Newbie needs help exporting to KML

[kdjacob]

Hello. 

First time poster, just getting started with ArcGIS online.

I found a support page for exporting a layer I made using Map Notes as a KML file. [LINK] 

I get as far as the page for my layer, but I can find no "Export Data button on the Overview tab" so I'm stuck.

(tried to upload ascreen shot of where I get stuck attached but only see a way to upload a video in this forum?)

I would appreciate any help you can provide.

Thanks,

Ken

[kdjacob]

Thank you very much @Anonymous User and @Anonymous User,

Putting "Newbie" in the title of my post is going to become more and more evident as I explain to you what I've learned over the past 24 hours.

Before I do that, I want to give you the Reader's Digest version of what I'm working on because it's pretty cool.

I'm a retired engineer working with a few other volunteers on identifying and mapping pre-colonial Native American stone structures long lost in the forests of northwest Connecticut. I've been using LIDAR and other layers available on ArcGIS online, together with findings and GPS coordinates from on-the-ground work, all in an effort to catalog these discoveries. We've been working with several experts from U-Conn, from our local Native American Center, and other institutions. It's super fun and interesting. I've attached one such stone structure -- what's called a "prayer seat" -- which like other structures is aligned perfectly with various celestial features (e.g. summer solstice sunrise.)

What I'm trying to do in ArcGIS is export points and lines I draw on LIDAR layers in an ArcGIS online map I've created into a format I can use with the GPS apps we use on the ground. It looks like KML is the closest format that you can export from ArcGIS. (A big more arduous is exporting to CSV, then to KML, then to GPX). I have other software for converting KML to GPX, which is what the GPS apps use for import and export.

You can take a look at one area we're working on, and the Map Notes layer I'd like to be able to export as KML at this [LINK] .

Now, back to what I've learned over the past 24 hours about my ArcGIS account. By sharing this it might help others in the future.

It appears that in my newbie-ness I signed up for a "free public account", and that my privileges are highly restricted as a result. (This took multiple phone calls to ESRI and multiple emails to the Learn ArcGIS team).

I've asked the Learn ArcGIS team if creating a 60-day account with them will give me the needed privileges. Once I hear back, I'll update the group here.

Again, many thanks for the help I've gotten here. I feel much closer to the goal line if not yet in the endzone.

Ken

[Anonymous User]

Thanks so much for sharing Ken!! 

I appreciate the time taken to share this with us, this is the kind of stuff that makes me excited about being in the world of GIS 🙂

Good luck!

[Anonymous User]

Hi @kdjacob , 

That is fascinating and well done in a great map for your first go.

What would be a good thing to try and do is open the Lidar in the Scene view, you can do that by clicking on the scene at the top of your portal and choose a local scene, If you have created a custom feature later you can save that into your contents and open it in the scene. 

Note: if is your own Lidar data, you will need to add it to your contents, as you cant add it directly in the scene. 

Have you had a play in ArcGIS Pro, to create your maps and 3D scenes? the maps you can create there can be shared to ArcGIS Online. 

[Anonymous User]

Hi Everyone:

It's Ken, and I'm back under a new Learn ArcGIS account with an update.

I am now able to export my lines and points made in the Map Notes layer of my ArcGIS online map.

(applause)

(applause dies down)

BUT, the exported data does not include elevations, just the (spherical) coordinates of the points.

When I import the KML files (actually, ArcGIS says it's exporting a KML but it's actually a KMZ file, which can create additional steps in getting the data into GPS apps) into the GAIA app, points are automatically assigned an elevation by the app. Lines have to be told in the app to assume elevation data.

In any case, the good news is that there's a reasonably straightforward approach now for getting annotations (points, lines) from an ArcGIS online map into one of the main GPS apps we use for our field work.

In another post here later today, I'll give the exact steps. This final post should be designated at the "solution" to this thread, not the one marked as such now, but I don't know how to undo that. Maybe one of you does.

Sincerely,

Ken

[Anonymous User · Accepted solution]

(First of all, many thanks to the support and assistance provided by this community).

Here is the solution to the original question:

- If you have a "free public account" for ArcGIS Online, you're out of luck. You can't export. I'm using a Learn ArcGIS account, which works. You may need to request a higher "role" from your organization's administrator to get access to the Publish and Export functions needed here.

- In your ArcGIS online map, create a layer called Map Notes from the drop-down menu.

- Add points and lines to your map as you wish. (Personally, no luck exporting Text or Areas.)

- Save your map.

- Save the Map Notes layer by clicking on the three dots for the layer (last item).

- Under the home arrow (top left of map screen) select "Content".

- Click on the Map Notes item in the Content window

- Click on the Publish button

- In the resulting window, click on the Export button, and choose the format you wish. I'm using KML (warning: ArcGIS actually exports KMZ rather than KML.)

- Download the file. If you chose KML or CSV, you'll get a .zip file which when unzipped gives you four files for each type of data: points, lines, areas, text.

- Import the files into whatever program you're using. Warning: the lines and points have no elevation data in them so you'll need to apply that in the program you're using.

I think that's it.

If someone more knowledgable about the workings of this forum than I can change this post to the "accepted solution" I think that would help others find this info in the future. @Anonymous User you might be able to do this as the author of the current "accepted solution".

Sincerely,

Ken