GE-Graph/GE-Path new versions available (freeware)

[rsgrillo]

GE-Graph was developed to generate graphs from kml files saved by Google Earth. The data can also be typed into the application or pasted from other applications. The file generated by GE-Graph can be exported to Google Earth.

With GE-Graph you can:

• Make Bars graph
  
• Make graph with geometrical shapes (circles, squares, triangles, etc).
  
• Set the shape size and bars height according to each placemark value
  
• Also set the shape color according to a placemark value
  
• Graph's title and color scale as GE screen overlays
  
• Different choice of label content (place name and/or value)
  
• Different color scales to be chosen
  
• Paste files from other applications (Word, Excel, Access,...) and generate kml files
  
• Export data to Excel
  
• Sort and filter placemark data (coordinates, names and value)
  
• Save and load txt (csv) files
  
• Save file as kml or kmz
  
• Choose minimum and maximum values for color scale
  
• Transform values to log and/or square root
  

Version 2.2.0

• Compatible with GE4 and kml 2.1
  
• Read polygon kml file (territory borders, etc)
  
• Draw bars with any regular polygon
  
• Reorder polygons coordinate sequence (if necessary) to show right fill colors
  
• Automatic set (and restore on exit) the decimal separator (if necessary)
  
• Custom color scale
  
• Choice to position the title and color scale (top/botton)
  
• Save and load Options file
  

It can generate interesting graphs:

[mcshea98]

rsgrillo,

These utilities are a MUST HAVE and looks outstanding. I will use these programs often.

[rsgrillo]

I spent all morning trying to find out the GE-Graph install problem. As I develop only freeware I mostly use free active X controls. That is the case of GE-Graph that uses a demo (fully functional) grid control (ecGrid.ocx) from Encore Consulting .

In some computers, by an unknown reason, the installer can not make this control to self register. The regsvr32 command registers the ocx but GE-Graph can not recognize the control.

The only way I got a correct register of ecGrid.ocx, in these computers, was using the freeware Register Dll tool to register it. Probably other register tools could also work but I only try this one.

If, when you start GE-Graph, you receive the msg <Failed to load control 'ecGrid' from ecGrid.ocx..> I recommend you to use the Register Dll Tool to register ecGrid.ocx. GE-Graph should then work well.

I will continue to search for a better solution.

R.Sgrillo

[mcshea98]

R.Sgrillo,

Thanks for your quick response. I tried using regsvr32, but that did not work. However, the EMSA DLL Register Tool fixed everything.

Again, excellent work and thanks for helping trouble shoot the install.

mcshea98

[Schwanauer]

You seem to be a good guy plus a very good programmer.

Can you help?


Would like to see the panorama JAVA driven picture running in an image overlay in GE. Do you think some skilled programmer could do it?

I know PHP driven video cams are funtional in GE.

http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php/Cat/0/Number/352920/page/

http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php/Cat/0/Number/353002/page//vc/1

[rsgrillo]

Hi Dunai,

I am not the right guy to answer your question.

I am still learning a little bit of kml. Actually my GE programs have more mathematics then kml.

It seems that GE can overlay only JPG, PNG, GIF, or TIFF images

I think that for java panorama overlay it would be necessary kind of plug-in like this http://www.fredfred.net/skriker/index.php/iimage-panorama.

Why don't you start a new topic on this matter?

R.Sgrillo

[Schwanauer]

Hello Ricardo Sgrillo,

With your circle calculations you could make this perfect.

http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded....true#Post364078

[Schwanauer]

Quote:

---

Hello Ricardo Sgrillo,

With your circle calculations you could make this perfect.

http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded....true#Post364078

---

I am thinking two concentric circles, the inner for the camera and from 4 to 8 placemarks equally placed. The inner circle could converge to zero radius.

Ricardo you are intimate with pi Code:

---

π

---

, you the best to do it.

