Google Earth Community: Placemarks and Overlays (Basic Training)

Welcome back. A quick review shows that we have covered marking and organizing Placemarks, and using Folders.

Our next task will be to "Save" Placemarks and Folders. I know, you're thinking, "Doesn't the Viewer already do that automatically?"

And the answer is Yes and No. When you create a Placemark or Folder, the Viewer will save it internally and when you start the Viewer again, your Placemarks and Folders will still be available for viewing, provided you put them into the "My Places" folder. Any items left outside "My Places" or inside "Temporary Places" will be discarded when you exit the program. All gone, Bye Bye, Sayonara, Hasta La Vista Baby. So, remember to put those cherished memories into the "My Places" folder before signing off. You should be asked, if you want to do just that, as you exit Google Earth.

The "My Places" folder is exactly that, Your Places. You cannot "easily" share those places with others. I know, you could E-Mail them to one friend

, or print them and hand them out to a few of your friends

, but, wouldn't it be wonderful, if you could just put them someplace and attach text about their nature and importance, and...

everyone on the planet could view them?

Well, my friends, you can do just that by using the Google Earth Community BBS (which we will talk about in a future post). But, one small operation must be carried out beforehand. You must save the Placemark or Folder to your hard drive. Saving the Placemark or Folder from the Viewer is as easy as any other "Save" operation on your computer. Right click on the Placemark or Folder and select "Save As...". Follow the prompts and be sure to remember the path and name you use for the file.

In this case, I'm saving a Placemark in the "Google Earth Plus" directory and the name will be "Testing.kmz". We will need this information later when posting to the BBS. (Write it down!)

That is all you need to do to save a Placemark or Folder for later posting on the BBS. Now would be a great time to switch to the Viewer and save a placemark or two. When you return, we will show you how to post your work on the BBS.

Post Extras