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Google Earth Image Overlay


J

Joe90

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Hi People,

Okay, on google earth you have the option to overlay images onto areas of the planet. For me this is useful to see where a cave runs in respect to the overlying land above. It gives you the option to change the Opacity of the overlain image to show more image or more 'earth', which is nice. However I got to thinking and decided to try and remove all the background white of the survey, then overlay it giving a clearer image of the surrounding land. Unfortunately I end up with the the deleted white showing as brickwork (I understand its to show what is gone and whats left in Photoshop) when I overlay to google earth.

My current survey is a TIFF file.

So is it possible to save an edited image in a file type that when overlain wont show the brick image you get on Photoshop of deleted background.
Is there a file type that can achieve this, and if so what is it?

Thanks in advance :)

Joe
 
In a nutshell, PNG-24.

Use 'Save For Web' from within Photoshop and select PNG-24 as the format.
Make sure 'Transparency' is checked.

save_for_web.png

Regards.
MrToM.
 
Then your problem isn't with the file.

Good luck.

Regards.
MrToM.
 
Do you think it just may not be possible on google earth to do so?

I don't really understand how it all works.
 
I'm assuming that your referring to a transparency grid when you say 'brickwork'.

Like this...
Screen Shot 2015-05-18 at 7.33.37 AM.png

If your saving the altered survey image in a .png format, and the transparency grid is still visible when uploaded to Google, the problem should not be the file.

Have you tried saving back to a .tiff?
 
Yes, it was a TIFF file when i started to edit it. So saved it as such again.

I also tried the 'save for web' option helpfully mentioned above by MrTom to no joy.

That's when I noticed my genius plan was missing the genius user and I wasn't actually sure how to achieve my desired goal.
Hence coming here to search out a proper brain in the know, who might be able to help.
 
As MrToM has demonstrated above, a png file obviously works.

I suggest you upload the tiff survey file that your trying to use as the GE overlay (both the original and the one you have altered) so one of our members can take a look at it and/or experiment with it.

You may also want upload the psd file as well.

I'm off to work here in awhile so I may not have the time to get to it until later.
 
It seems MrTom is far better at this than me :clap:

Back to business, I don't seem to be able to upload any pictures. Its giving me a notice that says its an invalid file.

As I'm sure you have become aware by this point, computers like grammar are not my strong point.

Maybe I should give up the armchair caving and stick to going out walking the mountains looking for entrances the old fashioned way.
 
Joe90 said:
...I don't seem to be able to upload any pictures. Its giving me a notice that says its an invalid file...
Click to expand...
Joe90,

Is that here on PSG or in Google Earth?

Regards.
MrToM.
 
Sorry, yes that is onto PSG. It counts the percentage of uploaded data then says invalid file.

Invalid file.jpg

I appreciate it must be hard work to deal with people as incompitant as myself :)

Thanks for you patience
 
No worries.....the site has some funny 'quirks' that are not obvious.

Tif files can be pretty big so.....

See that question mark in the top right hand corner of your image?
Click that and it will tell you the maximum file size for each image format....

...check that your tif file is within the limits.....that error you are getting is a 'generic' error that gets displayed regardless of what the actual problem is....so the file type may be fine but just may be too big to upload.

If thats the case then try as I suggested before and save out to PNG-24...it should be well within the filesize limit for png files.

Failing that, ZIP the image and upload the zip file using exactly the same method as for images....ignore the fact its a zip file and just carry on...it will work.

Regards.
MrToM.
 
MrTom,

Thank you kindly. I have no idea how you managed it, only that your ability far out ways mine.

done.png

If you could explain how you did this for me, in slow and simple lemming terms I would be very appreciative.

Thank you MrTom :clap::clap::clap:
 
No worries.

1. Open the PSD file.
2. Select the 'Magic Wand' tool.
3. Set:
Sample Size = Point Sample
Tolerance = Zero
Anti-aliasing = Unchecked
Contiguous = Unchecked
Sample All Layers = Unchecked

4. Click anywhere white.
5. Hit 'Delete' on your keyboard.
6. Use 'Save For Web' and save as PNG-24, transparency checked.
7. Thats it.

Pretty simple really.

Its fairly harsh edged but it looks pretty good in your image so I wouldn't change it.

If you want to remove any of the legends then I'd suggest doing so on a copy of the image, just so you have an original safe.

You can use the 'Eraser' tool to remove anything getting in the way but this is permanent, better still is to add a 'Layer Mask' and just paint in black on what you don't want.....if you make a mistake just paint over it in white to bring it back....then save out as normal.

Regards.
MrToM.
 
Okay, that's all good. Thanks again for your help.

Lets say I wanted to make the survey lines red to show up better over the color of the land. Whats the easiest way to achieve this?

Edited:

Oh yeah :) I worked it out!
 
Last edited:
Joe90 said:
...make the survey lines red...
Click to expand...
You've probably used one of these techniques anyway but just in case...

Personally I would just add a 'Colour Overlay' layer fx set to red.

Second to that, a new layer above the map filled with red and made into a 'Clipping Mask'.
You could then add a 'Hue Saturation' adjustment layer, set to 'Colorize', to easily change the colour.

You could, for something different, leave it black but add a stroke of say 1px white.....you'd be able to reduce the opacity then and still have it readable.

Just a thought.

Regards.
MrToM.
 
Hi,

I have been trying again on a new survey, and I am coming up with the same issue. I think it may be because when I delete the background, I don't have 'Preserve Transparency' checked.

Is this likely to be why i end up with a background even when deleted and saved for web as PNG 24 with transparency checked?

If so what do i need to do to be able to check that box?

delete.png
 
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