Google Earth and KMZ Files

The Upper Columba Basin Network has begun building kmz files of spatial data for easy viewing in the Google Earth platform. Google Earth is a user-friendly tool that provides satellite imagery of UCBN locations that can be viewed at a range of spatial scales, and allows for "fly-over" views of topography. Our kmz files overlay points, lines, and polygons of park boundaries and spatial inventory and monitoring datasets generated through the NPS Inventory and Monitoring Program. After installing Google Earth on your computer and after downloading a kmz file from our website to a working directory of your choice, double click on the kmz file will initiate a viewing session. Google Earth will automatically launch and zoom to the project area extent. Park boundaries and some data points will be immediately visible. Other data types, including linked photographs, will not be visible until you have zoomed farther in to the project area. To zoom in, pan over the area of interest and double-click. Alternatively, use the Google Earth zoom tool visible on the upper left corner of the screen. Note that you can tilt the view to a planar view which will provide a feel for the topography of the area, and you can "fly" through the area in this planar view by clicking on one of the four compass arrows. One of the neat features in our kmz files is the ability to look at photographs of point features, such as repeat photography monitoring stations. Zoom in until you see these photo thumbnails emerge into view and double click on a photo of interest to view the full size image. In situations where multiple years of photos are available from a single location, clicking on the first visible photos (usually the most recent one added to the kmz project) will lead to the display of all available photographs from that point, which can then be clicked and viewed. Panning the cursor over each of these photos without clicking will display the photo label. For photomonitoring images, the label will consist of a number, letter, and year text string, which refers to the camera station, photopoint (A-D), and year of observation. For additional information, contact the Upper Columbia Basin Network data manager (Email).