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February 2, 2009
Google Earth 5 - Record Tour Mode Features
[UPDATED] Another major new feature in Google Earth 5 is the new Record Tour feature. This is NOT recording video. Instead it is a major new capability for GE 5 that lets you record and play back scripted KML sessions. This means you can record things you want to show to a KML file, pass the KML file around and let someone else view it with their GE 5. This is way better than a video because you have the full resolution fidelity for a way smaller file than a video. And, there's a lot more under the surface here than what you might think at first glance.
I've created a quick demonstration recording. The first thing you'll notice is that I've also recorded a voice narration to my playback. You start by clicking on the "movie camera icon", or selecting "Add->Tour" from the menus. Notice the "microphone" button next to the "record" button. When recording, the record button turns red and a counting timer appears.
When you select the "microphone" gadget, it will record your voice and record your movements in Google Earth. (NOTE: you can add a narration after you record a movement session as well). The other thing you should notice is very exciting to me: while the tour is playing back, you can reach with the mouse and click and drag your view (NOTE: only if you drag the ground, not the sky) to look in a different direction than the playback! This is just one example of why the Record Tour is more powerful than a video. Before I go further, download this Grand Canyon tour 
(with narration - only 1.1 Mbytes). You may have to open the "Grand Canyon Tour" folder and find the record tour - then double-click it to start the playback. Here's a screenshot of the tour in action:
One thing you can play with is speeding up, slowing down, or going backwards with the playback (at the expense of making my voice sound even funnier than normal!). Just click on the speed buttons on either side of the "Play" button in the record tour panel. Also, you'll notice I've included a couple of placemarks which I opened during the recording. They also open during the playback. Very useful for illustrating a tour!
[UPDATE: Google has put up a post about historical imagery with some video of example tours. You can also download KML of the tours they show so you can play them in GE 5. Try this tour where they show different historical imagery of stadiums in Philadelphia during playback.]
Here are some other possibilities with the new touring:
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Flight Simulator - You can record and play back sessions in the flight simulator!
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Historical Imagery - You can record selecting different dates in the historical imagery slider showing different imagery.
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Placemark control - record opening and using placemarks
There are many other possibilities including automatically playing back a GPS track, or how about adding music to your recorded tour? You may have to delve into the KML code to take advantage of more advanced features. Here's the new documentation on Record Tour at the KML documentation site. There are a lot of possibilities with Record Tour.
Posted by FrankTaylor at February 2, 2009 6:35 PM
Comments
Posted by: Alsay at February 3, 2009 4:06 AM
I found a bug in the traditional "Play Tour" mode. I have a series of placemarks with pop-up balloons, each showing a photo. I have the placemarks arranged:
folder
-p1
-p2
-p3
subfolder
-p4
-p5
-p6
etc.
I check the entire branch and start the tour. In the past, GE would go from one placemark to the next, pausing to display the balloon before moving on. Now, when GE gets to a subfolder, instead of diving in and working each placemark, it simply moves up into the air, looking straight down to show all the placemark icons for that subfolder, then moves on to the next placemark that is not in a subfolder.
This bug was not in the previous version of GE. I expect that it'll be fixed in the next release (once they know of it).
-Ernie
Posted by: Ernie at February 3, 2009 1:34 PM
Wow! You do indeed get a combination of the interaction that the creator of the tour recorded and real time interaction; try playing with the sun settings while the Grand Canyon tour is playing. Totally blew me away, to be honest...
Posted by: peSHIr at February 3, 2009 2:18 PM
Example flyby through Grand Canyon with JGeils music in background.
http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1199401#Post1199401 , this feature is going to produce some fantastic viewing content
Posted by: jpwade_bsu at February 3, 2009 7:25 PM
Hi
I captured and uploaded your Grand Canyon tour.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkHWiR4Sau8
Please use it for embedding.
Posted by: hwtnv at February 4, 2009 11:33 PM
Hey,
I have a question concerning the tour when you make it with the flight simulator. I was wondering if it is possible to edit it with Windows Movie Maker, or simply edit it in any way.
Feedback would be much appreciated!
Posted by: Eddie at February 12, 2009 9:01 PM
can we locate lost cellphones by google earth 5?
Posted by: jorge at February 17, 2009 6:11 PM
When I open Google Earth 5.0 my mic switches from "rear" to "front" mic. Control Panel > sounds and audio devices > audio > sound recording volume (volume). My mic defaults to "rear" but when I open Google Earth 5.0 my mic goes to mic (right). How may I change this in Google Earth 5.0? Thanks Don
Posted by: DontheDandi at February 20, 2009 2:13 PM
I am having trouble applying a sound overlay to a recorded tour. When applying recording the music, it only records for two minutes then stops. how do i record for the entire duration of my tour?
Posted by: Paul at May 4, 2009 8:47 PM
How are you adding the music and what is its length? I recommend reading the tutorial for adding sounds to Tours using KML:
http://code.google.com/apis/kml/documentation/touring.html#sound
Posted by: Frank Taylor 
at May 5, 2009 8:11 AM
I am a teacher and my students are doing a Google Tour for a project. Some of them are having problems - when they hit 'record' to record their tour, their pins are being deleted. I have no idea where this is coming from as I am fairly new to Google Earth 5. Is there something I can tell them to do first to make sure their work won't be deleted. Thanks!
Posted by: Betsy Barr at December 22, 2009 9:47 AM
Can someone please help me convert my recorded tour so that I can post the url on facebook or even youtube with a facebook link???
Posted by: Loz Braiden at April 5, 2010 11:09 AM
Is it possible to convert the tour in movie format?
If not how would you guys recommend capturing it?
Posted by: zrak at April 9, 2010 11:19 AM
Try as I might, I cannot make the narration tool work. I play back the tour with the recording console on top. I press record, then microphone, and do a blurb. When I end the tour, I press record again and it plays back, without sound. I can hear my narration in the headset so I know the mic is working. I've tried saving it anyway, converting to a kmz file and playing, but it still doesn't work. I've tried all sorts of combinations with just pressing the mic button, holding mic button down, starting it first or second, etc.... Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong? Is it that I'm using XP? HELP!
thanks.
Dan
Posted by: Dan at April 29, 2010 3:31 PM
I love the new record feature and web api. I tweaked around with it and found one way to create a smooth video path without coding. I drew a path and set the altitude to 16m and "relative to ground". Then I set the paths opacity to 0 so it was invisible. Just play the path and record as it goes. Here is the GE tour of our hike down the Grand Canyon http://www.thismarvelouslife.com/2010/05/3d-google-earth-tour-of-our-hike-in-the-grand-canyon/
Posted by: Tim Luukkonen at November 14, 2010 1:39 PM
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can i record a tour in actual video format? or perhaps convert the KML file into MP4 or other video formats and put it in youtube or some other video sharing site?