So you desire to create your own set of multiple placemarked locations. Usually this group of placemarks have some relationship to each other. They might be a group of your favorite golf courses in your location. Or they could be all the stops on your paper delivery route, if your one of our our younger readers. They could be your favorite restaurants in the area, organized by type of food they serve.

But seeing as how this happens to be a fire service related site, lets have our example be some related fire station locations. How are we going to find the stations we desire to mark. Well, if you know the area you want to placemark well you could just move the 3D map around until you found all the places you desire. But lets say your not that familiar with an area, you probably need some location information to go by. Lets say something with addresses, city names, station identification numbers, and maybe the fire companies that are assigned to those stations.

I have prepared just such data for you, so you can work along with the example file we are going to build. I have selected 6 of the St. Paul, Minnesota's fire stations as an example. The data is in a spreadsheet format, or a 'comma-separated-values' file format, or a plain text file. Pick the one you feel most comfortable with and download it, by right-clicking the file you choose below, and then 'Save Target As...' or 'Save Link As...'.

• St_Paul_stations_sample01.xls    Spreadsheet file
• St_Paul_stations_sample01.csv   Comma Separated Values file
• St_Paul_stations_sample01.txt    Text file

What does this data look like...

The spreadsheet contains 5 columns of data. The FIRST row of data contains a title for column of data, one each for City, State, Station Number, Address, and Companies. There are six of the cities 16 currently active fire stations. This is not a lot of information, but we have enough for a good start. We will add more information as we progress.

So, we've got some data. It's all from the same city so it kind of naturally falls into a group something like "St. Paul Fire Stations". It would be a good idea to create a FOLDER, and title it "St. Paul Fire Stations" as well. The folder will give a way to identify the group of placemarks easily. But the folder will also help us in the delevopment of a group of placemarks as we will see in our example file.

So, the plan seems to be...

1. Gather needed data
2. Create a named folder to hold a group of placemarks
3. Locate the desired stations, and placemark them
4. Add the relevant data to the placemsarks 'balloon'

Seems like a good plan. However, we will discover there may be a few more steps required to come to a complete solution. Read on.

We have to create a FOLDER. In the PLACES panel click on the "My Places' to select it. This ensures what we do next will happen 'under' it. The either by selecting ADD/FOLDER... from the main GE menus, or by right-clicking on the 'My Places', and then selecting ADD... and then FOLDER...

We will get this...

Note that currently (with no placemarks created under it) the FOLDER dialog box has TWO tabs, 'Description', and 'View'. As we create placemarks under this folder the number of tabbed choices will CHANGE. More on that later. Note also there are two checkboxes. The "Allow the folder to be expanded" choice is checked by default. Leave it checked at this point. The "Show contents as options (radio button selection)" choice is NOT checked. Please leave it unchecked at this point.

In the NAME text block enter "St. Paul Fire Stations", and click okay. Then observe the PLACES panel. Now under the 'My Places' there a new folder titled "St. Paul Fire Stations". If not, review these steps and try again.

We will get back to using the two tabbed features of the new FOLDER dialog box in later steps.

In Tutorial #3, Question #8 we created out first placemark. We are going to do similar steps numerous times in this answer (and subsequent ones). You may want to review the process if you desire.

First we have to locate one of our desired fire station locations on the 3D map. Lets start with Station #1, located at 296 W. 7th St., St. Paul, MN. We have this data from one of our three station location files (above), located in the Address, City, and State columns (fields). Lets copy the location into the SEARCH PANEL search box, and locate the station. Which results in this...

But notice the location GE finds is IN THE CENTER of the street, NOT upon the building we might desire to locate. Lets switch to 'View in Google Maps' and see if we can locate the actual BUILDING location we desire.

