Google Earth - EBT's dot grid

[bocky]

Hi everyone!

Some time ago I made a map showing the portuguese EBT dots with some cities for each dot, using avij's dots.php page. You can follow the story on this thread.

But... that was before Google Earth! Two weeks ago I thought: "why not make a grid on Google Earth with the exact location of each dot in the european map?" After some research and work I managed to make it! And here it is, for all EBT dot hunters!

I have made a separate file for each member of the Eurozone so you can download only what you really want. The full grid may take a while to load on slower computers (it has almost 25.000 lines!), but it covers all the dots in the european map.

This way it's easy to know if a city belongs to a certain dot, or if there are cities split in two dots, etc... To locate places more easily, turn on the Roads layer in GE.


-- EBT's dot grid --

The files are in 3 different formats (except the full grid which is too large) so you can choose what's best for you. If you're unsure, download the .kml files, Google Earth can open them directly. To uncompress the .zip files you can use Winzip or Winrar. Winrar can also uncompress the .rar files. After uncompressing the .zip or .rar you'll have a .kml which Google Earth can open.

(Full map) - .rar/.zip

(Austria) - .rar/.zip/.kml
(Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg) - .rar/.zip/.kml
(Finland) - .rar/.zip/.kml
(France) - .rar/.zip/.kml
(Germany) - .rar/.zip/.kml
(Greece) - .rar/.zip/.kml
(Ireland) - .rar/.zip/.kml
(Italy) - .rar/.zip/.kml
(Portugal and Spain) - .rar/.zip/.kml

I hope you enjoy it! Please tell me if you have any suggestions, find any errors, or if you think some country's grid should be bigger or smaller, or something.

Also, check out Ernie's map converter which you can use to see your dots in Google Earth!

[€€F]

how can I run or open a .rar??

[Shark]

how can I run or open a .rar??

use winrar http://www.download.com/3000-2250-10007677.html

[bocky]

Yeah, it's like a .zip archive. After uncompressing the file you'll have a .kml file which you can open in Google Earth.

[Fjon]

This is brilliant!
For me some of the appeal of tracking notes is gone, but this has been replaced by dot-hunting! I know I'm not the only one - I bet there are others who will really find this useful!

[€€F]

Working so far.. I can see the lines..
But is it also possible to see my dots in it??
I see my hits in the google earth , but not my dots..

[bocky]

No, it's impossible to see your dots, at least I haven't figured out an easy way to do it yet. If anyone has any ideas on how to get a map analysed for existent dots...

EDIT: Now it's possible, thanks to Ernie's map converter!

[Klazu]

OK, the idea is good and so is the outcome. It's very easy to see the lines and see for possible new dots. But Google Earth still has very weak maps of Europe, so these ain't as useful as they could be. For example in Finland only largest cities are shown in some detail.

One has to also remember that post code areas don't follow these lines, so one has to be careful for the exactly place where to gain a new dot.

[Viperazzi]

Pretty impressive, bocky! It's now a lot more evident where the dot areas start and end. Even combined with the small problem Klazu mentioned, this makes the distinguishing a lot easier. I'm sure that as haemoglobin, one of the uncrowned dot kings of EBT, notices this, these will be added to his corresponding thread.

For me some of the appeal of tracking notes is gone, but this has been replaced by dot-hunting!

Ditto. I hope I'll perhaps score some new dots next summer! I've been quite passive lately with entering notes.

[Klazu]

I did some compare between Dots.php page, my hits and the grid by my eyes. They seemed to match precisely, so at least I'm convinced that this is a great new feature!

Hint: If you turn on the roads in Google Earth, it's much more easier to locate places. GE has pretty few small towns inserted, but the road networks are pretty accurate looking. At least for Finland.

[haemoglobin]

...haemoglobin, one of the uncrowned dot kings of EBT.....

well, i`m not even a prince compared to bhoeyb. he`s the real king

i`ll add it to the dothunt topic

[€€F]

How can I uninstall the full grid om Google's Earth Map ??

[bocky]

How can I uninstall the full grid om Google's Earth Map ??

Sorry, I didn't see that post before. What do you mean by uninstalling? There shoud be an item under "Places" (on the left) named "EBT grid: full map". To delete it, just click on it and press the Delete key, or right-click it and Delete.

[€€F]

Ok ; thnx ; I'll try later this evening @home

[ernie_hh]

Hello,

i am a great fan of google earth too

Thank you for your great map. But i have a hint to make the handling easier.

Don't pack the files with rar but with the god old zip-format. The filesize may be larger, but if you rename the zip-files to *.kmz you can directly open them in Google Earth. So there is no need to unpack them.

And now to my contribution to this thread:

I wrote a EBT-Dot-Converter:

http://ernie.no-ip.info/ebt/dotconvert.html

You just have to enter the link to your Dotmap-Image and choose an output format ( "kml" should be fine) an click on "Absenden" (send). After a short moment your dotlist appears directly in Google Earth if installed correctly. Otherwise store the file and open it via File Open.

The dotmap will be refreshed on every start of Google Earth (if you store it in your places). It can be refreshed via Rightclick -> Refresh on the dotmap-entry.

These are of course only the dots, not the grid. But it works together with the grid from the first posting.

Comments are always welcome. Either here or in our IRC-Channel (#ebt and #ebt.de)

ernie_hh