Mapping and GIS Lessons for Poets, Historians, and Scientists: Tools

KML is a file format used to display geographic data in an Earth browser such as Google Earth. KML uses a tag-based structure with nested elements and attributes and is based on the XML standard. All tags are case-sensitive and must appear exactly as they are listed in the KML Reference. The Reference indicates which tags are optional. Within a given element, tags must appear in the order shown in the Reference.

If you're new to KML, explore this document and the accompanying samples files (SamplesInEarth) to begin learning about the basic structure of a KML file and the most commonly used tags. The first section describes features that can be created with the Google Earth user interface. These features include placemarks, descriptions, ground overlays, paths, and polygons. The second section describes features that require authoring KML with a text editor. When a text file is saved with a .kml or .kmz extension, Earth browsers know how to display it.