Google Earth overlay for water
Elk
Would anyone know where I would find an overlay to see streams, springs and water sources for Google Earth?
Go to the national forest of your choice.
click "land and resources" on the lh side
geospatial data on the next page
then pick geospatial data sets if you aren't sent there directly.
there will be water points as well as a multitude of other overlays available on that page. Click the corresponding KMZ to download and then open that file directly in GE. When given a choice, pick "points" rather than "polygons".
but--- some districts and forests don't provide this data directly but there will be an email for their GIS person and you can email them to get the overlays you want.
gis page for Gila shown
I knew Bob would come to the rescue!
LOL
If, as in the example above for vegetation, they only have "shape" files, you will need to convert or email the gis person and ask if they have KML/KMZ versions. GE will choke on a shape file.
...which is why W.Bob recommends ArcGIS instead of GE.
Bob you must be a computer engineer. Or you have spent thousands of hours working on computers. I really do good to download and save maps from forest service onto a thumb drive and get them printed off on7.5 grids. I must say you are always helpful. .
Thanks Rope but I'm just an old guy with no life. We're lucky in that we have computer guys with vision like Pat and the guys that have created these great mapping programs. The tech stuff we have now compared to the 70's is pretty amazing.
For some reason I can not find land and resources on mu LH of the screen. What can I be missing.
not sure...
Not every forest will have the data sets but all I have been to have the resources link.
So I was supposed to go to the USDA site. I was on Google Earth looking for it.
Go to the webpage of the National Forest you are wanting to visit. Use Google to look it up, then you will likely come to a page that looks very similar to Bob's photo above.
Thanks for the info Bob. All that is offered in my area is a zip file. Is there a conversion process or would it be best to contact the GIS person ? ( Montana)
Zip files are just file(s) that have been compressed for easier downloading. Those usually contain shape or geodatabase files however. I would email the district GIS and ask for KMZ/KML files so you can use them in your Google Earth.