Okay, the 'Street View' in MAPS discovers that the actual fire station is the building just to the SW (southwest) of where GE marked its search discovery. You can close out of MAPS and return to GE. If your Google Maps did not open in a complete SEPARATE WINDOW you need to review Tutorial #3, Question #7, and adjust YOUR SETTINGS in GE so that clicking on 'View in Google Maps' opens a SEPARATE window instead of SPLITTING your GE 3D window. Uncheck the located search in your SEARCH PANEL results window so the the address gets removed from the 3D map.

We have our folder created. It is the place under which we will create our fire stations placemarks. Lets get started. Select (by clicking it) the 'St. Paul Fire Staions' folder. It should become highlighted. Then RIGHT-CLICK and then select 'ADD', the 'Placemark'...

Or, with the 'St. Paul Fire Stations' folder selected, simply click the 'Add Placemark' ICON at the top of the 3D map window...

And then we get a 'Google Earth - New' default placemark dialog box, and a yellow flashing 'push-pin' icon on the 3D window. DRAG the yellow push-pin point over the roof of the fire station, and drop it in place. Enter 'StPFD Station 1' into the NAME field textbox. Click 'OK', and we have a new placemark located correctly on the map, AND we have it also located under the 'St. Paul Fire Stations' folder in PLACES panel, and the NAME we entered into the placemark is THERE also. That occurance is a feature we may want to alter later. But for now we have this...

Yes you can do all that, and more.

First we need to get the placemarks dialog box back again so we can change a few things. Do this. Select the Station 1 placemark in the PLACES panel by just a SINGLE click. As soon as you click the placemark in the PLACES panel a 'balloon' with a pointer attached to the stations location 'pops up'. As in...

Now with the Station 1 placemark still selected RIGHT-CLICK it and then select 'Properties'. Or choose the main menu EDIT command, then select 'Properties'. Either will result in the placemark dialog box returning.

With the dialog box redisplayed, let's first address the 'changing placemark icons' issue. Click on the push-pin symbol at the right side of the dialog box...

And you'll get this...

And we get a 'chooser' that will let us select from a lot more choices for a placemark icon. And if, by chance, these choices aren't enough for you, you can select from more choices that are located 'elsewhere' on the 'web'. Or, in case those are not enough, you could even make your own icons, store them on the web somewhere, and use those. However all the 'external' choices are a bit beyond our discussion, so far. More on this issue later.

Back to the 'chooser' box. Notice at the top, it shows the 'currently selected icon'. There is a box to adjust the Color, the Scale (size), and the Opacity (transparency) of the icon you select. The scale and opacity work pretty much as one would expect. However, be warned that the color does not always produce the results you might be expecting. The colors work well on light colored icons, but act somewhat strangely on darker icons. Experimentation with color is almost a neccessity.

And while you CAN pick your colors, scales, and opacities from here, you may find it is easier to experiment in a slightly different location. We will do that aspect soon.

As an experiment, lets change to the 'fire symbol', near the bottom of the choices, and increase the scale just a bit. Like this...

Which results in the placemark on the 3D map changing to this...

And the result is that Station #1 now has a red 'fire' icon, sized up to a scale of 1.4 (from 1.2) for a placemark icon.

Now what about the 'label' on the placemark. Lets alter it a bit. Redisplay the properties dialog box for Station #1. Then select the 'Size, Color' tab in the box. Like this...

Notice that when the 'Size, Color' tab is selected you have two sets of choices for Color, Scale, and Opacity, one for LABEL and one for ICON.It's a personal preference, but I find it easier to adjust things from here because you will your placemark change as you adjust your choices.

Lets adjust the color of the label to kind of a gold'ish-yellow. Click the Color box in the Label line. You get a color picker...

Select the color of your choice, then click 'OK'. And the result is a placemark label that has changed, and the Label line color box in the Edit Placemark dialog shows your new choice. As in...

It would be wise however, to choose colors and sizes of labels and icons carefully. Also make sure the colors are visible when mixed with all the other labeling that will appear on the 3D map, particularly, street names. Also zoom your 3D view to observe how your choices display. Also notice that NOT ALL of your placemarks will be visible at all zoom levels. This affect is 'normal' for a zoomable map. Not all features would be visible at all levels of zoom.

