Google Earth for Real Estate Professionals

E-Learning for the GIS Professional – Any Time, Any Place!

geospatialtraining.com

Course Outline • Module 1: Google Earth Pro Fundamentals

• Module 2: Adding Properties to the Map

• Module 3: Attaching Property Information

• Module 4: Adding Neighborhood Information

• Module 5: Creating Thematic and 3D Maps

• Module 6: Presentation and Communication

• Module 7: Adding Images to the Display

• Module 8: Sharing your Data

• Module 9: Terrain Information

• Module 10: Using Historical Imagery

• Module 11: Taking Advantage of Google Search

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GOOGLE EARTH PRO FUNDAMENTALS

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Module Outline

• Navigation

• Creating Features

• Search

• Places and Layers Panel

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Navigation

• Many ways to navigate

– User interface components

– Mouse

– Keyboard

• Can zoom, pan, tilt, change orientation, rotate

• Demonstration

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Search Panel

• Google Earth recognizes the following search types – City, State

– City, Country

– Number, Street, City, State

– Zipcode or Postal Code

– Latitude, Longitude (Decimal Degrees)

– Latitude, Longitude (Degrees, Minutes, Seconds)

– Free form (Museums in New York City)

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Places Panel • Contains temporary datasets

– Temporary Places folder

– Only used for current GE session

– Removed when you close GE

• Datasets saved to your local computer – My Places

– Persist between sessions

– Right click a layer from Temporary Places folder and select Save to My Places

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Layers Panel

• Contains Google provided datasets

– Created by Google or its content partners

• Always available in GE

• Can’t add your layers to the Layers panel

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Data is Easy to Distribute • All content contained within KML or KMZ file

• Can be distributed via

– Internet

– Network Server

– Email

– Web Services

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ADDING PROPERTIES TO THE MAP

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Module Outline

• Address geocoding

• Adding all your properties to Google Earth using geocoding

• Adding properties manually as points

• Creating land parcels as polygons

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What is Geocoding? • Process of converting physical addresses into geographic

coordinates – Address can’t be added to map without geographic coordinates

– Example: 1202 Sand Wedge, San Antonio, TX = -98.4743, 29.6618

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Rooftop Geocoding

• Also called “point-level” geocoding • Most accurate determination • More accurate for long street segments, cul-de-sacs, or

irregularly spaced addresses • Assigns a geographic coordinate to the actual rooftop of

an address

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Street Segment Geocoding • Assigns latitude/longitude coordinates based on know geocodes at

the intersection of the block or street segment containing an address

• Uses a process of interpolation – Example: If a block runs from 100-200 Main Street, then 150 Main Street would

be approximately halfway between 100 and 200 Main Street

• Most commonly used method at this time

• More accurate in urban areas – Rural areas are less complete

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Main St.

100 200 150

Longitude: -96.3462, Latitude: 20.4521

Geocoding in Google Earth Pro

• GE Pro can import a text file containing a batch set of addresses

• Text file is typically delimited by a comma or tab

• Supported countries – United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Italy, Germany,

Spain

• Each address converted into a Placemark

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Geocoding in Google Earth Pro • Starts with a text file containing addresses

• Address components can be in separate columns or a single column

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Geocoding in Google Earth Pro • Go to File Import

• Find the file and open

• Data Import Wizard

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Some Addresses Won’t Geocode

• Not all addresses will geocode – PO Boxes, Apartments, Suite Numbers

– New Addresses

– Misspellings and typos

• Can repair addresses in Google Earth

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Defining the Address Placemark Icon • Can apply a style template to the features

• Can define

– Name

• Defines how the Placemark will be labeled

– Color

• Icon color

– Icon

• Style

– Height

• Clamp features to ground or set height from a field

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Geocoding Results • Addresses added as Placemarks

• Saved in a KML file

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Demonstration

• Demonstration: Adding Addresses to Google Earth with Geocoding

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Adding Properties Manually • Use the Add Placemark tool

