Camino tracks showing in Google Earth (GE): How to get them?

[alexwalker]

Hi,

for some time I've had The Camino Frances & VdlP showing as yellow lines in GE. For some reason, unknown to me, GE removed them some time ago. I want them back!

I don't remember where/how i got them installed, and hope someone can help me out, for the benefit of myself as well of many others, for sure.

It is great to be able to turn on Street View and "walk" through familiar places on different Caminos.

I am sure some member here knows how to get the tracks for different Caminos showing up on GE?

Thanks!

 

[EWhite]

Hi,

for some time I've had The Camino Frances & VdlP showing as yellow lines in GE. For some reason, unknown to me, GE removed them some time ago. I want them back!

I don't remember where/how i got them installed, and hope someone can help me out, for the benefit of myself as well of many others, for sure.

It is great to be able to turn on Street View and "walk" through familiar places on different Caminos.

I am sure some member here knows how to get the tracks for different Caminos showing up on GE?

Thanks!

There is a Dutch website that has all of the routes in kml/kmz (google earth) format available to download. The website is available in a variety of languages

Downloads - Santiago

Indeling – Per land vind je hier een overzicht van praktische downloads voor onderweg, ingedeeld in onderstaande drie categorieën. Handleiding – Wil je meer weten over hoe je de bestanden samen met een geschikte app in je smartphone kunt installeren, lees dan de handleidingen. Overzicht – Alle...

www.santiago.nl

 

[MikeJS]

Just use mapy.com

 

[Old Hillwalker]

MAPY.com comes up as a non-secure website.

 

[peregrino_tom]

try Mapy.cz with the 'outdoor' overlay .
It's amazing for following caminos and I love it. But I'm not sure it'll do the street view walkthrough that Alex is looking for

 

[trecile]

I'm also a mapy fan, but if you are looking for something like an overview of Camino routes it'snot great because you have to zoom in really close to see the routes. It's great for navigation while you're on the ground though.

 

[Corned Beef]

If you can get your hands on the actual GPX or KML files you just import them. Is this what you are looking for? This is a flyover of Brindisi on the VF nel Sud.

It looks even better on the phone app version

 

[alexwalker]

If you can get your hands on the actual GPX or KML files you just import them. Is this what you are looking for? This is a flyover of Brindisi on the VF nel Sud.

It looks even better on the phone app version

Thanks for all suggestions!
But the issue is: How can I "import" such tracking files into GE so that it shows (like an overlay on GE, so I can zoom in and eventually go to Street View?

 

[alexwalker]

There is a Dutch website that has all of the routes in kml/kmz (google earth) format available to download. The website is available in a variety of languages

Downloads - Santiago

Indeling – Per land vind je hier een overzicht van praktische downloads voor onderweg, ingedeeld in onderstaande drie categorieën. Handleiding – Wil je meer weten over hoe je de bestanden samen met een geschikte app in je smartphone kunt installeren, lees dan de handleidingen. Overzicht – Alle...

www.santiago.nl

I downloaded all Spanish Caminos from that website, double-clicked on the the downloaded file, and it seems to work!

Problem is: Some parts of some Caminos are shown in grey: Hard to see. So this is still a work in progress. But many thanks to you for this!

 

[EWhite]

Thanks for all suggestions!
But the issue is: How can I "import" such tracking files into GE so that it shows (like an overlay on GE, so I can zoom in and eventually go to Street View?

I downloaded all Spanish Caminos from that website, double-clicked on the the downloaded file, and it seems to work!

Problem is: Some parts of some Caminos are shown in grey: Hard to see. So this is still a work in progress. But many thanks to you for this!

You can change the line color. For a desktop version of GE:

Right click on the grey line in the KML file in My Places. Select Properties. That opens the Edit Path window. You can vary the line width and color in the Style, Color tab.

 

[alexwalker]

Here it is: But some parts of some Caminos are partially grey...

 

[alexwalker]

You can change the line color. For a desktop version of GE:

Right click on the grey line in the KML file in My Places. Select Properties. That opens the Edit Path window. You can vary the line width and color in the Style, Color tab.

That did the trick! Now It's just a quick job with colours and line width. (Old man...). Thanks a lot again!

 

[alexwalker]

This is exactly what I wanted: This will be a great tool for going down memory lane at home, as well as playing with it during planning,,,

Have adjusted grey Camino lines to different colors and width of track.

