Balloons in Google Earth are not pointing at right location on line - kml

Question

In Google Earth, my balloons are not pointing at the correct location on my line when they open. They are waaaay off. I read a few places that this can be fixed by adding a point to a multigeometry placemark and it will point to that instead. But it's not working! Is there a fix to this? I am using a mac and Google Earth 7.1
Thanks,
Ellen
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<kml xmlns="http://www.opengis.net/kml/2.2" xmlns:gx="http://www.google.com/kml/ext/2.2" xmlns:kml="http://www.opengis.net/kml/2.2" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
<Document>
<name>KmlFile</name>
<Schema name="Gorge_Trails" id="Trails_Schema_id">
<SimpleField type="string" name="Trail_number"><displayName><b>Trail_number</b></displayName>
</SimpleField>
<SimpleField type="string" name="Trail_name"><displayName><b>Trail_name</b></displayName>
</SimpleField>
<SimpleField type="string" name="Location"><displayName><b>Location</b></displayName>
</SimpleField>
<SimpleField type="string" name="Difficulty"><displayName><b>Difficulty</b></displayName>
</SimpleField>
<SimpleField type="string" name="Picture_URL"><displayName><b>Picture_URL</b></displayName>
</SimpleField>
<SimpleField type="string" name="Link1"><displayName><b>Link1</b></displayName>
</SimpleField>
<SimpleField type="string" name="Link2"><displayName><b>Link2</b></displayName>
</SimpleField>
<SimpleField type="string" name="Photo_credit"><displayName><b>Photo_credit</b></displayName>
</SimpleField>
<SimpleField type="double" name="Hike_Dist"><displayName><b>Hike_Dist</b></displayName>
</SimpleField>
<SimpleField type="string" name="Trailhead"><displayName><b>Trailhead</b></displayName>
</SimpleField>
<SimpleField type="string" name="Type"><displayName><b>Type</b></displayName>
</SimpleField>
<SimpleField type="double" name="TR_Length"><displayName><b>TR_Length</b></displayName>
</SimpleField>
<SimpleField type="string" name="Hike_Name"><displayName><b>Hike_Name</b></displayName>
</SimpleField>
<SimpleField type="string" name="State"><displayName><b>State</b></displayName>
</SimpleField>
<SimpleField type="string" name="Elevation1"><displayName><b>Elevation1</b></displayName>
</SimpleField>
<SimpleField type="string" name="Hike_Dis_1"><displayName><b>Hike_Dis_1</b></displayName>
</SimpleField>
</Schema>
<Style id="Hikes_highlight_traillink">
<IconStyle>
<color>0000ffff</color>
<scale>0.1</scale>
</IconStyle>
<BalloonStyle>
<text><![CDATA[<table border="0">
<table width="250" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" bgcolor="#e8e9cb" align="center">
<tr>
<td colspan="2" align="center">
<img src="http://gorgefriends.org/img/gorge_index_02.gif" alt="picture" width="100%" height="50"/>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" align="center" valign="bottom" cellpadding="1">
<font color='#3a493e'size=+2> <b>$[Gorge_Trails/Hike_Name]</b></font>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" align="center" valign="bottom" cellpadding="1">
<font color='#3a493e' size=+1 <b>$[Gorge_Trails/Location], $[Gorge_Trails/State]</b></font>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" align="center">
<img src=$[Gorge_Trails/Picture_URL] alt="picture" width="100%" height="140"/>
</td>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" align="center">