A short amount of experimentation is the best way to show what the 'Altitude', and 'View' features of the Placemark properties are used for. Lets do 'Altitude' first.

Select by single clicking the 'Station 1' placemark in the PLACES panel. Then bring up the Properties dialog box (right-click, the 'properties'). Then select the 'Altitude' tab of the dislog box like this...

You will notice that the default setting is '0m' and the selector box, (which is currently 'grayed-out', or non-selectable) says, "Clamped to ground". There is also a 'slider-bar', labled 'Ground' on the left end, and 'Space', on the right. There is also a checkbox (currently also 'greyed-out') entitled 'Extend to ground'. Humm. We can't do much now. We can't choose anything from the selector box, or we can't change the 'Extend to ground' choice.

In order to make all these choices available, you must CHANGE the 'Altitude' setting from '0m', to some other value. You can change it by entering a new value in its text box, or by dragging the slider AWAY from 'Ground' end. Try a setting of '5m'. Now we get this...

Now the selector box has choices of...

• Clamped to ground
• Relative to groung
• Absolute

Clamped to ground, means out placemark is located at the 'ground level' of wherever we happen to be on the 3D map, at the moment. If we are here in St. Paul, we are on the ground. If we were in Denver we would still be on the ground, but at an altitude of something near 1 mile high. GE follows the terrain when 'Clamped to ground'.

Relative to ground, means the setting we enter into the 'Altitude' textbox is ADDED to the terrain height of our placemark's location. If the terrain height was 850 feet above sea level, and we have 5m entered into the Altitude textbox, our placemark icon will be located approximately 865 feet above sea level (5m = about 15 feet).

Absolute, means just that, an absolute distance above sea level that you would enter into the Altitude textbox. But be aware that if you pick an altitude setting that is below the actual height of the terrain your placemark may become non-visable.

Okay, altitude is set for 5m, relative to ground. Select, 'OK'. observe your placemark icon. Doesn't look to exciting in the normal 'top-down' overhead view. Nope. To see what we accomplished you must TILT the view, like this...

Oh. Now you will see an 'elevated' placemark, located 5m above (relative) to ground. And notice that the placemark has a 'rope' tethering itself to the ground. Cycling the 'Extend to ground' chechbox, in the Placemark properties dialog box will turn this 'tether' off and on. And also if you investigate the 'Style, Color' tab of the properties box, you will find an additional options section for 'Lines', which allows you adjust the color and size of the tether line.

So, an 'elevated' placemark doesn't seem very useful. It depends on what you are attempting to 'placemark'. Very few things are actually two-dimensional. Perhaps you could have an application where you desired to mark the height and location of a buildings furture site location, or obstructions to an airport runway. Or the locations of available office space in your 25-story building office building. Depends on you needs and application at the time.

What about that 'View' tab, and its settings. Return to the Placemark properties dialog box. Select the 'View' tab. Now what I have done the the following photo is to adjust my view in the 3D map window to tilted, and I've moved the compass orientation to a more 'front' view of the Station 1 placemark. Then, next, I selected the 'Snapshot current view' button near the bottom of the dialog box. Doing so, filled in all the textboxes with the settings of my 'view' of the 3D map. Now this positioning has been captured in the placemark, so that no matter where in the world I happen to be at the moment, if I double-click THIS placemark, I will return to THIS view of it.

Not to exciting? Again it depends more on desired application of this feature. Perhaps you are placemarking the tee-off locations on a golf course. Then, possibly, placing yourself (your placemark) on the tee, and titling the view, and adjusting 'yourself' so you are viewing straight down the fareway (no matter what its compass direction is) is the 'look' you desire. Or perhaps, in a more fire service oriented application, you have made 3D models of your locations fire stations, and placed them on the map. Then you make placemarks for each modeled station, and create a 'custom view' tilted, and compass oriented to best show off your 'work'. You mean that can be done? Sure, checkout Google SketchUp, a FREE tool, for GE developed for doing just that.

