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Google Earth - A GPS Waypoint Manager
Authored by: syzygies on Jan 31, '06 08:49:26AM

I have a working solution; I'll wait until it's more stable to post it. Basically, the .kml format as written by Google Earth is too whacky for GPSBabel to decode successfully, even though this format is ostensibly supported. However, it's a pretty easy Perl script to strip out the essential information and write a barebones .gpx file, which many programs including GPSBabel can transfer to devices such as a Garmin.

Programming Perl for this is a distinct pleasure. In contrast:

I've gone slightly mad trying to manage hierarchical folders in Google Earth's "Places" left panel. Folders spring open at the slightest provocation, and hop over their intended target when one's goal is to instead move one folder into another. I've had the best luck with wide left arcs, but I truly do not know what obscure sign language is wanted here, and I often want to stab a ball point pen into my display. I can calmly use even a dreadful language like AppleScript, so this isn't my basic temperament. Something is very wrong here.

There was one a gag Mac app (back in 1984) that looked like a system error "bomb" alert, but any attempt to click "ok" just caused the dialog to squirt over somewhere else on the screen. I haven't thought of that gag app in two decades, but this part of the Google Earth interface reminds me of it.

I have heard that Google is enamored with Python. If they've got religion, it will be a long time before they can convince themselves this even needs a fix.



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