Be Well

[Valery35]

I setup GE Graph. No problem. All open.
Test copy-paste, create KML.
Good and simple for use program. I begin work with it, and not use help.
Thanks, Ricardo!

[rsgrillo]

Thank you very much, Valery.

I am removing few minor bugs and adding new capabilities, as to save kmz files. I am also updating the file reading of GE-Path and adding new options. I will post here, when finished.

Sgrillo

[Valery35]

Sorry, if not secret
I use for create kmz files ArcGIS functions. It is not best solutions.
You use WinAPI or other interface?

[rsgrillo]

No, it is not secret.

I am using CGZiplibrary.dll. This library and the source code (VB6) are freely available at http://www.codeguru.com/vb/gen/vb_graphics/fileformats/article.php/c6743 .

There is a hint: you have to change a flag in the source code do make the library save relative path, not full path. If it saves the full path the .kmz will not work in GE. If you need more information let me know.

[rsgrillo]

GE-Path - New version (1.3.0 ) available (18/April/2006)

Read kml file saved by Google Earth
Link the placemarks (simple or arrowed lines)
Add sequential numbers and/or append the coordinates to the placemark's names
Calculate distances between placemarks
Calculate route (bearing) to the next placemark
Add distances, routes and/or coordinates to the placemarks description
Draw horizontal and/or vertical grids (equally spaced or not)
Draw regular polygons around placemarks
Calculate path's length/perimeter
Calculate the area delimited by several placemarks (or by path waypoints)
Save the resulting kml file and export it to Google Earth

New features:

Fill polygons
Save and read text files
Copy from and export to Excel
Input data directly into de application
Sort and edit data
Preserve accents in place names and descriptions
New interface

[Valery35]

Very good, Ricardo! You make very nice program!
Maybe you add next time ODBC connect to import?

[rsgrillo]

Thank you Valery.

Yes, good suggestion. I have think in database connection before. Maybe in the next version.

I am trying to keep the development of GE-Graph and GE-Path as a weekend hobby aiming the people who use GE free just for fun. May be in the future I could think in develop a professional version.

[rsgrillo]

It is also available today a new update (v 2.1.0) of GE-Graph.

Make bars graph

Make graph with geometrical shapes (circles, squares, triangles, etc).

Set the shape size according to each placemark value

Also set the shape color according to a placemark value
Graph's title and color scale as GE screen overlays
Different choice of label content (place name and/or value)
Different color scales to be chosen
Paste files from other applications (Word, Excel, Access,...)

Export data to Excel
Sort and filter placemark data (coordinates, names and value

New:

-Save file as kmz
Images for the color scale and graph title and the kml files are saved in a single zipped file

-Choose minimum and maximum values for color scale
If your input file is too large you can split it in several smaller files keeping the same color scale for each one.

-Transform values to square root

[rsgrillo]

I am aware of complains that the new GE-Path version (1.3.0) is generating random path, not following the original waypoints sequence.

The new version can sort the data. So, if you click in the head row of the application's data grid, the data of the corresponding column will be sorted. The original data sequence will be lost.

Tthe path generated from sorted data will be a mess because GE-Path generates path according to the waypoint sequence of the data grid.

If you are using the application to generate path, to calculate distance or area, DON'T sort the data in the data grid.

(I thinking that it was not a good idea to include sort capability in this application.)

Edited:

Also if the user have, in he regional setting, the comma as decimal separator the generated path will be a mess

[xav]

Why don't you add a field to the the table wich conserves the original order by numbering the points according to the original sequence. Then it would be possible to sort the Table again with this key and get the original order back.

xav

[rsgrillo]

Thank you xav

<Why don't you add a field to the the table wich conserves the original order by numbering the points according to the original sequence. Then it would be possible to sort the Table again with this key and get the original order back.>

Yes, this could be a good solution.

Also I already have the necessary routines for restoring the original data.

They are used in the other application (GE-Graph), where you can filter data according to max and min values that you input. There is a button (Remove) that restores the original data.

