Latest version - Placemark icons now offset above the ground

[herbie]

Since the latest version of Google Earth (and GE plugin), all my Placemark icons are now offset above the ground, they should be clamped to the ground.  In previous versions they were at ground level.  Can anyone explain this change and how do I fix it?   All altitudes are 0 and the mode is "Clamp to Ground"

I'm using the standard Google Icon images from http://maps.google.com/mapfiles/kml/.    Here is the IconStyle from my kml..

        <IconStyle>
            <color>ff1111ff</color>
            <scale>0.75</scale>
            <Icon>
                <href>http://maps.google.com/mapfiles/kml/shapes/shaded_dot.png</href>
            </Icon>
        </IconStyle>

[barryhunter (KML Guru)]

I just tried

<kml>
<Placemark>
<name>Texus</name>
<Style id="style1">

<IconStyle>
<color>ff1111ff</color>
<scale>0.75</scale>
<Icon>
<href>http://maps.google.com/mapfiles/kml/shapes/
shaded_dot.png</href>
</Icon>
</IconStyle>

</Style>
<Point>
<coordinates>-99.923312,31.958894,0</coordinates>
</Point>
</Placemark>
</kml>

in the very latest (6.0.3) - looked perfectly fine.

Can you maybe supply a complete reproduction test case. (ie the whole
KML file, that displays wrong)

[herbie]

Hi Barry,

Thanks for replying. You won’t notice the icon is above the ground unless you view it from very low down to the ground. If you add a small polygon on the ground directly below the Icon you will notice it more.   See attached kml.   

I’ve tried adding <hotSpot x="0.5" y="0.5" xunits="fraction" yunits="fraction"/> to force the centre of the icon to ground level but to no avail.

Thanks for your help

[Lou]

I am having the exact same problem, icons floating above the ground even when h = 0, and tried the things that you tried, eg

iconStyle.getIconStyle().getHotSpot().set(0.5,ge.UNITS_FRACTION,0.5,ge.UNITS_FRACTION);

 

Have you found a workaround?  Thanks

[tyderius]

Hi, I think the problem could be that Google Earth is expecting an placemark icon of a certain size. If you change the icon to a pushpin then the tail will extend to touch the ground.

[herbie]

I had to change the icon to be more like a pushpin.  Basically the bottom of the icon image will always be at ground level.  You can’t use hotspot to move the centre of an image to ground level as you could with previous versions.