Download KML File?

Is there a way to download a KML file of member address that I can import into Google Earth?

If anyone has heard about the forest fire in Alaska that has just gone over 100,000 Acres, that's affecting our ward. I've got a download of the fire perimeter that I loaded in GOogle earth, and it would be convenient if I could overlay a ward map too.

Your ward or stake priesthood leader will have access to the CDOL website. There, they can download a KMZ file of your ward and/or stake boundaries.

You can download something pretty close from maps.lds.org.

However, depending on how much the clerks kept on top of it, the locations listed may be suspect.

Mikerowaved wrote:Your ward or stake priesthood leader will have access to the CDOL website. There, they can download a KMZ file of your ward and/or stake boundaries.

Where in the CDOL can I download the KMZ of the boundaries? I can't find it.

russellhltn wrote:You can download something pretty close from maps.lds.org.

However, depending on how much the clerks kept on top of it, the locations listed may be suspect.

I looked in there, but all I could find was a place to download a .csv file, which I don't believe is compatible with google earth at all.

bballrob wrote:Where in the CDOL can I download the KMZ of the boundaries? I can't find it.

Pull up your stake in the CDOL. Up near the top line is "Unit Boundary Forms/Maps". That opens a new window. One of the options there is a set of boundaries.

For some reason it's not working for me in IE11, but works fine in Chrome.

bballrob wrote:I looked in there, but all I could find was a place to download a .csv file, which I don't believe is compatible with google earth at all.

There are tools to allow you to convert it.

russellhltn wrote:For some reason it's not working for me in IE11, but works fine in Chrome.

It works for me in IE11, FF, or Chrome.

russellhltn wrote:

bballrob wrote:I looked in there, but all I could find was a place to download a .csv file, which I don't believe is compatible with google earth at all.

There are tools to allow you to convert it.

Sweet. I found one. Thanks for all your help. This has given me exactly what I wanted.

bballrob - which tool did you use? I downloaded the file from CDOL but when I converted it from kmz to kml (and I even tried converting to shp) all I could get were pushpins for the meetinghouse locations and no unit boundaries.

I use a MacBook Pro laptop computer. I did a search and was able to find a program called KMLCSV converter. It was very easy to use and convert the CSV file into a KML file.

aclawson wrote:I downloaded the file from CDOL but when I converted it from kmz to kml (and I even tried converting to shp) all I could get were pushpins for the meetinghouse locations and no unit boundaries.

Why convert it?

Where did you find the csv? The only option I have is to download a kmz

aclawson wrote:bballrob - which tool did you use? I downloaded the file from CDOL but when I converted it from kmz to kml (and I even tried converting to shp) all I could get were pushpins for the meetinghouse locations and no unit boundaries.

To convert a KMZ to KML, you can either open it with Google Earth and save it again as a KML, or even easier, just change the file extension from KMZ to ZIP and it will open with your favorite compression tool. There you will find one (or more) KML files.

aclawson wrote:Where did you find the csv? The only option I have is to download a kmz

Unit boundaries can be downloaded from the CDOL as a kmz file. It can be used in Google Earth without conversion.

Member's locations can be downloaded from maps.lds.org as a csv file. It has to be converted before used in Google Earth.

Ok, so I did that right, but when I loaded the KML into QGIS as a vector layer I have no shapes, only dots for the meetinghouses.

aclawson wrote:Ok, so I did that right, but when I loaded the KML into QGIS as a vector layer I have no shapes, only dots for the meetinghouses.

If you downloaded a 'csv' from CDOL and then converted it to KML then it makes sense that you would just have the meetinghouses. The only 'csv' export from CDOL is the export of your search results which would have the meeting house addresses.

I downloaded the KMZ file (there are no KML files in CDOL). ArcView Explorer correctly inputs and parses them but unless you buy the commercial version you can't do very much with it. The various KMZ->KML tools gack on the KMZ file and if you extract the KML I only get the single points with no shapes.

Since the KMZ files can be generated by a script it would be extremely useful if the SHP files were also generated by script and published for download.

aclawson wrote:I downloaded the KMZ file (there are no KML files in CDOL).

That's partially correct. The KML file is simply compressed in the KMZ.

aclawson wrote:ArcView Explorer correctly inputs and parses them but unless you buy the commercial version you can't do very much with it. The various KMZ->KML tools gack on the KMZ file and if you extract the KML I only get the single points with no shapes.

I also played with various KML-->SHP tools and found they did not do well converting the polygon data. That data is definitely there, as I've loaded them as arrays in MathCad and played with them there. You can also see them if you open the KML file in a text editor. Makes sense, since Google Earth displays the boundaries correctly. Is it possible the KML file structure has evolved slightly to throw some of these older conversion tools off?

The KML file structure has indeed possibly changed. So far it seems that my options are to either spend lots of money to buy a copy of ArcView or scrap the efforts.