<font color="#999999" size="1">Photo:$[Gorge_Trails/Photo_credit]</font>
</td>
</tr>
<table width="250" border="0" cellspacing="3" cellpadding="0" bgcolor="#e8e9cb" align="center">
<tr><td><b>Trailhead</b></td><td>$[Gorge_Trails/Trailhead]</td></tr>
<tr><td><b>Hike Distance</b></td><td>$[Gorge_Trails/Hike_Dist] miles</td></tr>
<tr><td><b>Difficu
lty</b></td><td>$[Gorge_Trails/Difficulty]</td></tr>
<tr><td><b>Type</b></td><td>$[Gorge_Trails/Type]</td></tr>
<tr><td><b>Trail Name</b></td><td>$[Gorge_Trails/Trail_name]</td></tr>
<table width="250" border="0" cellspacing="4" cellpadding="0" bgcolor="#e8e9cb" align="center">
<tr><td><font color=#993300>Rails-to-Trails</font color>
</td></tr>
<table width="250" border="0" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0" bgcolor="#e8e9cb" align="center"> <tr>
<td colspan="2" align="center" valign="bottom">
<font color="#999999" size="1">Copyright: Friends of the Columbia Gorge/Portlandhikers.org is a proud partner of the</font> Gorge Towns to Trails Initiative</font>
</td>
</tr>
</table>]]></text>
<bgColor>ff689a9a</bgColor>
</BalloonStyle>
<ListStyle>
<maxSnippetLines>0</maxSnippetLines>
</ListStyle>
<LineStyle>
<color>ff1eede9</color>
<width>4</width>
</LineStyle>
</Style>
<Style id="Hikes_normal_traillink">
<IconStyle>
<color>0000ffff</color>
<scale>0.1</scale>
</IconStyle>
<LabelStyle>
<scale>0</scale>
</LabelStyle>
<BalloonStyle>
<text><![CDATA[<table border="0">
<table width="250" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="1" bgcolor="#e8e9cb" align="center">
<tr>
<td colspan="2" align="center">
<img src="http://gorgefriends.org/img/gorge_index_02.gif" alt="picture" width="100%" height="50"/>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" align="center" valign="bottom" cellpadding="1">
<font color='#3a493e'size=+2> <b>$[Gorge_Trails/Hike_Name]</b></font>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" align="center" valign="bottom" cellpadding="1">
<font color='#3a493e' size=+1 <b>$[Gorge_Trails/Location], $[Gorge_Trails/State]</b></font>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" align="center">
<img src=$[Gorge_Trails/Picture_URL] alt="picture" width="100%" height="140"/>
</td>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" align="center">
<font color="#999999" size="1">Photo:$[Gorge_Trails/Photo_credit]</font>
</td>
</tr>
<table width="250" border="0" cellspacing="3" cellpadding="0" bgcolor="#e8e9cb" align="center">
<tr><td><b>Trailhead</b></td><td>$[Gorge_Trails/Trailhead]</td></tr>
<tr><td><b>Hike Distance</b></td><td>$[Gorge_Trails/Hike_Dist] miles</td></tr>
<tr><td><b>Difficulty</b></td><td>$[Gorge_Trails/Difficulty]</td></tr>
<tr><td><b>Type</b></td><td>$[Gorge_Trails/Type]</td></tr>
<tr><td><b>Trail Name</b></td><td>$[Gorge_Trails/Trail_name]</td></tr>
<table width="250" border="0" cellspacing="4" cellpadding="0" bgcolor="#e8e9cb" align="center">
<tr><td><font color=#993300>Rails-to-Trails</font color>
</td></tr>
<table width="250" border="0" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0" bgcolor="#e8e9cb" align="center"> <tr>
<td colspan="2" align="center" valign="bottom">
<font color="#999999" size="1">Copyright: Friends of the Columbia Gorge/Portlandhikers.org is a proud partner of the</font> Gorge Towns to Trails Initiative</font>
</td>
</tr>
</table>]]></text>
<bgColor>ff689a9a</bgColor>
</BalloonStyle>
<ListStyle>
<maxSnippetLines>0</maxSnippetLines>
