How to use Google Earth to accurately display geocaches - Revision history

98.210.15.86: Update w/factual information. . .

2009-07-06T00:50:06Z

Update w/factual information. . .

128.101.154.225 at 15:56, 4 October 2007

2007-10-04T15:56:57Z

BigWhiteTruck at 19:04, 10 April 2006

2006-04-10T19:04:17Z

BigWhiteTruck at 16:48, 24 February 2006

2006-02-24T16:48:32Z

BigWhiteTruck at 16:36, 24 February 2006

2006-02-24T16:36:02Z

BigWhiteTruck at 15:47, 24 February 2006

2006-02-24T15:47:56Z

BigWhiteTruck at 15:41, 24 February 2006

2006-02-24T15:41:35Z

BigWhiteTruck at 15:05, 24 February 2006

2006-02-24T15:05:35Z

New page

[[Category:guides]]
[[Category:technical]]
[[Image:GE_with_kml_screenshot.jpg|thumb|Screenshot of Google Earth showing caches in and around Skaneateles, NY]]
[[Google Earth]] ([http://earth.google.com www]) is a powerful program that models the earth in 3D with arial or satellite photo overlays. It also can display things like roads, businesses, and driving directions. Additionally, if you download the '''"Google Earth KML"''' from your [http://www.geocaching.com geocaching.com] [http://www.geocaching.com/my/ profile page] (it's on the right-hand side column), you can view the approximate location of up to 150 geocaches at a time in your Google earth screen.

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 [[Category:Best Articles]]
 [[Image:GE_with_kml_screenshot.jpg|thumb|Screenshot of Google Earth showing caches in and around Skaneateles, NY]]
-[[Google Earth]] ([http://earth.google.com www]) is a powerful program that models the earth in 3D with aerial or satellite photo overlays.  It also can display things like roads, businesses, and driving directions.  Additionally, if you download the '''"Google Earth KML"''' from your [http://www.geocaching.com geocaching.com] [http://www.geocaching.com/my/ profile page] (it's on the right-hand side column), you can view the approximate location of up to 150 geocaches at a time in your Google earth screen.
+[[Google Earth]] ([http://earth.google.com www]) is a powerful program that models the earth in 3D with aerial or satellite photo overlays.  It also can display things like roads, businesses, and driving directions.  Additionally, if you download the '''"Google Earth KML"''' from your [http://www.geocaching.com geocaching.com] [http://www.geocaching.com/my/ profile page] (it used to be on the right-hand side column, before the geocaching guys got rid of it), you can view the approximate location of up to 150 geocaches at a time in your Google earth screen.

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 [[Category:Best Articles]]
 [[Image:GE_with_kml_screenshot.jpg|thumb|Screenshot of Google Earth showing caches in and around Skaneateles, NY]]
-[[Google Earth]] ([http://earth.google.com www]) is a powerful program that models the earth in 3D with arial or satellite photo overlays.  It also can display things like roads, businesses, and driving directions.  Additionally, if you download the '''"Google Earth KML"''' from your [http://www.geocaching.com geocaching.com] [http://www.geocaching.com/my/ profile page] (it's on the right-hand side column), you can view the approximate location of up to 150 geocaches at a time in your Google earth screen.
+[[Google Earth]] ([http://earth.google.com www]) is a powerful program that models the earth in 3D with aerial or satellite photo overlays.  It also can display things like roads, businesses, and driving directions.  Additionally, if you download the '''"Google Earth KML"''' from your [http://www.geocaching.com geocaching.com] [http://www.geocaching.com/my/ profile page] (it's on the right-hand side column), you can view the approximate location of up to 150 geocaches at a time in your Google earth screen.

@@ Line 18: / Line 18: @@
 ===How to overcome this===
 The best way to overcome this inaccuracy is to not rely on the KML for precise location data.  Either copy the posted coords off of the cache page and paste them into the search box in Google Earth, or you can import [[GPX]] or [[LOC]] files.  This will give you accurate locations in Google Earth that you can trust, unless there is a problem with the images. . .
 ==Google Earth image inaccuracy==
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 [[Image:GE_using_ortho.jpg]]

