Google Earth & KML

GIS is a powerful tool, not only for making maps that previously would have been painstakingly time-consuming to create by hand, but also for easy and rapid spatial analyses.  This week we explored some of the ways that modern GIS and cartography are changing with new technology and the modern zeitgeist, and delved into creating KML files for use in Google Earth.

This screenshot is a Google Earth image of downtown St. Petersburg, taken from a KML file with a "tour" of various locations in south Florida.  The map layer information, visible when the layers are turned on and the image is zoomed out, was created by exporting the info directly from ArcGIS to the KML file format, and loaded into Google Earth.  Though the Google platform lacks the ability for visual modification and analysis present in ArcGIS, it is a free download, as opposed to the many hundreds of dollars required for the ESRI product.  KML files create an opportunity for sharing GIS information that previously was only available to those with the necessary software, as anyone with a computer and an internet connection can download and use Google Earth free of charge.