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Viewing Activities in Google Earth

Former Member over 11 years ago

Hi I wonder if anyone could help.

I have a Garmin Forerunner 305 and used to be able to view my runs in Google Earth. I can't seem to find this functionality anymore. There is the 'Google' tab on the map which lets you toggle between Google, Bing and OpenStreetMap, the 'Map' tab which lets you toggle between Map and Satellite and then finally the 'Map Layers' tab where you can toggle between terrain and bicycle. I'm sure there used to be a button which said 'view in google earth' but I just can't find it. There are no links to Google earth beneath the map either as the help page suggests. You can click on the Google logo in the bottom left of the map, but this just shows you the general area in google maps, not your activity.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

0 Former Member over 11 years ago

You can export an activity with GPS data as a "Google Earth" file (*.kml). The mouse-over message is "View this activity in Google Earth".

0 seilogramp over 11 years ago

As SHARKBAIT_AU already mentioned, there is an export option to view in Google Earth. Just make sure you have Google Earth installed on the computer you are using.

Open the activity in Garmin Connect. Click Export > Google Earth > Select Open. Google Earth will launch and you'll be viewing your activity.

I save all of my activities this way, so I like to trim down to just the track, otherwise it gets very messy and your Google Earth database (kml file) will grow out of control. I remove the track points and other data so I'm only viewing the track. I then rename the track to the date of the activity then move it to the My Places folder in Google Earth. I've been saving all of my activities this way since before Google acquired Keyhole (2004) and renamed it Google Earth. If you're interested in doing this, make sure you have a backup solution for your myplaces.kml file. This file contains all your data related to Google Earth. The file is located on a Windows Vista/7/8 computer at C:\Users\<your login name>\AppData\LocalLow\Google\GoogleEarth\myplaces.kml. I save mine to a NAS on a weekly basis and to the cloud (SkyDrive) on a monthly basis.

I know this is much more than your inquiry required, but I felt like sharing today. ;)