GepKml

This is a simple Ruby gem I've built to make working with Google Earth Pro (GEP) Keyhole Markup Language (KML) easier. I'm just a hobbyist, so this is very basic at this point. There are other more full-featured KML gems available here and I refer you to those for more critical functionality.

Installation

This is a version 0 project. It is not published to RubyGems. It is subject to change at any time.

This Ruby library reuqires an installed Ruby interpreter. This guide may be helpful.

Download the repo code from this Github page into a project directory, cd into the project directory and run gem install pkg/gep_kml-0.2.3.gem --local.

Given a properly configured Rubygems set up, this should make a CLI tool available:

$ gep_kml --help

Usage

As a require Ruby library:

>> coordinates =
      GepKml::Coordinates.new(
        { latitude: "51°10′44″N", longitude: "1°49′34″W" },
      )
   pin = GepKml::Pin.build_from_coordinates(coordinates, "Stonehenge")
=>
#<GepKml::Pin:0x0000000104a89558 ...>
>> pin.xml.class
=> Nokogiri::XML::Document

As a command-line utility:

$ bin/gep_kml --help
  NAME:

    gep_kml

  DESCRIPTION:

    Google Earth Pro KML utilities.

  COMMANDS:

    antipode          Generate an antipode point pin KML file.
    decimal_to_degree Converts from decimal format to degree/minutes/seconds format.
    degree_to_decimal Converts from degree/minutes/seconds format to decimal format.
    great_circle      Generate a new line KML file drawing a great circle connection two points.
    help              Display global or [command] help documentation
    pin               Generate a new pin KML file from a coordinates string.

  GLOBAL OPTIONS:

    -h, --help
        Display help documentation

    -v, --version
        Display version information

    -t, --trace
        Display backtrace when an error occurs

  AUTHOR:

    Brian Davis <[email protected]>

So, for example, you could visit geohack.com, select-copy the coordinates text, then cd to a directory where you would like to save KML data, and then run this:

$ gep_kml pin "51° 10′ 44″ N, 1° 49′ 34″ W" stonehenge

This would take a coordinates string as the first argument, and a name as the second, and create a .kml pin file, which can then be loaded into Google Earth Pro (control-O).

For more information, please read this blog post.