Altitude of Polygon is ignored in KML / Google Earth - kml

Question

I have a KML-file which uses a polygon to draw a filled area in Google Earth. In this case it is a circle. Unfortunately the altitude is ignored when displaying the file with Google Earth 7.1.7.2606 (which is the latest version to date). The KML-file itself should correspond to KML standard 2.2.
The following code reprents the full file (just the xml namespace (<kml xmlns="http://www.opengis.net/kml/2.2">) is hidden below), and when opening with GE you should see the "problem" that the altitude of 500km (=500000.00m), which is the altitude the user should see the polygon, is ignored:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<Document>
<name>orbits</name>
<open>1</open>
<Snippet>orbits</Snippet>
<Style>
<ListStyle>
<ItemIcon><href>http://maps.google.com/mapfiles/kml/shapes/sunny.png</href></ItemIcon>
</ListStyle>
</Style>
<!-- begin: Group 1, Graph 1 -->
<Folder>
<name>Group: Orbit 1</name>
<visibility>1</visibility>
<open>1</open>
<Style>
<ListStyle>
<ItemIcon><href>http://maps.google.com/mapfiles/kml/shapes/arrow-reverse.png</href></ItemIcon>
</ListStyle>
</Style>
<!-- begin: TrimLinesAndPatches -->
<Folder>
<name>TrimLinesAndPatches</name>
<open>0</open>
<Style>
<ListStyle>
<ItemIcon><href>http://maps.google.com/mapfiles/kml/shapes/target.png</href></ItemIcon>
</ListStyle>
</Style>
<Folder>
<name>Relative Patches</name>
<Style id="check-hide-children">
<ListStyle>
<listItemType>checkHideChildren</listItemType>
</ListStyle>
</Style>
<styleUrl>#check-hide-children</styleUrl>
<open>0</open>
<Style>
<ListStyle>
<ItemIcon><href>http://maps.google.com/mapfiles/kml/shapes/target.png</href></ItemIcon>
</ListStyle>
</Style>
<Placemark id="polygon">
<name>Relative Patches</name>
<TimeSpan><begin>2017-04-12T13:16:44.123Z</begin><end>2017-04-12T13:21:44.123Z</end></TimeSpan>
<visibility>1</visibility>
<Style>
<LineStyle>
<color>64FFCCFF</color>
<width>0</width>
</LineStyle>
<PolyStyle>
<color>64FFCCFF</color>
</PolyStyle>
</Style>
<MultiGeometry>
<extrude>0</extrude>
<altitudeMode>absolute</altitudeMode>
<tessellate>1</tessellate>
<Polygon>
<outerBoundaryIs>
<LinearRing>
<coordinates>
-12.1159516,-26.3651097,500000.00
-13.0844128,-26.4374313,500000.00
-14.0272910,-26.6524670,500000.00
-14.9194371,-27.0044676,500000.00
-15.7365727,-27.4839749,500000.00
-16.4557337,-28.0780054,500000.00
-17.0557319,-28.7703022,500000.00
-17.5176459,-29.5416541,500000.00
-17.8253587,-30.3702824,500000.00
-17.9661527,-31.2323009,500000.00
-17.9313683,-32.1022573,500000.00
-17.7171071,-32.9537663,500000.00
-17.3249379,-33.7602445,500000.00
-16.7625260,-34.4957477,500000.00
-16.0440739,-35.1359009,500000.00
-15.1904382,-35.6588849,500000.00
-14.2287935,-36.0464258,500000.00
-13.1917549,-36.2847064,500000.00
-12.1159516,-36.3651097,500000.00
-11.0401483,-36.2847064,500000.00
-10.0031097,-36.0464258,500000.00
-9.0414649,-35.6588849,500000.00
-8.1878292,-35.1359009,500000.00
-7.4693772,-34.4957477,500000.00
-6.9069653,-33.7602445,500000.00
-6.5147960,-32.9537663,500000.00
-6.3005348,-32.1022573,500000.00
-6.2657504,-31.2323009,500000.00
-6.4065445,-30.3702824,500000.00
-6.7142572,-29.5416541,500000.00
-7.1761713,-28.7703022,500000.00
-7.7761695,-28.0780054,500000.00
-8.4953305,-27.4839749,500000.00
-9.3124660,-27.0044676,500000.00
-10.2046122,-26.6524670,500000.00
-11.1474904,-26.4374313,500000.00
-12.1159516,-26.3651097,500000.00
</coordinates>
</LinearRing>
</outerBoundaryIs>
</Polygon>
</MultiGeometry>
</Placemark>
</Folder>
</Folder>
<!-- end: TrimLinesAndPatches -->
</Folder>
</Document>
I tried also to "extrude" it, but also there no effect.
Is there something wrong with my file or is there a bug in GE?

Answer 1

The altitudeMode must be associated with the Polygon not the MultiGeometry.
Extrude and tessellate must also be child elements under the Polygon element.
The corrected KML would be this:
<MultiGeometry>
<Polygon>
<extrude>0</extrude>
<tessellate>1</tessellate>
<altitudeMode>absolute</altitudeMode> ***
<outerBoundaryIs>
<LinearRing>...</LinearRing>
</outerBoundaryIs>
</Polygon>
</MultiGeometry>
Also, if you only have a single geometry in the multiGeometry then you should discard the multiGeometry entirely and just use the Polygon.