NT Visualiser Information and Installation Manual

1. NT Visualiser

The Northern Territory Government (NTG) has purchased the Google Earth Enterprise software suite allowing us to serve NTG spatial data to government users using an intuitive 3D interface. This customised service is called NT Visualiser.

NT Visualiser provides a powerful, user-friendly method for visualising spatial data including: property parcels, roads, and aerial photography. NT Visualiser also includes searching based on NT street addresses and place names.

• NT Visualiser is available without authentication to most users across the Northern Territory Government.

2. Instructions for installation

Getting up and running with NT Visualiser is a 2 step process comprised of the following:

1. Obtain and install the software
2. Run the software and log on to the server

If you have any questions about the process please do not hesitate to call GIS Support on 899 55306/55305.

2.1. Installing the Software

If you have the free version of Google Earth already installed you do not need to remove it, but you should be aware of the licensing restrictions relating the use of the free version at work: http://earth.google.com/products.html

If you have an older version of the Google Earth Enterprise Client (or Keyhole Enterprise Client) you should uninstall that manually before beginning the install of the new version. You may wish to save your existing ‘My Places’ before doing this by right-clicking on them and choosing ‘Save’.

Follow these steps to download and install the software.

• Click on the following link to download the installation file: http://land.visualiser.nt.gov.au/GoogleEarthEC-4.2.205.5730.exe
  
• Note if you are requesting this file from outside the NT Government network you will be prompted for your ILIS username and password.
• External to government access will only work if you have been given the 'NT Visualiser' role in ILIS.
  
• Depending on your browser, you may be offered the choice to ‘Run’ or ‘Run from current location’. If so, choose this option. If the only option is to ‘Save’, then save the file on your Windows Desktop, and double-click on it there when it has finished downloading.
• You should be presented with the following screen:

• Accept the license conditions, choose the ‘Complete’ install, and click ‘Install’. This will install the software in c:\Program Files\Google\Google Earth EC\
• Optionally allow the feedback to be sent to Google by clicking ‘Next’ and ‘Finish’.

2.2. Running NT Visualiser

There will now be a ‘Google Earth EC’ (NT Visualiser) icon in your Windows Start Menu and Desktop. When you run the client it will ask for a Google Earth server to login to. In this box enter the value http://land.visualiser.nt.gov.au and click ‘Login’. You may wish to tick the ‘Always login to this server’ option to prevent being asked this in the future.

Server Select configuration for V4.2

Server Select configuration for V4.0

 

 If you are connecting from outside the NT Government network: you will be asked for your ILIS username and password.

External to government access will only work if you have been given the 'NT Visualiser' role in ILIS.

You may be asked whether you want to use ‘OpenGL’ or ‘DirectX’ mode. OpenGL is the higher-performance, preferred method but will not work on all computers, particularly laptops. If you have any problems running in OpenGL mode, include software crashes or the ‘world’ not appearing correctly then switch to DirectX mode (Tools.. Options.. View tab.. DirectX).

If everything is successful you will be logged in ready to go.. if you have any questions please contact GIS Support on 899 55306/55305

Associating KML and KMZ files to NT Visualiser

Traditionally KML/KMZ files will open up in the free version of Google Earth. What happens when you want to open up the KML/KMZ files in NT Visualiser?

The steps below explain how to change the file associations of KML/KMZ files so that they will open in NT Visualiser. 

1. Go to Windows Explorer
2. click Tools menu
   
3. click folder options
   
4. navigate to the File Types tab
5. In the Registered file types list, locate KML
6. Click Change. The "Open With" window appears ( Figure 1)
   

Figure 1. The Folder Options window (left) and the Open With window (right)

If you have both the free version of Google Earth and NT Visualiser installed, there will be two listings of Google Earth ( as highlighted in the Open With window in Figure 1). Unfortunately, there is no direct way of knowing which instance of Google Earth listed relates back to free Google Earth or NT Visualiser. Select the second Google Earth listing and click OK.Click OK in folder options to exit completely

Open the KML or KMZ file and see where it opens.

If it opens in NT Visualiser -  then the File Association has kept and the selection made was correct.

If the KML/KMZ file has opened in free Google Earth ( no change) - By default, Windows has selected the first listed Google Earth which corresponds to the free Google Earth version.

The best solution is to uninstall free Google Earth and NT Visualiser completely from the PC. Then

1. re-install NT Visualiser first

2. Secondly, install free Google Earth

This ensures that NT Visualiser is the associated program for KMLs and KMZ files and that  the first "Google Earth" reccomended program listed in the Open With window is NT Visualiser.

Overview Map

There is a known problem with Google Earth's overview map where the world map becomes a black box with a thick red cross across its entire window. An erorr message also appears " Fetch of ScreenOverlay failed(Stream0_0)". This error is known to Google but no solution has been documented and no reason as to why it happens.

1. Turn off the Overview Map ( go to View and untick Overview Map). This is the simplest and easiest solution and should be done first. If this works, then all is solved.

2. If the Overview map is turned off and the error still appears, then an overlay image may be saved to the My Places Folder, which is turned on and cannot access its online image. If the check box next to My Places has a dot in it, click on it once to turn off any open items

3. Change the Graphic Mode ( go to Tools/Options/3D View tab) to Direct X. Open GML has been known to cause unknown errors.

Ensure that you have searched the Internet for more recent discussions and solutions to this error message