Google Earth™ Transparency
Q: When I export a coverage map from HDMapper for Google Earth, how can I make the background transparent?
A: With TAP6.0.2376 or later and a Maintenance Subscription date of March 31, 2011, or later, you can export from HDMapper into the .PNG format which supports transparent backgrounds.
Note that all values in this example are for demonstration purposes only. You should determine appropriate settings for your application.
With previous versions of TAP, any white space around the coverage map exported to Google Earth from HDMapper was shown in the Google Earth image:
You can select the PNG file option from the HDMapper Configuration menu. Click Google Earth, then click the “Write Graphic as PNG file” option to mark it with a check mark:
See other articles for additional information on configuration settings for Google Earth exports from HDMapper.
Now when you export the map to Google Earth, the background will be transparent:
On the control panel to the left of the Google Earth image, click the layer you have added, and use the slider to adjust the transparency of the layer.
To increase the range of the slider bar, right click the layer. On the popup menu, select “Properties:”
On the “Edit Image Overlay” form, use the Transparency slider to increase the maximum opacity. This will enable you to use the first slider bar to adjust the layer on the image:
The transparency afforded by the PNG file format is particularly helpful with contour maps. A contour map with the white background is shown below:
The same contour map is shown exported with the PNG file and a transparent background:
|
|
Copyright 2011 by SoftWright LLC
