Google Earth Voyager

tamerlouis · 10-16-2006, 05:34 AM

Hi Guys,
This is Tamer E. Louis, a software team leader..

I made a program to integrate with google earth (GE) and builds the cache file for a specific area needed by the user.
My program called Google Earth Voyager (GEV) because it automatically surf the area you want without any need to surf it by your hands..

Actually I always wanted to scan a big area over GE with a detailed zoom (from only 600 meters altitude) but the problem was that I have to move over the whole area with the mouse so GE will refresh every snapshot and save it in its cache for later offline view.

So, I made this program that will take the details of the area you want to scan and the zooming value and it will fill the cache automatically.
In contrast with cache builder, GEV will scan the snapshots in order and it will not take random snapshots, so it will guarantee that you will go for every detailed square in the whole area.
Also it stops when it finishes the full scanning and gives the user an information message. It will not go forever.

You can download it from my web page at www.geocities.com/tamatimo.geo/files
the file name is GEV2.0.zip

I also want to describe quickly how to use it.

1. Open Google Earth (GE)
2. GO to Tools menu -> Options -> Touring tab and set the "Fly to Speed" option to the max Fast.
3. GO to Add menu -> Network Link, then browse for the file called GEVData.KML which is beside the program.
4. In the appearing dialog and in the Refresh tab, check the option "Fly to view on refresh" and then choose "periodically" and set the time to 10 seconds (you can change the refresh rate as you want).
5. Press OK.
6. Open Google Earth Voyager (GEV), while your Google earth is still opened.
7. Set the data you want to scan in the program and press Start Voyage. You will see that GE is refreshing the snapshots automatically.

Example:
If you want to scan the Eiffel Tower area with Zoom of 250 meters altitude, here are the values you will set:

Latitude: 48 degrees 51 min. 36 sec. North
Longitude: 2 degrees 17 min 16 sec East
Area width of 1 km to the East and a height of 0.4 km to the South

For the snapshots:
Snapshots width of 0.3 km horizontally and height of 0.2 km vertically (got from the height and width of the image which is displayed on GE window from the selected Altitude).
Altitude: 250 meters
Refresh Every 10 seconds (to be the same as the rate you made at step 4).

N.B. You have to keep Google Earth running while GEV is running

Any comments are welcomed ...

Good luck

Sonicxtacy02 · 10-16-2006, 06:17 PM

i'm running your cache program now after i attempted cache builder and it ran for 26 hours with no sign of progress. I dont have alot of experience with google earth so i was wondering what will happen once ur program finishes. Will a file be created and if so where? I'm running this on my home pc and will then transfer it out to the car so any instructions u may have regarding snapshot completion will be appreciated. I'm scanning 100km x 100kms so take ur time on the response lol.

Sonicxtacy02 · 10-16-2006, 06:38 PM

and here's teh problem i had when i tried this a few days ago. about 20 mins into the voyage google earth stops moving. Any idea why? Heres my settings.

Lat:39,14,36.83N
long:77,28,48.14W
alt:150 meters
width: 100kms
height:100kms
space .3kms east
.2kms south
refresh every 5 seconds

tamerlouis · 10-17-2006, 05:22 AM

Hi Pal,
I am supposing that you are caching the data of Washington DC.. ok, let's see
I tried it with your data and it worked for me, so the problem may be in the google earth settings itself.

Please check that you did the following in Google Earth:
1. Check the option "Fly to view on refresh" on the Network link dialog. This option must be marked as true.
2. In the same dialog, The time based refresh must be 5 seconds (as the one you specified in GEV).
3. In google earth options dialog and in the Touring tab, set the "Fly-To Speed" value to Max fast (5.000).
4. In the same screen set the "Tour Pause" value to zero seconds.

Please check those points and try again. I will be waiting for you to tell me about the results. I hope it will work this time.

When GEV finishes its work it will give you a message dialog to tell you that "Voyage has been ended".

