My wish-list for kml list outputs for the next release.

I have noticed that if certain text strings occur in any of the following dataset source files, then Google Earth will not load the file.

In survey file…

survey –title “survey title text”

station 21 “comment text”

In drawing file…

point continuation –text “point continuation text”

The problem sub-strings I have noticed so far are “&” and “<br>”, and I suspect any of the <> strings will cause a problem.

Perhaps in the next version Therion could filter out these problem strings in the kml parser.

As I mentioned before, -filter off is required with the continuation list;

export continuation-list   -filter off   -output ExportedFilename.kml

If -filter is on, the character that gets inserted with points or stations with empty strings stops Google Earth from loading the file.  Perhaps Therion could substitute this character with a single question mark “?” please.

As Google Earth is a ‘surface only’ viewer (so far), it would be nice if we could hide or view surface and underground points (or filter them) much as we do with layout files.  Or perhaps better, distinguish them with differing symbols/colours or layers so we can toggle them from within Google Earth?

If it is possible to have the default ‘pin’ marker and label reduced in size as a part of the kml file produced, then it would make the resulting representation in Google Earth more legible.  I am finding that usually the point density in the outputs is too high to be legible at useful scales.

And finally, perhaps the kml file header could be made more useful and be changed from…

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<kml xmlns="http://earth.google.com/kml/2.0">

<Document>

<name>Therion KML export</name>

<description>Therion KML export.</description>

to …

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<kml xmlns="http://earth.google.com/kml/2.0">

<Document>

<name>ExportedFilename</name>

<description>Therion continuation-list kml export</description>

or …

<description>Therion cave-list kml export</description>

or …

<description>Therion model kml export</description>

or …

<description>Therion map kml export</description>

as appropriate, where “ExportedFilename” is extracted from  the export statement like this;

export continuation-list “ExportedFilename.kml”

This way, both the file name and export type will able to be readily identified when using in Google Earth.

Cheers

Bruce