Google Earth

Hi Prasad,

The files do include Midge and Shelly.

I'm sorry you didn't get a satisfactory reply back in October. I will make sure that Debby knows in future to pass technical questions on to the team I work in.

Best regards,

Graham

Hi

I am new to this google thingy and I am seeing 4 separate tracks is that correct? I must say I find this fascinating being able to track these birds via my laptop

Mike

Hi,

Yes, there are four routes for the ospreys. It's amazing isn't it.

Graham

You can also tarck the Mull White-tailed Eagles. Of course they don't migrate but it is fantastic to see their dispersal.

Just add

http://www.rspb.org.uk/kml/mulleagles.kml

There is also a Finnish osprey you can track its autumn journey by  'adding' this URL

http://www.luomus.fi/info/maps/saaksi_jukka_2010_syksy/kml.php

into Google Earth

and on its winter grounds 

http://www.luomus.fi/info/maps/saaksi_jukka_2010_talvi/kml.php

The great thing about the Finnish bird is that the dates of each location are show. It is a great feature. I had one of the Mull eagles flying over my house but i have no idea when it was. That would be good to have for the RSPB birds!!

presumably they will change the URL (if that is the correct word) in when it heads north.

You can keep see details of the autumn migration

http://www.luomus.fi/english/zoology/satelliteospreys/jukka/autumn2010.htm

and keep up to date here

http://www.luomus.fi/english/zoology/satelliteospreys/jukka/winter2010.htm

There are lots of birds being tracked right now, Hobbies and Amur Falcons which would be fantastic to watch on GoogleEarth but so far these three are the only ones i know about.

Thanks RSPB and the tech team!

Hi Prasad,

I have added the dates to the mull eagles and osprey kml files. Please refresh in Google Earth and you should see that there is now both a route and a set of points for each bird.

Let me know how you get on.

All the best,

Graham

Graham, very many thanks for getting this working again.  

I think it’s a plus to have the dates (by the way if anyone doesn’t want to see them, all you need to do is untick the Points folders).  If you are able to switch to a shorter date format e.g. 04 Feb 2011, it might make things look less busy when a bird is staying in one area.

A couple of other points:  

I understand Altitude is one of the parameters held in the .kml file for each point. The “old” version of tracking on GE, prior to last December, used these to give an impression of altitude, if you zoomed in close to the ground. Now it doesn’t – the routes appear flat on the ground and sometimes go through mountains! I suspect the solution lies in the Altitude tab within Properties – the default is now “Clamped to ground” when I suspect it was previously “Relative to Ground” – could that be changed?

As an example, these 2 shots show osprey Mallachie passing an iron ore mine in the Sahara

Clamped to ground (oops!!)

Relative to ground (better!)

While fiddling about within Properties, I found I was able to draw new sections of route in the applicable colour – should this be protected as far as we users are concerned?   

Regards, Sue

P.S. Your work has been appreciated far and wide - even in Finland!    

Hi Sue,

Thanks for notifying us about the altitude. This has now been resolved.

All the best,

Graham

Absolutely fantastic. Thanks.

please could someone help me.  I have downloaded google earth and the link to watch sadly only Rothes now. The last date I have showing is 30th January. I have tried refreshing it and have a 12 hour update as told

Has something happened or is it something I am doing wrong.  thanks is advance for any advice.

KAZ