I am looking for some insight on if / how I can better approach creating my KML in order to make my data more readable when loaded by via a custom app developed around the Google Earth Plugin.
My constraints are:
I have no ability to do anything with the custom app or the plugin,
I can only provide KML files and take advantage of any features
built into the Google Earth Plugin.
The side bar where you select data to display does not list the folders of the selected KML as a sub menu like I have seen in Google Earth.
My data looks like:
Hundreds of Data points sometimes quite close together, which I am
currently displaying as placemarks, with no names set (was too noisy
on the map). I supply additional details on the placemark in the
description bubble / balloon.
Placemarks are frequently related to one another (i.e. there may be
4 placemarks representing a distinct group (e.g. coffee shops)).
What I have found so far:
There is no way for me to group pins as I zoom in and out without access to the JavaScript API / ability to do some amount of front end programming (i.e. there is no way to specify in the KML that pins should be grouped based on zoom level. I have noted the zoom level visibility settings which I do not believe accomplish what I am looking to do).
When clicking on a placemark there is no way to identify the other placemarks which are in the same group (i.e. all coffee shops) such as by changing their style (again note that to work for me this would have to be native functionality whose behaviour can be pre-specified in the KML). I hoped the plugin might provide some default functionality around this with folders, but I haven't been able to find anything.
My questions:
Are my above assumptions correct?
Are there some aspects of the KML spec and how it is displayed by google-earth which might be a good place for me to spend additional time understanding given the nature of my data?
Any suggestions or insight would be very welcome.
Edit: Also considered creating KML Tours to adjust visibility / identify related Placemarks, but could not see how I might start / stop the tour from a given Placemark (e.g. by clicking a link in the description balloon?).
Firstly, a question for you.
Are you wishing to load your 'app' on a mobile device? or are you just trying to do something on a normal computer?
I ask because you mention 'app' - yet in this line
I have no ability to do anything with the custom app or the plugin, I
can only provide KML files and take advantage of any features built
into the Google Earth Plugin.
The Google Earth PLUGIN is not support by mobile devices (yet) so if you can take advantage of it you must be talking about a normal computer scenario. So either a webpage, or a webpage embedded inside another program.
As for
There is no way for me to group pins as I zoom in and out without
access to the JavaScript API / ability to do some amount of front end
programming (i.e. there is no way to specify in the KML that pins
should be grouped based on zoom level. I have noted the zoom level
visibility settings which I do not believe accomplish what I am
looking to do).
Have you looked into using Regions ? With them you can control at what 'zoom' (ie what POV) a placemark becomes visible.
As for
When clicking on a placemark there is no way to identify the other
placemarks which are in the same group (i.e. all coffee shops) such as
by changing their style (again note that to work for me this would
have to be native functionality whose behaviour can be pre-specified
in the KML). I hoped the plugin might provide some default
functionality around this with folders, but I haven't been able to
find anything.
This depends of if you are really using the plug-in (and thus JS) or not. With straight KML I don't think anything is possible. However if you are using the plugin (and some JS) you have number of options depending on how you set up your .kml.
You can 'walk' through your kml file and find all placemarks with the same <style>
You can assign all your placemark id's by - and then using Accessors like this var placemark = ge.getElementById('unique_id');
However it sounds like you are not using JS so I am probably wasting time with this.
Same goes for using tours, IF you are using the plugin and IF you are willing to do some JS coding then YES you can use tours to all kinds of things.
However, if you are talking about a mobile device app, then nothing is possible (except the Regions) and I suggest you edit your question to remove the 'google-earth-plugin' tag.
Related
The icon I am looking for is pretty unique, so I think I'm going to have to create my own. (I'm looking for an icon of a closed door) I found a PNG file similar to what I need, but I need to figure out a way to integrate it with the material ui font icon.
Is there a way to create the js file for it, similar to the ones that exist? Like this one: https://github.com/callemall/material-ui/blob/master/src/svg-icons/action/accessibility.js
I don't know where the "path" comes from, does anyone know?
Thanks in advance!
Those were created using design tools specifically created for this purpose. Creating path based SVG Icons will take a bit more time if you're unexperienced in the field, however it is most likely you can create your own with some free online tools and a bit of patience.
Once you did (the data doesn't necessarily have to be in path format for the SVG, you can create any valid SVG using the available syntax and attributes which you can find info about right here), you can simply replicate one of those JS files and import / export them wherever applicable and use it in a similar fashion as you would any Material UI one.
Such an online tool could be this one for creating what you need:
http://editor.method.ac/
I need to create logos for my Windows Store Apps. I am not a skilled graphic artist (pretty clueless as to the use of those tools, or even what they are).
