• Which the release of FS2020 we see an explosition of activity on the forun and of course we are very happy to see this. But having all questions about FS2020 in one forum becomes a bit messy. So therefore we would like to ask you all to use the following guidelines when posting your questions:

    • Tag FS2020 specific questions with the MSFS2020 tag.
    • Questions about making 3D assets can be posted in the 3D asset design forum. Either post them in the subforum of the modelling tool you use or in the general forum if they are general.
    • Questions about aircraft design can be posted in the Aircraft design forum
    • Questions about airport design can be posted in the FS2020 airport design forum. Once airport development tools have been updated for FS2020 you can post tool speciifc questions in the subforums of those tools as well of course.
    • Questions about terrain design can be posted in the FS2020 terrain design forum.
    • Questions about SimConnect can be posted in the SimConnect forum.

    Any other question that is not specific to an aspect of development or tool can be posted in the General chat forum.

    By following these guidelines we make sure that the forums remain easy to read for everybody and also that the right people can find your post to answer it.

QGIS to produce shp files for use in Google Earth

kevinfirth

kevinfirth

Messages
203
Country
unitedkingdom
I've been attempting to create shp files to import into Google Earth to produce kml files from which to accurately create water masks/blends in FSET.

I downloaded free data from Ordnance Survey for the UK, containing full coastline data (Opendata Meridian)

There is a shp file called coast_ln_polyline which is exactly as described - a full coastline shp file made up of many numerous polylines.

Now, importing that shp file into GE works fine, but it creates it as geometry rather than a polygon, so when I try to use a kml file incorporating that data in FSET, FSET doesn't recognise it :(

SO, I tried to manipulate the polyline in QGIS, by selecting all the constituent polylines in the shp file and using the vector>geoprocessing tools>dissolve menu command. It appears to result in one wholly enclosed polygon, but importing that into GE results in it being displayed again as geometry rather than a whole polygon :s

Am I using the wrong options in QGIS and therefore not creating the right data in the shp file that I'm importing into GE?

Or is there just some arcane problem with GE in that it can't properly import shp files as true polygons so they can be understood by FSET?

Or something else? :p

Any pointers of gems of information very very gratefully received...
Thanks K
 
Hi Kevin.

Is this google earth pro? And you are importing SHP files?

Have you tried to save as a kml file from QGIS?
 
Thanks Dick,

Interesting, I hadn't considered that possibility...
It is GE Pro yes... and I am importing shp files.

I tried saving as a kml from GQIS, projecting as WGS84 and geometry type = polygon, (from both dissolved and undissolved base data), but when imported into GEPro it's still showing every time as a folder full of individual paths :(

EDIT: importing dissolved data based kml results in a single path in GEPro, even when exported as polygon data :s

K
 
Last edited:
EDIT2:
Thanks Dick, you set me on the right path :)
Correct process was:
1. Dissolve all the individual lines into one single line.
2. Vector>geometry tools>Lines to Polygons.
3. Save as kml from within QGIS (WGS84, Geometry=Polygon)
4. Import resulting kml into GEPro.
Hey presto - I have apparently a polygon in GEPro :)

But... That polygon isn't showing up visible in FSET when I try to import it using AreaKML.kml :s A native GEPro polygon I drew for Jersey Island shows up OK, but not the imported one :( Investigation required....
 
EDIT3:
Discovering..
1. that when a single polygon is imported through the above process it is displayed in FSET, but where there are multiple polys they aren't?
2. GEPro can import a polyline which can be read in FSET

So..it appears that only steps 1,3 and 4 are necessary to get a single poly imported into FSET
More data pre-processing may be required in QGIS in order to save out multiple polys individually (time and effort=sadness) or possibly there's a way that each individual poly can be automatically saved out separately?
 
SOLVED:
It can be done by the following:
1. Dissolve all the individual lines into one single line.
2. Vector>geometry tools>Multipart to singleparts.
3. Save as kml from within QGIS (WGS84, Geometry=Automatic)
4. Import resulting kml into GEPro.
That resolves into a range of individual polylines each representing a contiguous piece of coastline :)
Thanks Dick
 
Hi Kevin.

Many thanks for sharing the solution. Glad it's working.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top