I will think in both methods to see which one could be more efficiently implemented in GE-Path.

I will try to work in this weekend.

[scious]

A must have tool - get it.

[scious]

hello again Ricardo

I have just tried out your great program and then went to edit one of the points.

The message I get is "You are trying to edit a collection of geometry items. Only Editing of the first item will be possible."

Is it possible to edit one of the midpoints in the path that is created?

The other way I can see from your program is that I can then save the output path as a txt file, then place the coordinates into another path file. This then gets the coordinates out of all the different placemarks into one file.

thanks
Mark

[rsgrillo]

Hi Mark,

<Is it possible to edit one of the midpoints in the path that is created?>

I don't now if you can do that directly in GE-Plus (I don't have it). However you can edit the kml file in a text editor and change the coordinates as you wish. GE will take the lat/lon changes but I don't know about altitudes.

< I can see from your program is that I can then save the output path as a txt file>

Actually it does not save the path. It saves only the list of waypoint names, descriptions and coordinates for further processing. However you can open the kml file in a text editor. The path coordinates will be:

<LineString>
<coordinates>
Path coordinates here: lon1,lat1,alt1 lon2,lat2,alt2, ....
</coordinates>
</LineString>

Regards

Sgrillo

[scious]

Ricardo I may not have explained myself very well.

In a normal path that has been created by anyone using GE you can click on the kml file that has been opened on the left and go edit. (if it is in a kmz you need to save it as a kml first). I think you can do this with the free version if you use one someone else has created.

You can then find the path in the file, select edit and then move any of the points in the path. The point are small placemarkers in the path for the coordinates. You have to zoom down pretty close to see the point markers.

With GEPath when you try to edit the path the message from the previous post appears and you can only edit one point and not any of those elsewhere in the path.

I hope this makes it clearer.

Mark

[mcshea98]

It appears that you are trying to edit all the contents of one folder, OR one placemark that contains <MultiGeometry>. If you are sure you are only trying to edit one placemark, and you get that error, then it contains <MultiGeometry>. If this is the case, then you cannot use GE to edit it. You must use a text editor, or some other program.

Hope this helps.

p.s. Could you post the specific file that you are a having a problem with?

[rsgrillo]

Yes, now I understand what you are talking about. I tried to have GE-Path generating kml files similar to that generated by GE, but I may have done mistakes.

As mcshea98 noted, the Multigeometry tags may be the problem.

Could you please remove these tags (with a text editor) from the file generated by GE-Path (see below) and try again?

(It is in the last lines of the kml file)



If this fix the problem I will revise GE-Path code and fix it.

[scious]

Ricardo I deleted the multigeometry tags and everything now seems to be fine.

mcshea98 - I have attached the file minus the <multigeometry> tags.

Mark

[mcshea98]

rsgrillo & scious,

<MultiGeometry> is Great for combining multiple placemarks, linestrings and polygons into one placemark; but when there is only one sub-element, it gets in the way.

Hope this helps.

p.s. I also use this tag when I want to limit (not stop) other people from editing the file.

[rsgrillo]

scious and mcshea98

Yes, in GE-Path the <MultiGeometry> is to be used when it draws polygons in the placemarks. However this tag was left in the Path option also. This is a bug in the application. I will be able to fix it next week (I am out of my place this week).

Tanks you both

[Bill_Romano]

Wanted to let you know that when I loaded the program on my new XP laptop, a window comes up that says the program may be out of date and fails to run. I removed the file.

[rsgrillo]

Hi Bill,

Welcome to the forum

Thank you for the information. It is the first report of this installation msg.

I suspect that you don't have installed the vb6 runtimes file. This file is necessary to run the program. If you don't have you can download it from microsoft.

Also would be nice if you could send my, or post, the file ST6UNST.LOG. It shall be in the installation directory, probably "program files/ge-path"

[Frank4]

Hi Sgrillo, these are some useful applications. I've written a story about them today at the Google Earth Blog.

