Spherical Overlays turned all black

[Trevor Hobbs]

Hello,

I'm experiencing a glitch with image overlays.  Specifically, all of my spherical overlays have turned black (see attached photo "Black Ball").  However, the reference panoramic image still shows up in the upper right corner (see "Screen Capture 1").

Here's my workflow for generating the image overlays-

I snap photos with a fisheye zoom lens.  I stitch the photos using PTGui http://www.ptgui.com/.  They are often upwards of 50MB each.  So, I create an image pyramid, using a free software that generates image tiles from the stitched photo, and also generates kml for spherical overlays.  The software can be downloaded here... http://digitalurban.blogspot.com/2007/10/google-earth-photooverlay-download-and_25.html

It was working great- then one day it stopped!

I've tried the following:

• Cleared the GE cache
• Made sure my graphics card is up to date
• Re-scaled the original panoramic images so that they aren't so large
• Double checked the naming structure of the tile photos
• Double checked the tile size of the images (256x256 pixels)
• Double checked the code of the automatically generated KML (copy and paste into notepad) against the syntax listed in the KML Reference (and it's all good). 

I recently updated to Windows 7, which I suspect might be partly responsible for the problem...  I've tried opening the same KML on other Windows 7 computers that have significant RAM, and still have the same problem, so RAM is not the issue.  Does anyone else have an idea about what could be going on here?

Thanks for your help!

Trevor

[Trevor Hobbs]

Just in case anyone else has experienced this issue... I received support from the software creators at Digital Urban that made the image tiler and kml generator.  Apparently, this is an issue with the latest version of Google Earth.  I've pasted his response below....

--------------------------------------------

Hi Trevor,

 

I’ve had a quick look at it as I’m running Windows 7 and discovered that mine also displays a black panorama. I’m fairly sure that it’s a problem with the latest version of Google Earth and not Windows 7 though. What I discovered is that if you put the tiles onto a real web server (i.e. IIS inside the c:\inetpub\wwwroot directory) and change the tile reference to be a direct http link then it works.

 

My c:\inetput\wwwroot contains the following:

 

UnionSq.kml

UnionSq-tiles     (folder containing the images)

 

Then I’ve changed the following line in the KML file:

 

<Icon>

    <href>UnionSq-tiles/UnionSq_$[level]_$[x]_$[y].jpg</href>

  </Icon>

 

Becomes

 

<Icon>

    <href>http://localhost/UnionSq-tiles/UnionSq_$[level]_$[x]_$[y].jpg</href>

  </Icon>

 

I also had to add a MIME type for KML. You do that using Start/Run, type in inetmgr and press return. Then open up the window the list on the left under connections to show your local site. Double click the “MIME Types” icon and click the add button on the far right. Then add a new entry with the file extension of kml and MIME type of application/vnd.google-earth.kml+xml

 

Then when you use a browser to navigate to http://localhost/UnionSq.kml you should see your panorama.

 

Sorry it’s a bit complicated, but this is the only workaround I could find. I’ve attached my UnionSq test as a zip file in case you need it as an example.

 

Thanks,

[barryhunter (KML Guru)]

Ah, with that hint, thinking perhaps its being affected by the 'allow access to local files ...' tickbox in Tools > Options > General. 

Maybe older version didnt honour that tickbox for PhotoOverlay?

[Trevor Hobbs]

Good thinking.  But, actually, I just tried applying that change and the panoramas still come up black... I also tried changing the file path to:

<href>file:///c:\foldername\sufoldername\myImage.jpg</href> 

I've done this with the HTML in pop-up boxes to tell GE to access local files.  But this doesn't seem to work with the photo overlay...

Any other ideas?

Thanks!

[Andrew Howson]

Good afternoon Trevor,

 

I have been having the exact same issue with Google Earth PRO and use the same work flow process as you have using have the Digital Urban software.  I have 50+ spheres that are now black.  I can also confirm that the KML worked up to 6.2 but stopped working in Google Earth Version 7.  I have a case open with Google Earth Pro Support since November 2013 but there has been no updates and no route cause provided.  I have also been asked to perform the same troubleshooting steps as you and have to conclude that it is a issue with the KML support in the latest version of Google Earth as you have and the folks at Digital Urban.

 

Google Earth Pro Support have referred me to the KML Wizards on this forum.

 

Have you found any work around for this issue? 

 

I have also tried uploading files to an online photosharing site like photobuckets hoping that the generated HTTP reference for the photofolder would be enough.  It was not.

 

Can any of the KML Wizards comment on changes to the KML policy in Google Earth 7 may be causing this issue?

 

Has Google restricted this previous working KML feature to encourage public sharing of photo spheres through their new Google View?

 

Thanks

 

Andrew

[Casey Cockrell]

I am having the same problem and I have approached it 500 different ways, did this ever get resolved?

 

Casey

[vivek panwar]

I am facing the same issue, does anyone found any workaround? 

PS:pano display works fine with 6.x