</ListStyle>
<LineStyle>
<color>ff000080</color>
<width>2</width>
</LineStyle>
</Style>
<StyleMap id="Hikes_style_traillink">
<Pair>
<key>normal</key>
<styleUrl>#Hikes_normal_traillink</styleUrl>
</Pair>
<Pair>
<key>highlight</key>
<styleUrl>#Hikes_highlight_traillink</styleUrl>
</Pair>
</StyleMap>
<Placemark>
<name>The Dalles Trail</name>
<LookAt>
<longitude>-121.1675204504952</longitude>
<latitude>45.63510133211322</latitude>
<altitude>0</altitude>
<heading>-1.634887800693966e-09</heading>
<tilt>45.00165866539888</tilt>
<range>11801.15617415238</range>
<gx:altitudeMode>relativeToSeaFloor</gx:altitudeMode>
</LookAt>
<styleUrl>#Hikes_style_traillink</styleUrl>
<ExtendedData>
<SchemaData schemaUrl="#Trails_Schema_id">
<SimpleData name="Trail_number">4406</SimpleData>
<SimpleData name="Trail_name">The Dalles Trail</SimpleData>
<SimpleData name="Location">Eastern Gorge</SimpleData>
<SimpleData name="Difficulty">Easy</SimpleData>
<SimpleData name="Picture_URL">http://blog.oregonlive.com/terryrichard/2009/05/large_TR.TheDallesTrail.jpg</SimpleData>
<SimpleData name="Link1">http://gorgefriends.org/display.php?modin=51&uid=4921</SimpleData>
<SimpleData name="Link2">http://www.traillink.com/trail/the-dalles-riverfront-trail.aspx#tabPhotoGallery</SimpleData>
<SimpleData name="Photo_credit">Terry Richard/The Oregonian</SimpleData>
<SimpleData name="Hike_Dist">11.2</SimpleData>
<SimpleData name="Trailhead">The Dalles Trailhead</SimpleData>
<SimpleData name="Type">Out and Back</SimpleData>
<SimpleData name="TR_Length">0</SimpleData>
<SimpleData name="Hike_Name">The Dalles Rail Trail</SimpleData>
<SimpleData name="State">Oregon</SimpleData>
<SimpleData name="Elevation1">200 ft.</SimpleData>
<SimpleData name="Hike_Dis_1">miles</SimpleData>
<SimpleData name="POINT_X">-121.197</SimpleData>
<SimpleData name="POINT_Y">45.6276</SimpleData>
</SchemaData>
</ExtendedData>
<gx:balloonVisibility>1</gx:balloonVisibility>
<MultiGeometry>
<LineString>
<tessellate>1</tessellate>
<coordinates>
-121.2191227996079,45.65623491828678,0 -121.2078460984247,45.641231128264,0 -121.2081174642494,45.62199596450162,0 -121.2013742163807,45.61232779014134,0 -121.1763471207253,45.60147362786477,0 -121.1389784963313,45.6012101599156,0 -121.1150449368218,45.61651025155123,0 -121.1141521992769,45.62130724242957,0
</coordinates>
</LineString>
<Point>
<coordinates>-121.197032272514,45.62764529609835,0</coordinates>
</Point>
</MultiGeometry>
</Placemark>
</Document>
</kml>

Answer 1

The anchor spot where the Balloon is positioned on the map is computed as the center point of the geometries in the feature. In the case of the MultiGeometry in your example it is the center of the line and the point combined. The extent of the line is skewing the center to the right.
If you want the balloon anchored at the point then move the LineString to a second feature.
You can hide the fact that you have two features instead of one by adding a ListStyle of type checkHideChildren to the root-level Document to hide the children features like this:
<Document>
<name>KmlFile</name>
<styleUrl>#checkHide</styleUrl>
<Style id="checkHide">
<ListStyle>
<listItemType>checkHideChildren</listItemType>
</ListStyle>
</Style>
...
<Placemark>
<name>The Dalles Trail</name>
<!-- LookAt, ExtendedData, etc. -->
<Point>...</Point>
</Placemark>
<Placemark>
<LineString>...</LineString>
</Placemark>
</Document>