Export to Google Earth Add-in User Manual

version 3.1

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Export to Google Earth Add-in User Manual

Table of Contents

1 2 3 4 5

Export to Google Earth Add-in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Installing the Export to Google Earth Add-in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Activating and Deactivating the Add-in in Atoll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Using the Export to Google Earth Add-in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Advanced Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

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Export to Google Earth Add-in User Manual

1 Export to Google Earth Add-in

The Export to Google Earth add-in can export items such as sites, transmitters, microwave links, their properties, and coverage prediction plots from Atoll to Google Earth. The Export to Google Earth add-in is developed by Forsk using the standard Atoll API. It is available on demand and can be used with Atoll version 2.5.2 and later.

2 Installing the Export to Google Earth Add-in

Atoll 3.1.0 setup includes the Export to Google Earth add-in, which can be installed at the same time as Atoll 3.1.0. You can, if you wish, install the add-in separately from Atoll using the add-ins own setup program. Installing the Add-in Separately From Atoll To install the add-in using the add-ins own setup program: 1. Run the add-ins setup program. 2. Select an installation folder for the add-in. It is not necessary to install the add-in in the Atoll installation directory. 3. Specify whether the installation should only be performed in the current user profile or for all users. 4. Click Next. The add-in is installed. 5. Once the installation is complete, click Close to exit the setup. Repairing the Already-Installed Add-in The add-ins setup program allows you to repair the already-installed add-in by re-installing it using the installation parameters that you defined when installing it the first time. To repair the already-installed add-in: 1. Run the add-ins setup program. 2. Select Repair Export to Google Earth add-in for Atoll. 3. Click Finish. The add-in is installed again using the installation parameters that you defined when installing the add-in the first time. Uninstalling the Add-in To uninstall the add-in: 1. Run the add-ins setup program. 2. Select Remove Export to Google Earth add-in for Atoll. 3. Click Finish. The add-in is uninstalled. You can also uninstall the add-in through Windows Control Panel.

3 Activating and Deactivating the Add-in in Atoll

Once installed, the add-in is available in the list of add-ins installed with Atoll. To activate the add-in in Atoll: 1. Select Tools > Add-ins and Macros from the menu bar. The Add-ins and Macros dialogue appears. 2. Select the GoogleEarthAddin Class check box. 3. Click Close. The Export to Google Earth add-in icon is available in the Add-in toolbar.

Figure 1: Add-ins and Macros Dialogue in Atoll

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Export to Google Earth Add-in User Manual

You can verify the installation details of the add-in by clicking the Details button in the Add-ins and Macros dialogue. You can deactivate add-in in the Add-ins and Macros dialogue. For example, if you clear the GoogleEarthAddin Class check box in this dialogue, the Export to Google Earth add-in icon will no longer be available in the Add-in toolbar.

4 Using the Export to Google Earth Add-in

Once the add-in is installed, the Export to Google Earth add-in icon before using the Export to Google Earth add-in in Atoll. is available in Atoll. You have to install Google Earth

The Terrain layer should be active in Google Earth. Otherwise, the height information exported by the Export to Google Earth add-in will not be correctly interpreted by Google Earth. To run the Export to Google Earth add-in: 1. Click the Export to Google Earth add-in icon (see Figure 2 on page 5). in the Add-in toolbar. The Export to Google Earth dialogue appears

Figure 2: Export to Google Earth Add-in Dialogue 2. Select the items to export to Google Earth: Sites: Select this check box to export the site locations and heights to Google Earth. You can export other site properties to Google Earth as well. For more information, see step 3. You can choose to export the site altitudes as Absolute values or Relative to the Ground. Transmitters: Select this check box to export the transmitter heights, azimuths, antenna beamwidths, mechanical tilts, and activity statuses to Google Earth. You can export other transmitter properties to Google Earth as well. For more information, see step 3. If you are working on a 3GPP Multi-RAT document, you can select transmitters of each technology and their properties separately. When you export site altitudes as relative to the ground, the altitudes of transmitters are also exported as relative to the ground and, therefore, depend on the topology of the map. Microwave Links: Select this check box to export the microwave link heights and activity statuses to Google Earth. You can export other microwave link properties to Google Earth as well. For more information, see step 3. You can select the Fresnel Ellipsoid check box if you wish the add-in to generate and export Fresnel ellipsoids to Google Earth for the exported microwave links. Coverage Plots: Select the coverage prediction plots to export to Google Earth. The list contains all the plots available in the Predictions folder for the current Atoll document.

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Export to Google Earth Add-in User Manual

3. Select site, transmitter, and microwave link properties to export to Google Earth: a. Click the Browse button ( ) next to the Properties box corresponding to Sites, Transmitters, or Microwave Links. The Selection of fields dialogue appears (see Figure 3 on page 6). b. Select the fields you want to export. To select a field to be exported, select the field in the Available fields list and click to move it to the Selected fields list. To remove a field from the Selected fields list, select the field and click to remove it from the Selected fields list. To change the order of the fields, select one or more fields in the Selected fields list and click or to move it up or down in the list. The exported properties will be sorted in the order of the fields in the Selected fields list, from top to bottom.

Figure 3: Selection of Fields to Export to Google Earth c. Click OK. 4. In Save as, enter the name and location for the Google Earth export data storage file created by the add-in. KMZ files are compressed archives that include the KML file containing site, transmitter, and microwave link data, as well as the coverage prediction plots exported in PNG format. You can open KMZ files and access their contents in most compression/zip utilities. 5. Click OK. The selected items are exported to Google Earth. The Export to Google Earth add-in automatically runs Google Earth if installed and sets the focus on the location of the exported items. The selected properties are also exported to Google Earth and can be displayed in tip text inside Google Earth by clicking the desired item in the Places window, or by pressing and holding the Ctrl key and clicking the desired item on the map. The following figures show examples of the export using the add-in.

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Export to Google Earth Add-in User Manual

Figure 4: Sites, Transmitters, and a Signal Level Coverage Prediction Plot

Figure 5: Transmitter Properties

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Export to Google Earth Add-in User Manual

Figure 6: Microwave Link and Fresnel Ellipsoid

5 Advanced Configuration
Some options may be configured through the GoogleEarth.ini file. This file must be located in the Export to Google Earth addin installation folder. The following options are available in the [Options] section: Automatically launch Google Earth after exporting data OpenDocument = 0 or 1 (default value) Default name and storage location for the file created by the add-in DefaultStorage = "C:\TEMP\Atoll.kmz" (example) If you do not specify any name and location in the .ini file, files created by the add-in will be stored under the default name and location: "%USERPROFILE%\Application Data \Google\GoogleEarth\Atoll.kmz". Do not draw tower graphical details representing sites in Google Earth SimplifyTower = 0 (default value) or 1 Radius (in metres) of the polygon that represents transmitters in Google Earth TransmitterSize = 50 (default value) Number of Fresnel ellipsoids to be drawn for microwave links in Google Earth EllipsoidNumber = 2 (default value) Width and height (numbers of pixels) of the maximum texture size supported by Google Earth (see About box in Google Earth) MaximumWidth = 2048 (default value) MaximumHeight = 2048 (default value) More accurate export of coverage plots (coverage prediction overlays in Google Earth might have some overlap) UseAccuracy = 0 (default value) or 1 Width and height (numbers of pixels) of the tile used for the accurate coverage plot export TileWidth = 128 (default value) TileHeight = 128 (default value)

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Export to Google Earth Add-in User Manual

Export to Google Earth Add-in User Manual

version 3.1 22 July 2011

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