel, right-click (CTRL click on the Mac) on the parent folder of the data
and select Apply Style Template... from the pop-up menu. (Use this method when you want to edit a recently-created
style template.)
3. In the Style Template Settings dialog box, indicate whether you are creating a new template or using an existing one.
4. If you have an existing style template for your data, it appears in the Compatible templates list along with any other
style template that is compatible to the data you have selected. If you choose to use an existing style template, select
the correct one from the list. If you simply want to apply the template to your data without changing the template itself,
leave the edit selected template check box clear. To edit the style template, select the check box.
5. When you create new template or edit an existing one, the Style Template Settings dialog box appears.
6. Choose a field from your data that you want to use as a Name, or label, for your data. This name appears in the 3D
viewer as well as in the Places panel that lists the data points.
8. Click on the Color tab and map an element of your data to color styles. See Mapping Color Styles for details.
9. Click the Icon tab and map and element of your data to one or more icons. See Mapping Icons to Point Data for details.
10. Click the Height tab to map a height value to a data element. See Mapping Height Values for details.