Google Earth is hard for tablets
February 15, 2013 11:20 AM   Subscribe

I have a project on Google Earth I created on a PC and want to show off on a tablet, but things are not going smoothly. Have I missed something? Do you know how I can make my project better on a tablet? Specific questions outlined inside, but I welcome other suggestions that may help me in ways I had not even thought about yet.

1- So far I go back to my email every time I want the kmz and download it again, which is stupid. It's obviously hiding somewhere on the tablet but how do I find it and open it? This is a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2.
2- Circles generated by KML Circle are awesome on the computer: colored, thick borders make them highly visible. On the tablet, they are nearly invisible (thin, white borders). How can I fix this?
3- On the PC, I can hide or show specific landmarks with check boxes. I don't see any way to do that on the tablet. Am I missing something?
4- In either case (tablet, PC) I would like my points to be more visible from farther away. Which obvious option have I missed that does this?
5- If I cannot get any of this to work, I am downloading the 7-day trial version of Google Earth Pro to make a movie of the project. Is there anything I have not considered?

I am currently using a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, but will switch to a late model iPad in a femtosecond if it provides more functionality. Thanks!
posted by whatzit to Computers & Internet (4 answers total)
 
Log in to Google and save to "My Places"?
posted by humboldt32 at 12:35 PM on February 15, 2013


I am currently using a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, but will switch to a late model iPad in a femtosecond if it provides more functionality. Thanks!

Perhaps try heading to an Apple Store and trying it out there? Google Earth seems pretty performant on my iPad 2, but it might depend on what you're doing.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 1:03 PM on February 15, 2013


As for #1, the file you downloaded from your e-mail should be in the /downloads folder off your file root (or possibly /sdcard/downloads, depending on OS customization). Find it your file explorer of choice.
posted by Vorteks at 1:43 PM on February 15, 2013


Response by poster: 1 - I found where the recently downloaded documents are, but have not gone so far as to looking into a file manager. Tablets must have one somewhere but my normal tablet use doesn't require it much.
2 - Borders never were fixed, and they look the same on the iPad as on the Samsung. Sad!
3 - Never found a way to hide/show things, either
4 - Never found a way to do this. I could change the size of text, at least, but on zooming they overlap rather than resize. Ugh.
5 - I downloaded Google Earth and made a movie. It raises other issues because it zooooms alllll the way into the place I was looking at, but I fixed that with invisible circles. The big problem is the watermark on the trial version. It's not small, it's not in the corner, it's nearly opaque white diagnol across the entire video.
5B - I tried My Places in Google Maps, but it is insanely slow and doesn't show the circles from kmlcircle at all. It was worth a shot and I appreciate the suggestion.
posted by whatzit at 7:24 AM on February 22, 2013


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