• Click the location of the property in GE

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Demonstration

Styling the Property • Properties can be styled by changing

the icon – Click the icon button to display list of icons

– Can also add your own custom icons

• Increase or decrease size of icon – Use Scale property

• Default is 1.1 (higher number increases size)

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Custom Icons • Can add your own custom icons

• Many available on the web

• Map icons collection http://mapicons.nicolasmollet.com

• KML4Earth http://kml4earth.appspot.com/icons.html

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Creating Land Parcels

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Demonstration

Perimeter and Area of a Parcel • Measurements tab

• Automatically determines perimeter and area

• Can change units of measurement – Feet, miles, meters, etc

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Exercise

• Demonstration: Manually Creating Properties with Google Earth

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ADDING PROPERTY INFORMATION

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Module Outline

• Introduction to info balloons

• Adding text, photos, video, links to info balloons

• Using templates to create info balloons

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Introduction to Balloons • Balloons provide a way of

communicating information about a place to your users

– Attached to Placemarks

– Can include

• Plain text, HTML, photos, video, links to files

• Excellent tool for presenting property information to users

– Pricing, detailed property information, photos, video, your logo

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Adding Information to Info Balloons

• Add information to balloons by editing Placemark – Select Placemark and then Get Info

• Description tab

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Adding a Link to the Info Balloon • The <a> HTML element used to add a link to the balloon

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Adding a Link to a PDF File to an Info Balloon

• Can also link to PDF and other file formats

• Use <a> HTML element

– Provide a URL to the file

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Adding a Photo to an Info Balloon • The <img> HTML element adds an image to the balloon

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Adding Video to an Info Balloon

• Use <iframe> HTML element to add video to an info balloon

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Exercise

• Demonstration: Adding Property Information to Info Balloons

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ADDING NEIGHBORHOOD INFORMATION

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Module Outline

• Demographic information

• Parcel information

• Traffic counts

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Demographic Information • Google Earth Pro includes census demographic

information

• Layers Earth Pro US Demographics

• Various Levels

– State

– County

– Census Tract

– Census Block

• Most current year (2011)

• Projections (2016)

• Age, education, gender, households, income, marital status, vehicle availability

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Demographic Information • Can also create a thematic map from any of the demographic

variables

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Exercise

• Demonstration: Displaying Demographic Data in Google Earth Pro

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Parcel Information • Earth Pro dataset

• Parcel boundaries

• Parcel information

• Layers Earth Pro US Parcel Data

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Traffic Counts

• Google Earth Pro dataset

• Layers Earth Pro US Daily Traffic Counts

• Lists traffic counts by year for that location

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ADDING IMAGES TO THE DISPLAY

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Module Outline

• Overview of adding images to Google Earth

• Add Image Overlay tool

• Defining coordinates for the image

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Adding Images to the Google Earth Display

• Graphic files can be imported to GE as overlays

• Drape across the underlying terrain

• Image file formats include jpeg, bmp, gif, tiff, tga, and png

• You can also set a transparency on the image to see the underlying terrain.

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Add Image Overlay Tool • Use the Add Image Overlay

tool

• Browse to an image file

• GE doesn’t necessarily know where to place the image on the earth

– Need to know bounding coordinates of image OR

– Use the tools to center, rotate, and stretch the image

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Add Image Overlay Dialog

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Add Image Overlay - Location

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Add Image Overlay - Location

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Exercise

• Demonstration: Adding an Image Overlay to Google Earth

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Google Earth for Real Estate Professionals

• 1 Day Self-Paced Online Course - $129.00

• http://geospatialtraining.com – Link to course • Learn how to import all your properties into Google Earth in seconds

• Symbolize your properties with built in real estate icons or custom icons that represent your agency

• Add property information including photos, videos, links to files and websites, sales information, detailed property information

• Display neighborhood information including census demographics, school districts, traffic counts, detailed tax appraisal information

• Provide driving directions to properties

• Email information to clients or place on a web server

• Printing maps

• Embed maps into presentations

• Get terrain information

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ERIC PIMPLER

210.260.4992

GeoSpatial Training Services

eric@geospatialtraining.com

http://geospatialtraining.com

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