Google Earth to BSB / KAP

[dacust]

Paul,

I'm using the polygon method to create charts of the lake I frequent. Works beautifully except for one thing.

When I did a small area to test it out, it said it would do 69 charts. When it got almost done, it slowed down dramatically.

Here are the times and the # of charts done each minute

       Charts     Chart
Time   Created    Range
7:07      3        1-3
7:08      8        4-11
7:09      9       12-20
7:10      9       21-29
7:11      8       30-37
7:12      8       38-45
7:13      9       46-54
7:14      7       55-61
7:15      0
7:16      1       62
7:17      1       63
7:18      0
7:19      1       64
7:20      1       65
7:21      0
7:22      1       66
7:23      1       67
7:24      0
7:25      1       68
7:26      1       69

==>GE2KAP.log

I'm thinking it is a memory issue. But, since ge2kap is running, I can't bring up perfmon to see.

What I was planning to do was make a polygon for the entire lake and let it run for a day or two to create the thousands it would take for my lake.

-dan

[phiggins]

Yes, I have noticed that also. I have looked into in great detail thinking perhaps we were running run of resources or had a memory leak. But now I believe the GE itself has some sort of throttle that slows it down after a lot of requests. Debateable ... but.. here is my solution...

The only way I have found to get out of this is to cancel GE and restart it. Then you have to restrat GE2KAP and execute the same KML file again. It will find that you have already created the first chart already and will ask you if you want to overlay it. It will also present a checkbox that says "Do this for next xx charts in this set." If you check that checkbox and reply NO it will skip all the charts you have created already and start with the next one and it will be going at the fast speed until the next slowdown.

[dacust]

Originally Posted by phiggins

Yes, I have noticed that also. I have looked into in great detail thinking perhaps we were running run of resources or had a memory leak. But now I believe the GE itself has some sort of throttle that slows it down after a lot of requests. Debateable ... but.. here is my solution...

The only way I have found to get out of this is to cancel GE and restart it. Then you have to restrat GE2KAP and execute the same KML file again. It will find that you have already created the first chart already and will ask you if you want to overlay it. It will also present a checkbox that says "Do this for next xx charts in this set." If you check that checkbox and reply NO it will skip all the charts you have created already and start with the next one and it will be going at the fast speed until the next slowdown.

The kill and restart won't help much as that means I'd have to restart every 10 minutes. I'd like to let it run overnight. But, even if I have to babysit, it's doing a great job in less than 1% of the time it'd take me to do it by hand!

If I get a chance, I'll set up another monitor on my machine, move the perfmon over there and watch it while it runs. I bet it's hitting the disk cache.

-dan

[phiggins]

This slowdown problem is discussed on the GE Help forum:

Google earth 6.0 is slow..anyone else finding this?? - Google Earth Help

Seems there is no solution yet.

I tried all the suggested things like turning off Places and Photos, water surface, the Lan Settings. even dropped back to V5.2 and still had the problem (also happens on V6.0 and V6.1).

[phiggins]

After rereading that forum, it seems these people were having the slowdown right away, not after so many accesses. So I don't think its our problem.

The more I search on the problem the more I am convinced there is some sort of limit we are reaching and its turning on a throttle. The Google Maps API has such a throttle.

Also, when I run the same script over and over recreating the charts each time, it slows down in the same place everytime and its not a gradual slowdown. It happens whether the data is cached or not.

I had the performance monitor on and its not using hardly an CPU or memory.

Wwe may be stuck with this limitation.

[dacust]

Originally Posted by phiggins

After rereading that forum, it seems these people were having the slowdown right away, not after so many accesses. So I don't think its our problem.

The more I search on the problem the more I am convinced there is some sort of limit we are reaching and its turning on a throttle. The Google Maps API has such a throttle.

Also, when I run the same script over and over recreating the charts each time, it slows down in the same place everytime and its not a gradual slowdown. It happens whether the data is cached or not.

I had the performance monitor on and its not using hardly an CPU or memory.

Wwe may be stuck with this limitation.

Hmmm. You think there might be a way to fake it out? Have the process start another copy of itself and end. Could look at the rate they are being created, and when that dramatically slows down, respawn. I have no idea how your program is structured, so it may not be something you could do easily. I'm just thinking out loud.

I'm going to just start a large area and let it run overnight and see how it does.

Thanks,

-dan

[HappySeagull]

I'm trying the chart overlay on XP but keep having this error at the end
"Error: Unable to create chart

Error: Unable to find Google Earth - New Image Overlaywindow.
Error: Saving datum failed. Please try again. "

partial log is:

09:41:28 SaveDTM Maximizing GE window
09:41:28 Bringing window:Google Earth to the foreground
09:41:29 SaveDTM Building an array of window handles
09:41:29  SendKeysToWindow:Google Earth DELAY=200 MSG=<ALT><RIGHT><DOWN><DOWN><DOWN><DOWN><DOWN><DOWN><DOWN><DOWN><DOWN><DOWN><DOWN><DOWN><DOWN><DOWN><DOWN><DOWN><RETURN>
09:41:33 SaveDTM Scanning for a new window
09:41:43 Error: Unable to find Google Earth - New Image Overlaywindow.
09:41:43 Error: Saving datum failed.  Please try again.
09:41:43 Error: Unable to create chart
  