 

[alexwalker]

There is a Dutch website that has all of the routes in kml/kmz (google earth) format available to download. The website is available in a variety of languages

Downloads - Santiago

Indeling – Per land vind je hier een overzicht van praktische downloads voor onderweg, ingedeeld in onderstaande drie categorieën. Handleiding – Wil je meer weten over hoe je de bestanden samen met een geschikte app in je smartphone kunt installeren, lees dan de handleidingen. Overzicht – Alle...

www.santiago.nl

That website you linked to is a treasure trove! I've added all routes in Portugal now!
Thank you so much, @Evan White !

 

[EWhite]

That website you linked to is a treasure trove! I've added all routes in Portugal now!
Thank you so much, @Evan White !

Happy to share and glad you found it useful. The site owner has a ton of information on the site. It’s been a great planning tool for me also.

 

[peregrino_tom]

Hi alexwalker (and/or Evan?)
My understanding from the conversation above is that you now have a clear and accurate way of tracking and following the camino paths at street level. If either of you have some downtime over the winter months I'd be very grateful if you could put together a complete idiot's guide on this, please?
Maybe start by describing the outcome you've arrived at and then go back to the beginning..
Inputs in particular - what are the system requirements (phone, pc, operating system version, memory etc), software to be downloaded, file types and their relevance (that's where the Dutch site lost me). How you put it all together and do the overlaying etc.
I always imagined that the virtual camino walking groups already used something like this, in which case I'm sure one of the members of those will pop up and expalin this is old news. But if not, I guess this approach may be useful for those groups too. In which case the end product might deserve a sticky - the highest honour that the forum currently confers...
Cheers, tom

 

[William H B Mawhinney]

Here it is: But some parts of some Caminos are partially grey...

View attachment 159920

Do not look back unless you want to go there. (I {WHBM} would add "one needs to look back to see where you have come from before you can know where you are going")

 

[alexwalker]

Hi alexwalker (and/or Evan?)
My understanding from the conversation above is that you now have a clear and accurate way of tracking and following the camino paths at street level. If either of you have some downtime over the winter months I'd be very grateful if you could put together a complete idiot's guide on this, please?
Maybe start by describing the outcome you've arrived at and then go back to the beginning..
Inputs in particular - what are the system requirements (phone, pc, operating system version, memory etc), software to be downloaded, file types and their relevance (that's where the Dutch site lost me). How you put it all together and do the overlaying etc.
I always imagined that the virtual camino walking groups already used something like this, in which case I'm sure one of the members of those will pop up and expalin this is old news. But if not, I guess this approach may be useful for those groups too. In which case the end product might deserve a sticky - the highest honour that the forum currently confers...
Cheers, tom

I'll try to explain, but surely @Evan White (thank you again!) can do it better

I followed his link to the Dutch site, scrolled down to Spain, and selected "All caminos", downloaded the KML file, then double-clicked on the downloaded file, and "Voila": All caminoes showed up in GE.

Some had (parts of) tracks in grey, so I changed them. I also put different colours on some caminos:

If you left-click on a track, you'll get the name of that camino. If you right-click on the track, you can change settings. I used that to change the colour and width of each camino.

Just for the fun of it, I later added all caminoes in Portugal.

The tracks are overlaid on GE, so you can zoom in to different sections and go Street View. Mind you, only sections of the caminoes that have been visited by Google mapping cars can be "walked": Dirt tracks, foot paths etc. must be visited in person, meaning that the climb to O'Cebreiro f.ex is not covered, while (parts of) O'Cebreiro is.

Edit: These overlays are also showing all variants/alternative stretches of each Camino: Very useful...

That's about it.

 

[alexwalker]

Work finished.

I now have all caminoes, including detours/alternatives, in Spain and Portugal, showing up when I start GE. I left-click on a track to get the name of it, and start from there: I can zoom in to see places, go down to Street View, and check the route in detail. Very nice.



Edit: I should say; this is on my home PC: dreamtime and planning.. When walking, Caminowise, my Iphone is only used for the Wise Pilgrim app (excellent and all I need) and eventually booking ahead (via the app built-in facility mostly) if needed.

Also for booking my return home: On numerous caminos, I have booked my return flight twice. I had to throw them away each time because plans changed. So these days, I book my return when I know when I want to return. (retired man: freedom).' Also, I am a European: It is not a long way/flight back to Norway.

And of course I use the phone to report back to my "boss" at home that I am alive and kicking.