Hi all,

 

I'm try to find out if there is a way to create an overlay on Google Earth, showing my FS flight history.  For example, if I did a flight from KJFK to EGLL, i would like Google earth to show a line connecting the two airports.  Then, if I departed EGLL for OMDG, another line would show.  Eventually, there would be a many lines connecting many airports.  

 

Any ideas?

There's a free utility called "FS9 Data Utility" that will log your lat,lon,alt to a text file at specified time intervals, you can paste those values into a GE .kml and then open that in GE to see your track. It works with FSX too (and P3D I presume) since it uses FSUIPC to connect to the sim. Not the most elegant solution but it works if you're unable to find anything else. It would be up to you to merge each flight into one huge .kml for GE. You should be able to find it in the file library, if not here I'm sure flightsim.com has it.

 

Here's an example I did a few years back:

 

http://cat-tamer.com/flightsim/atchmnts/KMYL-KMSO_Cit_XLS.kml

I am mapping my flights in Google Earth using the process below.  It looks like a lot of steps but after a few flights it becomes very quick and easy,

 

1. Start FSX.
2. Run Plan-G with Breadcrumb Trail logging enabled (File > Options >User Aircraft > Breadcrumb Trail > Log Trail).
3. Connect Plan-G to FSX ('Connect' button in top menu ribbon).
4. While you are flying Plan-G will create an IGC file in C:\Users\YourName\Documents\Plan-G Files\Trail.  The file name will incude the ICAO code where you started.  If you switch aircraft or stop/start the flight there will be more than one file with the ICAO code.
5. At the end of the flight disconnect Plan-G to stop logging the trail.
6. Run GPSBabel (download from gpsbabel.org).
7. Input file names: Select the relevant files in C:\Users\YourName\Documents\Plan-G Files\Trail.  Use Ctrl-Click to select more than one file.
8. Output file name: Enter a file name of your choice.  Tip: Before clicking on the OK button highlight the name and press Ctrl-C to copy it; you will need it in a few moments.
9. Click on OK and GPSBabel will convert your IGC file(s) into a KML file.
10. Open Google Earth and load the KML file.
11. Google Earth will name the imported data as 'GPS device'.  Right-click on 'GPS device' and rename it to your file name (or whatever else you want to call it).