If we inspect the properties dialog box of the 'St. Paul Fire Stations' FOLDER now, with ONLY one placemark under it we won't see anything very different than we had previously. We need to create another placemark to discover what FOLDERS can do for us.

Lets create another placemark, for Station 4, located at 505 Payne Ave, St. Paul, MN. Place this location information into the Search textbox, and locate the station. Use the MAPS Street View to verify the station location. Set Station 4's placemark icon to the yellow-push-pin marker in the placemark properties dialog box. when your done select 'OK' in the dialog, and you should end up with something similar to this...

Now we have two placemarks, one for Station 4, with a yellow push-pin icon, and one for Station 1, with a 'fire-symbol' icon. Notice the correct location for the Station 4 icon on the 3D map. Adjust yours if yours does not match.

Now, right-click on the 'St. Paul Fire Stations' FOLDER, and select the 'Style, Color' tab. Now we have a dialog box that changed because we have TWO placemarks under it, and notice what the dialog is telling us...

It tells us...

"The descendant(s) of this folder do not share the same Style. Click the button below if you want to force all descendants to share the same Style".

It recognized the two placemarks have different properties (i.e. icons, or labels) and wants to know if we would like to make all the descendents have similar properties. But we are not quite done yet. Click the 'Share Style' button, and we'll get this...

Notice, that after you clicked the 'Share Style' button, the 'style' you are being asked to share is whatever style the TOP PLACEMARK has defined as its style. And if you notice, all the placemarks in the PLACES panel will have already CHANGED into yellow push-pins, with the orange'ish labels. If you were to select the 'Cancel' button, all the placemarks would return to their original settings. But we could also pick a whole NEW style setup at this point, and let THAT ONE get inherited down the list of placemarks. Lets set the icon to a red'ish push-pin. And set the color the red. Like this...

Notice all the placemarks in the PLACES panel have already changed, and the icon for Station 4, on the 3D map has as well. Select 'OK' on the folders dialog box.

Referring to your spreadsheet, csv file, or text file of St. Paul Fire Station data, enter the location information information for Station 5. Create a placemark for Station 5 but only enter the 'StFD Station 5' information in the placemark NAME field. Select 'OK' for the placemark dialog.

The placemark that you just created MAY OR MAY NOT be the same style as the style you told the FOLDER to SHARE. Why? If you continued with this tutorial after completing the previous question WITHOUT closing out of GE then the placemark should have inherited (shared) the folders style. But, if you closed out of GE, and you are just now adding more placemarks the FOLDERS ability to share its styles will have BEEN FORGOTTEN ABOUT. You will need to create a new placemark, then alter its properties to match the previously created placemarks, then then go back to the FOLDERS properites and tell it to SHARE again.

In simple term, the FOLDERS ability to SHARE its styles does NOT carry over from one GE session to another. If you are creating a whole set of placemarks, you will have to tell the FOLDER in question to re-SHARE its properties. At least this is the way Version 4.2 of GE acts. This may change in future versions.

Create a placemark for Stations 6 and 7 but only enter the 'StFD Station x' type information in the placemark NAME field. Upon completion of this task your 'St. Paul Fire Stations' folder in the PLACES panel should look something like this...

Using our station location data sheets, the location of Station 8 provides a perfect example. Copy the street location and the city and state data, and do a search. And this is the result...

Well, GE found the intersection of the two streets, E. 10th and Minnestota Streets. So where is the station? If you were to go to the MAPS view, and use the 'Street View' you would find an interesting situation. To the NorthEast of the intersection is the OLD location of Station 8, in St. Paul's Public Safety Building. However if you move the 'Street View' to the NorthWest of the intersection, you will find the NEW (built in 2007) location of Station 8. And in the 'Street View' I have the apparatus doors of the station are open, and you can see Chief 2's buggy, Engine 8, and Ladder 8's Tower Ladder.