I have the design in mind for what I want my logo to basically look like:
I could create this in XAML, using a grid, and placing images in various cells, using either Segoe UI Symbols characters and/or "commons" graphic images (of a camera and footprints), and then add the text in the great middle of it all. But how to then convert that image to the needed 50X50 pixels* for the app's logo? Wouldn't the images, and even the font characters, get too "smushed," for lack of a better term?
Windows Store Apps actually require several different files at various scales and even width:height ratios, but Microsoft has made a tool available that can take a 50x50 logo and automatically generate all the other files.
So: Is it possible to create a Windows Store Apps logo using XAML, and if so, how? Otherwise, what is the preferred method/standard approach to this?
UPDATE
With a little help from my friends (a "virtual one" found here, and an old hiking buddy), I was able to come up with one that I like. Logo:
...and splash screen:
I am using the Bing Maps AJAX7 SDK and need to use pushpins of several different colors to represent several different statuses (red, green, gray, and white). I've studied the documentation looking for a way to use the default icon and simply set the fill color, but to no avail.
I am aware that some clever things can be done using HTML and CSS, but I'm hoping to avoid all of that for now.
Is it possible to use the Bing Maps default pushpin but change the fill color?
Actually the icon my customer wants to use is #46 at this page:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff701719.aspx
My customer chose that icon thinking that I could simply select it using my Pushpin object or PushpinOptions object, but I am not sure that's the case.
If using a built-in icon and setting a different fill color is not possible, then can someone tell me where I can get a set of Bing Maps icons or very similar ones that are free for commercial use?
The AJAX control only has one pushpin. To change the pushpin you need different images to replace as the icon. For example: http://www.bingmapsportal.com/ISDK/AjaxV7#Pushpins2
Alternatively you can create canvas pushpins: http://rbrundritt.wordpress.com/2013/04/10/html5-canvas-pushpins-in-javascript/
The custom pushpins you see in the documentation (i.e. #46) is for the REST imagery service only. The reason for this is that for security reasons users can not specify image URL's for the imagery service so custom pushpin icons can only be selected from a set of predefined pushpins. These are not made available outside of this service as this is very limiting compared to being able to create your own custom pushpins.
Is it possible for me to go through and edit my virtual copy of the landscape being worked on and export that to kml, usable in the Google Earth API? In other words if I have my models, and color markings laid over the earth, can I share those certain addons through GE API (not allowing users to edit it).
Yes. There are a couple ways to do it.
In the left panel, right-click on the feature or features you want to capture in KML and select Copy. Then open your favorite editor and paste. You'll get the KML. You can save the KML to a file.
Another choice is to right-click on the feature and click "Save Place As...", which will let you save the file as a KML or KMZ.
Google hosts a tutorial.
Sure you can, but you will have to create an GE API instance.
We are coming up with a new product that will handle that.
Send me a note to jdelcid#3delcid.com if you are interested in knowing more about it and perhaps using it for your projects.
Best.
Jorge.
very quick one, I was always wondering, do internet browsers use for rendering OS API functions to create buttons, render mages and so, or do they render it all on their own?
I first thoght that it uses system api, but there are some effects like when screen fades into grey and you see only small window in the middle, you know, thet effect used on many picture albums online, which I dont really how to achive using for example only Win32 calls.
EDIT: To be more exact, I know that final drawing on screen will always use system API, but you can send prerendered image as you want to it. Thanks.
Web browsers use their own rendering engines rather than OS API. Using OS API to render buttons totally depends on the design decision of a particular rendering engine. However, to run on various operating systems these engines prefer their own rendering to offer same look-n-feel across platforms.
Gecko, for Firefox
Trident, for Internet Explorer
Presto, for Opera
KHTML, for Konqueror
WebKit, for Apple's Safari and Google's Chrome web browsers.
Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_browser_engine
Do browser rendering engines useOs api for creating buttons, writing text, creating boxes, etc., or do they render all of this on their own using OS API just for actually show the rendered image on the screen?
I implemented something of a browser rendering engine (see e.g. Table of Supported Elements and Supported Properties for a list of the HTML elements and CSS properties that it supports).
I use system APIs (.NET Framework APIs, which are thin wrappers around underlying O/S GDI APIs) to:
Measure words (strings of text)
Paint words
Draw lines and boxes
Fill rectangles with solid color
These are the kind of API functionality that's implemented by the Windows GDI.
There are also some system (O/S or .NET) APIs that I use, to draw buttons and combo boxes (see Rewrite standard controls like edit, combo, etc?).
Becouse, the whole rendering of text, graphics and so seems pretty hard to write completely yourself
Yes, implementing CSS and everything does take a while. You've seen how long it took the browser developer teams to implement: several calendar years, many person-years.