NPS GRI DEVELOPMENT OF DIGITAL GEOLOGIC DATA FOR USE IN GOOGLE EARTH

The Geologic Resources Inventory (GRI) is a National Park Service (NPS) Inventory and Monitoring program tasked with producing high quality Geographic Information Systems (GIS) datasets and comprehensive geologic reports for NPS park units with significant natural resources. Recently, the GRI identified a goal of producing a spatial data product for a less technical user that can be viewed and utilized outside of GIS software. Google Earth was selected, as the software is widely used and met several requirements, including being free and easy to use. The GRI team has developed a workflow, including custom tools, for taking the GIS data already produced for NPS units and converting it to KML/KMZ format, creating very minimal overhead to the production of the existing GIS products. The resulting GRI Google Earth dataset, in KML/KMZ format, displays geologic data draped over elevation data and imagery and allows access to the data-rich feature attribute tables contained within GRI GIS datasets. With the addition of screen overlays and Google Earth balloons that were developed to convey data sources, use constraints, and links to additional information about the GRI, the result is a product that is robust, yet easy to use for a wide audience.