N.B. I have updated the site with the last version, you can find it on www.geocities.com/tamatimo.geo/files

Best regards..

tamerlouis · 10-17-2006, 05:56 AM

Please check also that you are using the KML file that is beside the program not any KML that is anywhere else..

tamerlouis · 10-17-2006, 07:42 AM

Version 2.0 is now available with advanced options to set starting from a specific point.
This will be useful if you close the program and need to run it after a while from the last point it was stopped at. This will remove the burden of starting from the very beginning and scanning snapshots that are already scanned.

Sonicxtacy02 · 10-18-2006, 06:31 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by tamerlouis

Hi Pal,
I am supposing that you are caching the data of Washington DC.. ok, let's see
I tried it with your data and it worked for me, so the problem may be in the google earth settings itself.

Please check that you did the following in Google Earth:
1. Check the option "Fly to view on refresh" on the Network link dialog. This option must be marked as true.
2. In the same dialog, The time based refresh must be 5 seconds (as the one you specified in GEV).
3. In google earth options dialog and in the Touring tab, set the "Fly-To Speed" value to Max fast (5.000).
4. In the same screen set the "Tour Pause" value to zero seconds.

Please check those points and try again. I will be waiting for you to tell me about the results. I hope it will work this time.

When GEV finishes its work it will give you a message dialog to tell you that "Voyage has been ended".

N.B. I have updated the site with the last version, you can find it on www.geocities.com/tamatimo.geo/files

Best regards..

Settings as you suggested, it did the same thing.. Ran for 20 minutes then stopped

. The status bar is still @ 0%

morris_the_cat · 10-19-2006, 02:56 AM

I did the settings as you suggested as well. Also ran for about 20 minutes & stopped. Maybe we need some clearer instructions or we all are missing a setting or so in google earth? I also upped the cache setting to 2000mb. Looks like just what I need if we can get this going though... Thanks!

tamerlouis · 10-19-2006, 07:31 AM

Thanks guys for your comments..
I found it a bug in refreshing the lines and I fixed it.
I uploaded the new version of the program to the same location so you can download it again and run it as usual.
Please try it and tell me the results..
Best regards..

morris_the_cat · 10-20-2006, 10:30 AM

Tamerlouis, you seem to have fixed the bug. It has been going strong all night. The only problem I see is that upon waking up this morning I see that google earth had a message that it lost contact with the google server. I pressed ok & then it said that it regained contact & had to press ok again. I don't know how long it was out, but it didn't cache a good portion. I am hoping that I can just run voyager again for that (hopefully small) portion of the voyage that is missing in the cache. I guess this is a heads up that it needs to be manually monitored semi frequently, even if you have hi speed cable like me.

Also, I suggest taking some of the info in your post #5 & adding it to the instructions in post #2. They just seemed slightly different to me.

tamerlouis · 10-20-2006, 06:40 PM

Hi Morris,
Well, in fact Google Earth may lose contact with the server and this is out of our hands, so you are right.. if you are caching a big area that will take hours of surfing, you have to check your google earth progress every now and then. You can pause GEV till the contact is regained again.

I also updated the info #1 to be a full explanation to the program with its last update.
Thanks buddy..

Sonicxtacy02 · 10-20-2006, 07:16 PM

i had that same problem with the server . They certainly dont make it easy do they lol

tamerlouis · 10-22-2006, 03:57 AM

I think so

Dear all, please send me any enhancements you wish to add to the program so it will ease your mission..
Best regards

Sonicxtacy02 · 10-22-2006, 06:22 PM

well i ran this yesterday and at 650 meters... 100km south and east it took about 8 hours to finish. But it DID finish

. The only setting i'm unsure about is the snapshots. how do we know what snapshot is acceptable without running the program then seeing the result later. i used 1km and 1 km for snapshots. I'd also suggest you include instructions on how to find the cache files once the voyager is done. This could be dont by just opening an explorer window upon completion.

tamerlouis · 10-23-2006, 09:17 AM

ok Sonicxtacy02, GEV 2.2 is now available with a new menu called "GE Cache". it will identify the cache file for the user and will open the folder containing those files. Enjoy

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