OneGeology

1.4.6 Using Google Earth

Google Earth: http://earth.google.co.uk/

Requires a PC with minimum 256MB memory and 3D-capable graphics card with 16MB of VRAM.

A simple way of viewing data in Google Earth is to use a KML file exported from the OneGeology Portal. You may also add a WMS directly, using the Add menu option and then ‘Image Overlay’.

Using the image overlay option in Google Earth to add a WMS

Give your service a name then select the ‘Refresh’ tab, and click on the ‘WMS parameters button. In the dialogue box, add the Service URL without parameters.

For example:
http://maps.bgs.ac.uk/ArcGIS/services/BGS_Detailed_Geology/MapServer/WMSServer?

Then use the Add button to add one or more of the service layers to your image overlay (each map layer added to your image overlay will be available to be selected/turned on or off later).

The URL field is populated automatically (but note that it doesn’t add the ‘styles’ parameter, and this may cause the map layer to not display correctly — see Section 1.4.6.1 for further details).

Selecting WMS layers in Google Earth

When you zoom into your area of interest Google Earth will tile your map.

WMS tiling in Google Earth

Section last modified: 19 January 2010

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