Everything in the world seems to point into Google Earth. The problem is that we receive GE KML files coming and going. Client’s send them to us, we send them to crews, we send them to clients and contractors. Generally these get sent to everyone.
I found that everyone seems to have converters for Google Map to Google Earth, Excel to GE, ESRI SHP to GE, you name it. I bet my wife has something that will export one of her Facebook games to GE.
I figured there were numerous options when my VP asked for something to export a KML file to ascii LAT/LON, or even to UTM/SP Grid. I think he’ll take it any way he can get it. I know he’s looking at ME to write it in .NET, but my working with Tekni takes all my personal time, so I need to head this off quickly.
“You know it will cost you more for me to code and debug it, than if we outsourced it. “ I said, “But I know a guy who’ll do it for next to nothing”. Yeah… the look I was getting said he wasn’t too hip on paying anything beyond my salary. “Ok ok, let me go online and try to find something, then we’ll talk about outsourcing”.
After searching the wrong keywords (google and Excel) for half an hour, I found this under “KML to CSV”:
http://freegeographytools.com/2009/online-kml-to-shapefile-converter
These folks have a slough of data outputs. You can Import the file, or paste the KML string. It’s online PHP, and convenient. The output formatting is a bit caste, but very little rework will be needed. It’s free, and there are many options, as well as other programs.
It got me off the hook, and it might help you.
As for using GE with Civil, I still have not seen the scaling fix yet.