Read the story here.

[rsgrillo]

Hi Frank,

Thanks for your comments. Your blog is driving a lot of traffic to the GEGraph/Path's site.

I am working in a list of suggestions and fixing small bugs. I hope next versions will be better.

Greetings from Brazil

[AKFISHING]

Thank you very much - I was using a digital planimeter to measure the areas of lakes - Great tool.

[rsgrillo]

Hi AKFISHING,

Thanks. I am happy that GE-Path is helping you. However I must note that I did not perform any rigorous test to evaluate the precision of the length and area measurements. So I would advise you to compare the application's results with your previous measurements to evaluate whether the differences are acceptable.

Greetings

[gemini1617]

Can GE Path and GE Graph be used with a Mac?

[rsgrillo]

Hi gemini,

Quote:

---

Can GE Path and GE Graph be used with a Mac?

---

I suppose that they can't. They are typical Windows applications developed in Microsoft Visual Basic 6.

[rsgrillo]

The new version (1.4.0) of GE-Path was made available today.

Few minor bugs were removed and new features added:

Line width choice for path and polygon
Automatic set (and restore on exit) the decimal separator (if necessary)
Use of altitude for place names/icons, path and polygons

[ninewattbulb]

A great set of utilities, my thanks, and keep up the good work.

[rsgrillo]

Thank you ninewattbulb and welcome into the community. Hope you enjoy the applications.

Regards

[rsgrillo]

It is available, in the applications site, a patch to update GE-Path 1.4.0 to 1.4.1 to make it compatible with GE 4 and kml 2.1. Report bugs, please.

The update to GE-Graph will come soon.

[rsgrillo]

Version 2.2.0 of GE-Graph was released today.

New features:

• Compatible with GE4 and kml 2.1
  
• Read polygon kml file (territory borders, etc)
  
• Draw bars with any regular polygon form
  
• Reorder polygons coordinate sequence (if necessary) to show right fill colors
  

• Automatic set (and restore on exit) the decimal separator (if necessary)
  

• Custom color scale
  
• Choice to position the title and color scale (top/botton)
  
• Save and load Options file
  

It can generate now more interesting graphs:

[Javier_py]

I can't make GEPATH 1.4.1 to work, it gives an error dialog box that says:
______
GEPath:
System Error &H8007007E (-2147024770). The specified module could not be found.
______
I've tested in 2 pcs. One WinXp Sp1 and another with WinXP Sp2.
It's installed the vb6 runtimes as indicated and also re-registered the ecGrid.ocx with RegisterDllTool.
(GEGraph_2.2.0 is working well though.)

Any ideas?
Tks a lot

ps: thanks rsgrillo for those excellent programs.

[rsgrillo]

Hi Javier_py,

This version of GE-Path uses a library with a set of controls, called FM20.dll. The developers are not allowed to distribute this .dll along with their applications. In most of the computers this file is installed with Microsoft Office.

I advise you to go to Microsoft site in this page and just download and instal the Microsoft ActiveX Control Pad (free). This should fix the installation of FM20.dll and GE-Path shall then work well.

Please, feedback

[Javier_py]

It worked well when installing that MS ActiveX Control Pad!


I discovered later that my problem was simply a missing file: fm20ENU.DLL (in my 2nd pc, i only had to put this file).
I used (and recommend) the great DEPENDENCYWALKER program - http://dependencywalker.com/ - .
When you do a PROFILE with GEPath.exe, you will get this message:

GE-Path 1.4.1:
LoadLibraryExW("C:\WINDOWS\system32\fm20ENU.DLL", 0x00000000, 0x00000000) returned NULL. Error: The specified module could not be found (126).

.... WAY BETTER than that awful message from that windows dialog box eh?

tks a lot!

[Tiresias]

Great work, thank you, this really is an excellent tool!

I was wondering whether there was any way to make GE Graph run from a command line, so that it would open a table (specified in the command line), and automatically output a graph to a default location using default settings?

