Google’s weird support for KML

KML is a standard XML format used to describe geographic data. It’s been owned by Google ever since they bought the company who originally developed Google Earth. So you’d think they’d have great support for KML in their products, right? I thought so as well until the other day when I was asked about a problem with some of the KML from my site. So here’s a summary of how different Google products cope with KML.

Google Earth – As you’d expect, Google Earth has full support for KML

Google Maps Javascript API – Using the KmlLayer class, it’s possible to load up KML files from anywhere on the web. There are some limitations on file sizes and not all of the features of the KML file format are supported, but for simple points and polygons it works perfectly well.

Of course, not everyone is a programmer, so using the Javascript API is not really an option for a lot of people. Unfortunately this is where things get messier…

Custom Maps (Maps Engine) – If you try to create a custom map in the new Google Maps, importing from KML is not even an option (the user interface says ‘Google Engine Lite’, so maybe if you pay some money to Google you’ll be able to import KML), which means you have to switch back to…

Custom Maps (Classic) – This claims to support importing KML. My experiments suggests it copes with KML files containing points (up to a fairly small maximum size), but I couldn’t get it working with files containing polygons.

Fusion Tables – Hidden in a corner of the web, is Google Fusion Tables. Basically it’s a spreadsheet with maps and has always seemed like a cool piece of technology but it hasn’t been pushed by Google much. But it seems Fusion’s support for KML is much better than either of the Custom Maps options. Points and polygons worked for me.

What I find weird is that all the web based technologies above are produced by a single company and all do pretty much the same thing, take a KML file and display it on a map, and yet they all clearly use completely different code. Maybe it’s time for some consolidation there?

Bing Maps – If none of the Google options work for you, maybe Bing Maps will do the trick. Points and polygons seem to work, with a couple of restrictions. There’s a fairly low limit on the maximum file size and the Import button only seems available in Internet Explorer.

No doubt there are other options, so let me know if you find any better alternatives.