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 ==KML file inaccuracy==
-At first, you might think that this KML download is all you need to find geocaches without a GPS.  However, you quickly notice that when you zoom in, the caches seem to jump about.  This inaccuracy was designed into the KML file.  Every time the camera in Google Earth moves, the KML refreshes, and the geocaching.com server sends a new location.  '''The locations where you see the geocaching icons are never the actual locations!'''
+At first, you might think that this KML download is all you need to find geocaches without a GPS.  However, you quickly notice that when you zoom in, the caches seem to jump about.  This inaccuracy was designed into the KML file.  Every time the "camera" in Google Earth moves, the KML refreshes, and the geocaching.com server sends new coordinates for each icon.  '''The locations where you see the geocaching icons are never at the actual posted coordinates''', they can be off by tens of meters!  Therefore, you can trust the KML file to give you a good representation of caches in a specific park or general area, but you will never be able to pinpoint the exact spot.
 [[Image:GE_GC_KML_1.jpg]]
 [[Image:GE_GC_KML_2.jpg]]
 [[Image:GE_using_ortho.jpg]]

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 [[Google Earth]] ([http://earth.google.com www]) is a powerful program that models the earth in 3D with arial or satellite photo overlays.  It also can display things like roads, businesses, and driving directions.  Additionally, if you download the '''"Google Earth KML"''' from your [http://www.geocaching.com geocaching.com] [http://www.geocaching.com/my/ profile page] (it's on the right-hand side column), you can view the approximate location of up to 150 geocaches at a time in your Google earth screen.
-You may notice however that when you zoom in, the caches tend to jump about.
-<gallery>
+==KML file inaccuracy==
-Image:GE_GC_KML_1.jpg|
+At first, you might think that this KML download is all you need to find geocaches without a GPS.  However, you quickly notice that when you zoom in, the caches seem to jump about.  This inaccuracy was designed into the KML file.  Every time the camera in Google Earth moves, the KML refreshes, and the geocaching.com server sends a new location.  '''The locations where you see the geocaching icons are never the actual locations!'''
-Image:GE_GC_KML_2.jpg|
+[[Image:GE_GC_KML_1.jpg]]
-Image:GE_GC_KML_3.jpg|
+[[Image:GE_GC_KML_2.jpg]]
-Image:GE_using_ortho.jpg|
+[[Image:GE_using_ortho.jpg]]
-</gallery>

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-[[Category:guides]]
+[[Category:Guides]]
-[[Category:technical]]
+[[Category:Technical]]
 [[Image:GE_with_kml_screenshot.jpg|thumb|Screenshot of Google Earth showing caches in and around Skaneateles, NY]]
 [[Google Earth]] ([http://earth.google.com www]) is a powerful program that models the earth in 3D with arial or satellite photo overlays.  It also can display things like roads, businesses, and driving directions.  Additionally, if you download the '''"Google Earth KML"''' from your [http://www.geocaching.com geocaching.com] [http://www.geocaching.com/my/ profile page] (it's on the right-hand side column), you can view the approximate location of up to 150 geocaches at a time in your Google earth screen.

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:41, 24 February 2006
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	[[Image:GE_with_kml_screenshot.jpg\|thumb\|Screenshot of Google Earth showing caches in and around Skaneateles, NY]]		[[Image:GE_with_kml_screenshot.jpg\|thumb\|Screenshot of Google Earth showing caches in and around Skaneateles, NY]]
	[[Google Earth]] ([http://earth.google.com www]) is a powerful program that models the earth in 3D with arial or satellite photo overlays. It also can display things like roads, businesses, and driving directions. Additionally, if you download the '''"Google Earth KML"''' from your [http://www.geocaching.com geocaching.com] [http://www.geocaching.com/my/ profile page] (it's on the right-hand side column), you can view the approximate location of up to 150 geocaches at a time in your Google earth screen.		[[Google Earth]] ([http://earth.google.com www]) is a powerful program that models the earth in 3D with arial or satellite photo overlays. It also can display things like roads, businesses, and driving directions. Additionally, if you download the '''"Google Earth KML"''' from your [http://www.geocaching.com geocaching.com] [http://www.geocaching.com/my/ profile page] (it's on the right-hand side column), you can view the approximate location of up to 150 geocaches at a time in your Google earth screen.
		+
		+	You may notice however that when you zoom in, the caches tend to jump about.
		+	<gallery>
		+	Image:GE_GC_KML_1.jpg\|
		+	Image:GE_GC_KML_2.jpg\|
		+	Image:GE_GC_KML_3.jpg\|
		+	Image:GE_using_ortho.jpg\|
		+	</gallery>