South Florida Population and Features on Google Earth

 In our final week of Computer Cartography, we were tasked with preparing data for making an interactive Dot Density map and map tour in Google Earth of Southern Florida. Some of the learning outcomes of this week's lab were creating and sharing a KMZ map and creating and sharing a KMZ tour. We learned how to navigate in Google Earth Pro such as image overlaying, organizing layers and adding Placemarks to our map and recording and saving tours in Google Earth Pro.

I have shared with you a screen shot of the interactive map I made in Google Earth. For creating this map, I used ArcGIS Pro and Google Earth Pro. In ArcGIS Pro I used the symbology tool to symbolize the surface water layers. Then in the Geoprocessing pane I selected the Layer to KML tool. I used this tool to convert the surface water layer to a KMZ file. Once completing the data in ArcGIS Pro I downloaded all the KMZ files to Google Earth. The legend needed to be added as an image overlay in Google Earth. I adjusted the legend to the size I felt best complemented the map. Once the legend was in place I created a folder from the add submenu to place all my layers in and saved them there. After creating the interactive map that you see here, I then created a Google Earth Tour. I started with first adding Placemarks to the desired locations, zooming in to the view I wanted. Once all the placemarks were added I recorded the Tour choosing how long to stay at one spot and moving the view around to see more area. Once the recording was done, I saved my Tour of South Florida. It was a lot of fun working in Google Earth and creating a Tour. However, I did struggle with a smooth transition between locations, I found Google Earth to be a bit glitchy and the Tour looking very shaky. I recorded a few times to help the transition be better. I definitely need more practice, but I'm on my way to making some top-notch Tours!