Managing KML network links

Complexity: Beginner Data Requirement: ArcGIS Tutorial Data Setup

A KML network link is a way of publishing geographic data on your server using a compressed form of Keyhole Markup Language called KMZ. KML network links can be consumed by any client that supports KML, such as ArcGIS Explorer or Google Earth.

In ArcGIS Server Manager, you can use the Applications tab to view the current list of network links available on your server. To add network links to your server, you have two options:

• Create a network link from an existing ArcGIS Server map service.
• Publish an existing network link that you used ArcGIS Explorer or Google Earth to create.

Creating a KML network link from a map service

ArcGIS Server supports creating KML network links from existing map services. Each network link that you create is based on the KML capability associated with the map service. This capability is enabled by default on all new map services.

Learn more about the KML capability

You can create KML network links that include both vector and image layers contained in the map service. Vector layers can be rasterized or returned as folders of placemarks within KML.

A network link has several properties to define it, including these:

• Name
• Snippet (short description)
• Description
• Location (URL)

Manager allows you to choose the layers of information to be included in the network link. Network links created in Manager do not include any information about the refresh parameters or the view.

Manager only provides support for creating network links that are based directly on published map services. If you want to create more KML documents or links that are more complex than those provided by Manager--for instance, if you want to include folders of links or set the view for a network link--you can use Google Earth to author KML links that embed the links you've created with Manager. Once you've created an embedded or enhanced link in Google Earth, you can save it as KMZ, then use Manager to publish it back to your server.

How to create a new KML network link from a map service

Follow these steps to create a new KML network link:

Steps:

1. In Manager, click the Applications tab.
2. On the left, click KML Network Links.
3. Click Create Network Link.
4. Specify the name of your link (the name to be embedded in the Name tag in the file and also used as the file name). Optionally, provide a short and long description. The long description allows embedded HTML tags and URLs.
5. Choose the map service for which you want to create a network link. Map services without the KML capability enabled are not available. Check the layers from the service that you want to include in your network link. By default, all layers are checked. Specify how the layers should draw and choose a compatibility mode.
6. Optionally, you can modify the default values for the Refresh and View properties.
7. Click Finish to create the KML network link.

Note:

If you do not set the refresh interval in Google Earth to On Request or After camera stops, data is not retrieved when the network link is first added to Google Earth. If you do not set a view, the bounding box request sent to the KML service is for the default extent of the source map document. This may be a very large area and the data returned will be of very low resolution. It is best to set these two parameters in Google Earth, then save the changes and upload the enhanced network link back to your server using the steps listed below.

Publishing an existing KML network link

In addition to creating a KML network link, you can publish an existing network link file that was created externally, for example, in Google Earth.

Steps:

1. In Manager, click the Applications tab.
2. On the left, click KML Network Links.
3. Click Publish Network Link.
4. Browse to the KML network link (.kmz or .kml) and click Upload. The name of the KMZ or KML file is used to populate the Name column in the list of KML network links.
5. Optionally, click Upload another file to publish another link. Otherwise, click Cancel.

Publishing an existing link in this way copies the KMZ file to the server. The original, local copy of the KMZ is not affected. It is possible to simply copy a KMZ file directly into the http://myserver/arcgis/KML folder. Manager automatically lists the file.