Google Earth Community: Placemarks and Overlays (Basic Training)

Please read Let your voice be heard, before continuing. Some material will be repeated and there will be a test at the end.

All right, you've read all the posts, you've done all the searching, you've decided to post your Placemark. Good for you and good for us.

One more small item; Where are you going to post this gem? For now, let's post the placemark in the "Earth Browsing" forum. If you are posting a Reply to an already existing post, Press the "Reply" button while viewing the post and then you can skip to item 6 below.

Start by finding the Forum of your choice.
Click on "Main Index" at the top of any page in the BBS.
Click on the "Earth" Category.
Click on "Earth Browsing" Forum.
Now we want to start a new Post, so click on "Start a new topic".

This window or something very similar should pop up.
From the top down, fill in the blanks. Start with your subject... Make it meaningful. Remember to make the name descriptive, as it will be seen by millions of users around the world. It will be appearing in the "Google Earth Community Layers". These layers are updated about once per month for any post or reply with a Placemark. "My Place Mark" is a bad name; "RMS Queen Mary", is a good name.

Next are the post icons... for now just leave the default .
Ignore the "Make Post" entry (you may not have one) and skip to the meat of the matter, "Post".

Lrae steps up on

This is where you display your creative talents. Here is where you make or break your reputation as a Google Earth Explorer. No matter how good the subject of your post, if you can not "Communicate" with the other users on the BBS, your posts will be ignored. Take some time when placing your thoughts upon the electronic parchment that millions of people around the globe will be reading. Before striking the first key, ask yourself, "Why am I posting this information?". As you type, continue that thought process. Take your time as well, you are not in a speed typing contest. If you know you have a spelling problem, get a spell checker and use it. MS Word is a great tool. Compose your post within MS Word, check spelling and grammar, then copy the text and paste it into the BBS. And don't forget the "Google Toolbar", which contains a Spell Checker. If you think something is worth posting, isn't it worth a little extra effort. We have thousands of posters on this BBS who use English as a second language, and their posts have better spelling and grammar than many of our posters who claim English as their primary language. If they can take enough pride in their posts to get it right, why can't we?

Lrae steps down from his soap box.
We are almost done, just a couple more steps... Now, if you have checked your spelling, checked your grammar, and thought about the possibility of hurting someone's feelings, then you are ready to press the continue button. Just make sure that the little box marked "Preview or Attach" is checked.
So, what are you waiting for? Press the "Continue" button.

When you press the "Continue" button, another panel appears within the current window and the name of the window changes from "Make a New Post" to "Preview your Modifications". This is where I seem to find most of my mistakes. Read your post one more time before sending it out to the rest of us. Please! If it has any errors, just scroll down to the bottom of the screen and edit it, then press continue (the lower one) again. When you are sure it's really ready, it is now time to add your Placemark.
Remember where you put that Placemark? We did it back in the lesson on Saving Placemarks. We need to find it again, use the "Browse" button. Once you have the Placemark in the little window, it is time to complete the mission. Last chance to preview the post.
Ok, hold your breath, and click "Continue" :

After a small wait (a longer wait if you are using a modem) you will be returned to the Forum and will be looking at your new post in all its glory. Let's proof it one last time and test the Placemark. Does it take you where you wanted within the Viewer? You can still fix any problems you find, even after you post, even tomorrow, or next week, with the "Edit" button, just above the top right corner of your post. But, don't wait too long, remember First Impressions do count. Editing a post is just like creating one, except you start in the middle of the operation.

The Community BBS layers "i" are only updated about once per month. Which means, your placemark will not appear for up to a month or more in the Community Layers.

This concludes the basics for posting a Placemark to the BBS. Your score on the final test: "A+"

In the next lesson, we will look at creating Overlays.

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