However, note that the satellite photo shown in the GE 3D map (at least here in early 2008) shows the same location as a parking lot, not a building with a fire station on its first floor. Obviously, the Google Maps Street View photos are newer that the GE satellite photo. Remember, the GE overhead satellite photos can be anything from several weeks to approx. 4 years old. Caveat emptor.

Add a placemark for Station 8. Now you GE PLACES panel should look like this...

Just to make sure in case you haven't been noticing, but when we create a new placemark it gets placed ON THE TOP of what ever list it's being created on. We created our placemarks by Station 1 first, then 2, then 3, etc. And each mark got placed on the top of the list, resulting in an 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 1 order. That sucks. Remember when we started this process, and I suggested starting with Station 1. I mentioned we might discover later that may not have been the best choice.

This exactly why. If you items that have some type of a logical order, and you want them to END UP being in lowest to highest sequence, you will find it a lot less work if you enter the placemarks STARTING with the highest ordered item and working towards the lowest.

Okay, but how do I FIX IT now that it is all screwed up.

There are several ways that all work, and in no particular order of preference...
One way is to select Station 7, then right-click, and select CUT. The click on the 'St. Paul Fire Stations' FOLDER, then right-click, and select PASTE. That results in...

Then select Station 6, and repeat the CUT/PASTE into the FOLDER steps. You should get this...

Another way is to select Station 5. Then by holding down the left mouse button DRAG Station 5 (notice the mouse cursor changes to a pointer with a SMALL BOX beneath it) to the FOLDER. (This is a bit harder than cut/paste). If it ends up in the wrong place, grab it and drag/drop until it goes where you desire. Then you should have...

Doing by either method above continue with Station 4, and then 1, until you get this...

Wow, all that work just to reorder the list of items?. Unfortunately, yes. There is no button to push, or setting to change to make it easier (at least in GE Version 4.2). And this was only a list of six items. If you had a list of one hundred items (or more), then you will begin to appreciate the need to THINK about what order you enter items in from the beginning.

To save this set of placemarks as a .kmz file simply RIGHT-CLICK on the 'St. Paul Fire Stations' folder and select 'Save As...', and then you will recieve the typical Windows 'Save file...' dialog box. Windows suggests the file name COULD BE the same as the name of the FOLDER, that would be 'St. Paul Fire Stations.kmz'. That suggested name includes a '.' (period) after the 'St' in St. Paul, and has SPACES between the words. Now you say to yourself, "but I save similarly named files all the time with no problem".

But those similarly named files may not need to be used in the same way a GE .kmz file might be used. A .kmz file stands a very good chance of being not only used on YOUR computer, but also becomming a file used on various WEB SITES thoughout the world.

Files 'on the web', not only means the 'web', but really also mean 'reacting to many other programs'. Those 'many other programs' do NOT, repeate DO NOT react well to file names with 'extra stuff' like spaces and extra periods in the file name. I can't tell you as a webmaster dealing with LOTS of files, how many times I have RENAMNED user files to get rid of the 'spaces and periods' issue. It's a ROYAL PAIN IN THE YOUR-KNOW-WHAT!

So, whats the fix? Simple, use NO-SPACES. Everywhere you want to use a space in a filename, use the UNDERSCORE (the uppercase choice on key next to the '0' zero key) character instead. And don't use any punctuation characters (like periods, commas, etc.) in a filename. But filenames have a period between the firstnamepart and the file extension, why are they okay? Because we're expecting those periods, it's the EXTRA periods that cause the problems.

So, a name like St_Paul_Fire_Stations.kmz is the preferred choice.

So, right-click the fire stations folder and select 'Save As...', and then enter...

We learned about...

• How to create a plan for what you want to do
• How to create folders and set shared styles
• How to create multiple placemarks, set icons, sizes and colors
• How to set a custom view for a placemark
• How to reorder a set of placemarks
• How to properly name a saved placemark file