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Use of Google Earth to disseminate spatial irrigated soils information: A case study in South-eastern Australia
Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org
Citation: Computers in Agriculture and Natural Resources, 4th World Congress Conference, Proceedings of the 24-26 July 2006 (Orlando, Florida USA) Publication Date 24 July 2006 701P0606.
Authors: J.W. Hornbuckle, E.W. Christen
Keywords: GIS, Soil, Google Earth, Informatics, Australia, Irrigation
This paper outlines a distribution method for spatial irrigated soils information through the
commonly available web based Google Earth™ application. This method allows anyone with an internet
connection to assess spatial information freely and easily as an overlay feature in Google Earth. A total of
approximately 325 000 acres of spatial soil information in the irrigated regions of the Murrumbidgee and
Coleambally Irrigation Areas in south-eastern Australia have been made available as Google Earth overlays.
Discussion of conversion of the spatial soil information to geo-referenced Google Earth .kml files is
described in detail. This allows users to simply download an overlay .kml file which automatically appears
as a geo-referenced overlay in Google Earth. The ability to add reference information using HTML tags is
also described which can be used to show vertical profile descriptions of soils, typical properties associated
with those soil types and visual images. Users can then identify their soil types either using GPS reference
points or by using the Google Earth virtual earth satellite imagine to identify visually the particular area they
are interested in.