 Error: Unable to find Google Earth - New Image Overlaywindow. 
 Error: Saving datum failed.  Please try again. 
09:41:43 Calibrate Enabling Create Kap Button
09:41:56 Deleting:C:\tempGEKAP\tempb.bmp
09:41:56 Deleting:C:\tempGEKAP\tempc_foreground.gif
09:41:56 Deleting:C:\tempGEKAP\tempd.tif
09:41:56 Deleting:C:\tempGEKAP\tempe.KAP
09:41:56 Deleting:C:\tempGEKAP\temp_background.bmp
09:41:56 Deleting:C:\tempGEKAP\temp_background.gif
09:41:56 Deleting:C:\tempGEKAP\temp_Get_Calibration_geimage.bmp
09:41:56 Deleting:C:\tempGEKAP\temp_transparent.gif
09:41:56 REMOVE TEMP directory:C:\tempGEKAP RC=0:The operation completed successfully.

everything goes fine right to the end-I can see it all going right up to the "ok" after setting transparency.
I've tried various things but not the right one.
Everything is unchecked in the GEsidebar ...etc...
And just making GE kaps works fine.Maybe its the GE version?5.1.3533.1731 here..

[dacust]

Well, we're off!

3693 charts to create.
Started at 15:46
at 16:32 it had done 31 charts

At the rate it is creating them, it should finish about this time of day on Dec 2nd. That is, baring me killing it because I need the system.

At the fast rate of about 10-11 charts per minute, it would finish in less than 6 hours.

-dan

[phiggins]

dacust,
What lake are you creating charts for, Ontario? From what height, 10 feet?

Yes, I have been thinking along those lines about an automatic restart but its a lot of work. Will give it some thought.

HappySeaGull,
Could you send me the GE2KAP.log and the chart you are trying to overlay. It could be the GE version, any reason you don not want to upgrade to the latest version? My email address is in the Help Problems.

[phiggins]

Dacust,

I think I can implement an automatic restart when GE slows down without too much work.. Can you email me your kml file for testing.

[dacust]

Originally Posted by phiggins

dacust,
What lake are you creating charts for, Ontario? From what height, 10 feet?

Yes, I have been thinking along those lines about an automatic restart but its a lot of work. Will give it some thought.

....

LOL. Lake Allatoona. 300 meters. I spend a LOT of time there exploring and wanted the absolute max detail. Actually I did one at 9000, another at 4500, then the last at 300.

kml is attached below.

Some observations.

Looks like it is exactly 60 charts allowed before slow-down.
60 charts in about 10 minutes on my machine.
The next 60 charts in about 90 minutes.

The charts made do not cover the polygon area exactly. The charts are shifted to the West and to the North. See attachments.

There is no easy way you could deal with this, but last night a coupla hours after I went to bed, java announced that there was an update available. It stayed on the screen the rest of the night, ruining about 200 of the 350 charts it did overnight. But, I think this is just one of the hazards...

It would be cool if, when you see there will be 3000+ charts created, you could name the first one xxxx_0001. That way, they will sort correctly. Makes it easier to delete a block when that becomes necessary.

The sound you use when a chart is done may sound fine on an internal speaker, but on my speakers with sub-woofer, it makes nasty pops. I have to make sure to turn my sound off before starting.

But, overall, I am very impressed with what it does and how smoothly it does it. Very nice. I would be thrilled with it even if you didn't make any more changes at all.

Thanks,

-dan

[phiggins]

Dan,

I nearly have a rudimentary new version of GE2KAP that automatically restarts GE when the response is high but it may be dependent on the version of Google earth. What version of GE are you running? If its not 6.1, please click on the File menu of GE and take a screenshot of it and email it to me so I can send you the new version of GE2KAP to test. Well email even if its not 6.1.

[dacust]

Originally Posted by phiggins

Dan,

I nearly have a rudimentary new version of GE2KAP that automatically restarts GE when the response is high but it may be dependent on the version of Google earth. What version of GE are you running? If its not 6.1, please click on the File menu of GE and take a screenshot of it and email it to me so I can send you the new version of GE2KAP to test. Well email even if its not 6.1.

It's 6.1.0.5001

I just e-mailed you at the address I had for you from a few months ago.

-dan

[phiggins]

OK sent you the new version..

Could someone else who is not on GE V6.1 please post a screenshot of GE after clicking on the File menu like in the attachment. I need to know for the various versions of GE what it looks like. I need to know for V6.0, V5.2 and V5.1 or any strange versions.

Thanks

[dacust]

Paul,

Works good. Not a hiccup in a 2 hour run. Averaged creating 6.5 charts per minute. Woohoo! No more babysitting. I love it.

Only thing was, I had redone the polygon to get more of the river up North and to compensate for the fact that the areas don't line up (so I added some extra margin on the East and South). Now it acts strange.

Originally the area needed 3693 charts at 300 meters. I made the new polygon 350 meters. It said it would do about 2300 charts (?). So, I changed it to 400 meters and it said 2600 charts. I changed it to 500 meters and it said 3200 charts! I changed it back down to 300 meters and now it said 2014 charts. (All numbers except 3693 and 2014 are made up, but somewhat close). So, as I increased the height, the number of charts increased!?! kml attached

I left it at 300 meters to run. It only created charts for a small portion.

I think I will try a large rectangle and let it run overnight.

-dan