Export to Google Earth KML/KMZ files

KML (Keyhole Markup Language) is an XML format used by Google Earth to load overlays. KML can contain point, polyline and polygon data, as well as one or more references to raster overlays (image files). It is also possible to script complete Google Earth presentations into a KML file.

At this moment, Eye4Software Hydromagic supports point, line and polygon features, as well as attributes, styles and ground overlays. Eye4Software Hydromagic is able to both import and export Google Earth KML files. This document describes how to export them.

Exporting data

In Hydromagic, it is possible to convert soundings, vector maps, matrices, boundaries, comments, waypoints, and cross-section lines (planned lines) to Google Earth KML files. When exporting a matrix, depending on the options you select, an image file is generated and loaded in Google Earth as a so-called 'ground overlay'. A matrix can be exported using depth values as well.

To start exporting data, select the "Export KML Data..." option from the "File" => "Export" menu as shown below:

select the "Export KML Data..." option from the "File" => "Export" menu

Selecting data to export

In the dialog that appears, you will see a list of all items that can be converted to KML. Just check the items you wish to export. By default, all visible items are selected. To reset the selection, click 'Select None'; to select all items, click 'Select All'.

Select the Hydromagic project items you wish to export to the generated KML or KMZ file.

Selecting an output file

The next step is to select a location to store the exported data. You can save the data as a KML or (compressed) KMZ file. Click the "Browse..." button to open a save file dialog, and enter the name for the file. In the save file dialog, you can also choose between the "KML" or "KMZ" formats. Note that you must select 'KMZ' when a matrix file is part of the selected items.

Select the preferred file format. When exporting matrix data you MUST select KMZ.

KML Export Options

The KML export options instruct the software on how various Hydromagic project items are converted to Google Earth items. Since Google Earth may display items differently than Hydromagic, you can fully customize the way matrices, soundings, and raw data are converted to KML data. To specify how depth values are exported as KML, click the 'Options...' button. In the dialog that appears you can adjust the following preferences:

Matrix text interval in X direction;
Matrix text interval in Y direction;
Use colored text or black text;
Number of decimals for matrix depths;
Number of decimals for sounding depths;
Number of decimals for raw data file depths;
Whether to include the matrix image or not;
Whether to draw the position track for soundings and raw data files.

KML export settings for matrix, soundings and raw data files are independent of how they are displayed on the screen. To alter these settings, click the 'Options...' button at the bottom of the KML export tool. To configure how depths are drawn on your display, from the 'Project Explorer,' right-click either the 'Matrices,' 'Raw Data,' or 'Soundings' folder and select the 'Display Options...' option.

Configure how depth values are transformed into KML data with the KML Options dialog.

KML format

When using the KML file format, a KML file is generated as well as an image file (PNG) for each exported matrix. The image files are stored in the same folder as the location of the KML file. When not exporting matrices or large amounts of vector data, KML is probably the best option.

KMZ format

If you are going to export matrices, or large amounts of vector data, KMZ is the best choice. A KMZ file is a zipped archive containing a main KML file (doc.kml) and, if exporting image data such as matrices, some image files. When using the KMZ file format, you can always transfer the data by distributing a single KMZ file.

Starting the export

Just click "OK" to start the export. For small files, this takes only a couple of seconds, for large projects it can take a couple of minutes. You can watch the progress in the status bar at the bottom of the screen. When finished, you can view the details of the generation process in the 'Processing' tab of the Activity View.

Video Tutorial

The following YouTube video tutorial shows how to export Hydromagic matrix files as Google Earth KMZ files. Click below to play the video. When you like the video, please click the like button and subscribe so you will receive an update when new video tutorials on Hydromagic are uploaded.

Hydromagic can export matrix data as Google Earth KMZ files.