[rsgrillo]

Thanks Tiresias. The current version don't have command line options. However I will include your suggestion to be considered in the next version.

[tjbo1m]

First of all, your application is amazing. I'd been trying to do exactly what gegraph does for a while, but to no avail. I do however have a problem. Most of the time when I try to input a set of data, if I select the option for "Place Name" under "Labels" I get the following error.

"Open of file "c:/...../dk.kml" failed: Parse error: Parse error: Expected entity name for at line: 360 at line: 360"

The line number is different for different sets of data, but everything else in the error message remain.

Like I said, this is Most of the time. If the data set is very small, sometimes it works, but it has even given this error with only two values. Originally I thought maybe it was because some of my values used the same lat/lon, but even after testing the data with unique lat/lons, it still gives the error.

Again, great program. If I don't enable labels, it works perfectly. But being able to use labels for my data would be very helpful.

Kevin

[tjbo1m]

Ignore my last post. I'm retarded. I realized withint minutes of my post that a few of my labels had "&" signs in them. After a quick find/replace, problem solved.

Moral of the story: If anyone else gets the error in my last post, check your data names for weird symbols like "&". Hopefully my mistake can help someone out in the future.

[rsgrillo]

Hi tj,

Thanks for your post. Avoid also to use the symbols < > and / in the place names and descriptions. When parsing the input file GE-Graph (and GE-Path) will not know if this is part of the kml tag delimiter or of the name/description and an error could be generated, either by the application or by GE, when opening the file.

[rsgrillo]

I'd like to inform that GE-Path and GE-Graph has moved to http://www.sgrillo.net/googleearth/ .

I am happy to inform that Google is recommending GE-Graph. See http://www.google.com/educators/google_earth.html

[tekgergedan]

That's a wonderful news, friend.

[Mioel]

Hi guyz... I really need your help...

My office set my laptop, with local User priviledge. which, with that priviledge i can only install some software.

Unfortunately GE path seemed to require an administrator privilledge to install.

Is there any way, for this case?




mioel...@yahoo.com

[rsgrillo]

Hi Mioel,

Welcome to the forum.

GE-Path installs libraries (.dll) in the system folder and installs and register activex components. I am afraid that an admin account is required to perform these activities.

[Mioel]

Hi Sgrillo,

Thanks for your reponse. so i guess, i had to ask admin account this morning.

Anyway, this forum made alot input for me. Keep it up with your info sgrill..

[jason_borat]

hello there,
first off, thank you for creating this! this is an amazing and useful tool :-)

secondly, i'd like to ask if there is the capability to make my bars thicker and shorter (one or the other, or both).
i'd like to do this in order to see my entire distribution when i zoom into the buildings/facilities.

any help?

[rsgrillo]

Hi jason_borat

Thanks for your email. GE-Graph provides you with complete control of the bars appearance.

To make the bars shorter you have to uncheck the Height's "automatic scale" box and decrease "Height factor" and/or "Altitude to add".

To make the bars thicker:

1. If you want the width changing according to values then uncheck the Size's "automatic scale" box and increase the "Size factor"

2. If you want a constant width then check the "constant" box in the Size option at the top of the form, and enter your width and choose a unit in the Size options at the right of the color options.

Let me know if you need further hints.

[m4w13]

Hi rsgrillo,

Im wondering if the height used in your GE Graph application the same as the height returned by GE? If so, is it possible to extract the height details of GE based on the current long-lat using PHP? Please help.. Thanks!!!

Mao

[rsgrillo]

Hi Mao,

Yes, the graph’s height generated by GE-Graph is in the same scale (m) of GE. However I think that to extract the height from coordinates you will have to access the files used by GE.

[m4w13]

hi again and thanks for the reply.

which files of GE will i have to access? i need the elevation data because i will be doing a little computation for my custom overlay.

thanks again!!

[rsgrillo]

Take look at post