Workflow

Workflow

The GEOrgET workflow can be divided into three main phases which are best undertaken in this order:

• Transformation;
  
• Editing; and
  
• Production.

Transformation

Raw nmea files are transformed into corresponding kml files. Options that can be set for transformation are:

• Sample rate; and
  
• Time zone.

Kml files produced in this stage will be named after the original nmea file and contain:

• A Folder with all of the track Points all of which are formatted not to be visible, but which can be read by GoogleEarth to provide altitude and speed profiles;
  
• A balloon with the track summary (date and time travelled, travel time and break, distance, altitude differences absolute and as a percentage of distance travelled, grades of steepness);
  
• A Placemark ("Path") with all of the points visible and editable; as well as
  
• Two further Placemarks for the Start and Finish of the Track.

Gpx files can also be imported. If time and elevation data are provided, they will be included in the imported file.

Editing

At the start of this phase the Path can be edited and saved in Google Earth. This edited file may need to be processed in GEOrgET in one or more of the following ways:

• Producing a congruent Path and Points. A file in which the Path has been edited will still contain the old Points folder with outdated data. Congruence ensures that the data from the Path updates the data in the Points Folder. A congruent Path can be exported to the gpx format.
  
• Reversing the Path wile preserving the time relationships between points. This function also reverses the points in the Points Folder;
  
• Joining Paths, which will also update the data in the Points Folder;
  
• Resetting the time zone, if necessary, or resetting the starting time;
  
• Adding photo locations to the file as a separate folder.

In the editing phase the user can introduce features such as Rivers, Lakes, Shorelines and Islands into the kml file in GoogleEarth.

Production

Finally, the edited data can be used to produce two types of imagery:

• GoogleEarth tours, which can be loaded into GoogleEarth directly, or played on a website (requires the end-user to have installed the GoogleEarth plugin for their browser);
  
• Contoured and shaded maps (require corrected SRTM data) with track details, special features (see above), and cities (requires cities database). To draw any maps, Imagick must be installed.