Google Earth Scouting

If you've never tried Google Earth, or even if you've used it a lot before, this page is for you.

Google Earth is a fantastic application that lets you look at the earth from above, and you can browse to anywhere on earth - yes, the whole earth - in 3D. In the cities its detailed enough to see details of buildings and cars, while other areas are less detailed.

Why are we telling you about it? Because we're trying to collect locations of all the Scout halls and campsites in South Africa. You can see what we've collected so far. We've made a start, but we need your help!

How to view Scout locations all over South Africa:

  • In the Google Earth menu choose: Add >> Network Link
  • Use any name, and enter http://www.apolix.co.za/scout.kmz as the Location.

How to add your own Scout location:

  • Find your location using Google Earth
  • Add your placemarks, and make sure that you sort them into their own folder.
  • Right click on that folder and click "Save As..." - this will generate a *.kmz file that contains all your placemarks.
  • Email the file to , so that we can add your links for others to see. Make sure your email includes details like which District and Area you are in.

How to download and install Google Earth:

You can get all of this from http://earth.google.com. The installer is about 11 MB and it requires Windows XP or 2000, 128 MB of RAM, 500 MHz CPU (more details on the website.)

What if your Scout Hall isn't there:

Don't complain, we don't know everything! Please send us your placemark. And if there's a mistake, let us know by email too.

Where to discuss this:

Visit the Scout Forum and look for "Google Earth" under "Forum Topics". It's on the "Websites and Webmasters" page.

 

be prepared...