Tutorial: Create a Forward Flyover in Google Earth

Estimated time: 3 minutes.

In this lesson, you will load a dataset that has a listing of X and Y location coordinates, and you will create a flyover along that route, with the viewpoint facing forward along the flight.

! These lessons require that you have Google Earth installed on your computer. Google Earth Desktop is not installed along with RockWorks. Please visit https://www.google.com/earth/versions/#earth-pro for download and licensing information.

1. Return to the RockWorks program window (you can leave Google Earth open if you just completed a different lesson).
   
2. Return to the Project Manager program tab, and, under the Datasheet Files heading, look for the "Animate_Earth_Flyover_Forward_GlenCanyon.RwDat" sample file. Double-click on this file name to open it into the datasheet.

   This file contains a simple listing of map coordinates in longitude and latitude coordinates.

3. Click on the Graphics | Animate menu (on the right side of the menu ribbon), click on Google Earth Flyovers, and choose the Camera Looking Forward option.
   
4. Data Columns: In these prompts, be sure the following columns are selected.
   • X (Easting): X (Easting)
   • Y (Northing): Y (Northing)
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5. Tour Parameters
   • Tour Title: Click to the right and type in: Colorado River.
   • Time Between Points: This establishes the pace of the flyover. Click to the right and type in: 1.0
   • Altitude: This defines how high above the ground surface, in meters, that you want to "fly". Click to the right and enter: 100.0
   • Tilt: This defines the "camera" angle. Enter: -15 for 15 degrees below horizontal (looking downward).
   • Pan Smoothing Factor: Click to the right and enter: 1
     Note that a flyover with smoothing of "2" will create much less camera-bounce around sharp corners than a flyover with smoothing of "0". Beware that high smoothing can cut tight corners.
   • 
     
6. Click the Continue button at the bottom of the flyover window.

   RockWorks will create a KML file listing the flyover path along the datasheet route. It will create a KMZ (zip) file containing the KML file.

   The resulting flyover will be displayed in Google Earth, if requested. The "Flyover" group will be listed under Temporary Places on the left side of the Google Earth display. You'll see the flyover controls in the lower-left corner of the screen.

7. Click the Play button to start the flyover sequence. Click the Pause button to pause the flight.
   
8. If you would like to save this flyover, right-click on it and choose Save to My Places.
   
9. Leave the Google Earth window open for the next lesson.
   

  Flyover Summary

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