• Which the release of FS2020 we see an explosition of activity on the forun and of course we are very happy to see this. But having all questions about FS2020 in one forum becomes a bit messy. So therefore we would like to ask you all to use the following guidelines when posting your questions:

    • Tag FS2020 specific questions with the MSFS2020 tag.
    • Questions about making 3D assets can be posted in the 3D asset design forum. Either post them in the subforum of the modelling tool you use or in the general forum if they are general.
    • Questions about aircraft design can be posted in the Aircraft design forum
    • Questions about airport design can be posted in the FS2020 airport design forum. Once airport development tools have been updated for FS2020 you can post tool speciifc questions in the subforums of those tools as well of course.
    • Questions about terrain design can be posted in the FS2020 terrain design forum.
    • Questions about SimConnect can be posted in the SimConnect forum.

    Any other question that is not specific to an aspect of development or tool can be posted in the General chat forum.

    By following these guidelines we make sure that the forums remain easy to read for everybody and also that the right people can find your post to answer it.

BGLBoundaries to .kml

Vogel

Vogel

Messages
211
Country
france
Hi Guys,
I don't know if this kind of tool already existed but... I present you with a tool that allows you to generate a kml file to visualize the geographic boundaries of your .BGL files at the nearest LOD / Qmid And/or BGL Placements of library objects. Rather convenient to view in google Earth and find the BGL corresponding to the area on which we work for example...

many thanks to the useful utility of Patrick Germain: BGLViewer (for debugging and inspirate my BGLFile Class's structure), fsdeveloper wiki on BGL format and Sven2157 for is helpfull FSX library objects web catalog: http://fsxsoc.dynamicfxgroup.com

How to use it:
- Works only by "Drag & Drop"! -> Launch the utility and Drag & Drop your BGL files (or the folder) on the tool frame => One or two .KML files will be generated in the folder containing the BGL files.

capture01.jpg

Polygons of areas covered by the BGL of a scene "Blue Sky" Scenery​

What it does:
1 / Generating boundaries as .kml file: BGL_Boundaries.kml
Generates a .kml file of the geographic extent of the areas covered by one or more BGL (s) files. This makes it possible, for example, to view or locate a FSX / P3D Photo Scenery quite easily with google earth and to know which BGL file corresponds to which area.
Supported .BGL file types:
* Field Photo
* Terrain Elevation (Mesh)
* Land Class Land
* Water Class Land
* Land Region
* Season Season
* Density population

capture_BGLboundarie.jpg

Polygons of right of the areas covered by the BGL of a "Blue Sky" Scenery​

2 / Generating Placemarks as .kml file : BGL_Placemarks.kml
Allows you to generate a .kml file of the .BGL files containing Scenery objects's placements of a Scenery. How it works: If the called Scenery objects and 3D models are declared in the BGL(s) tested, the name of the model and the name of the BGL containing it is automatically associated in the description of the "placemark". Or if the placement refers to an object of the standard FSX library, the software will go directly to http://fsxsoc.dynamicfxgroup.com/ to get nformation about the object according to the GUID declared in the BGL (a direct link to the catalog is then added to the placemark's description). The utility will need to access web in order to search for informations, but it's still possible to disable this option in the Settings -> "Get infos from ..." (see image below).
Supported object types:
- for the moment only "Library object".

Capture_07_big.png

Placemark object whose 3D model is included in the BGL of the scenery​

capture05.jpg

Placemark object whose 3D model is included in the standard FSX library and therefore referenced on the dynamicfxgroup website​

bgl_settings.jpg
Icone_Help_small.jpg

Tool Settings​


A short video in order to show how the tool work...​

I'm sure that some will find a use for that tool... ;)

Download Here ->BGL Boundaries to Kml

ps: Of course, there may still be bugs, I tested it on only one scene with Terrain Photo and Terrain Elevation data ...

updated 11/13:
- Add FS9 BGL's placement & Library Objects support

Updated 11/09:
- Add Library Object placemarks support
 
Last edited:
G

GaryGB

Messages
7,450
Country
us-illinois
Hi Vogel:

This seems like it may be very helpful with visualizing LOD extents, and it provides features that are not available in other FS utilities.

I was unable to de-archive the linked *.RAR file because it is in a newer version of the WinRAR file format, and it is not clear whether the currently available trial versions of WinRAR will revert to a 'free' limited feature set version which can still read that newer file format. :yikes:


Would it be possible to provide the linked file above in a ZIP file format archive ...instead of RAR ? :oops:

I believe that may encourage more people to download and test this interesting project. :idea:


Many thanks for your consideration in making this more easily available for us to test and use ! :)

GaryGB
 
Last edited:
caleb

caleb

Messages
455
Country
us-florida
Thanks for making this.

I think that it will come in handy for many developers.

This is a great idea.
 
Vogel

Vogel

Messages
211
Country
france
Hi,
capture04.jpg

Here is a new version of the tool that can generate in addition a .kml file with the placements of Library objects declared in BGL's... I add direct link to the great catalog from Sven2157: http://fsxsoc.dynamicfxgroup.com/ in placemark's description when objects are from FSX base library (to avoid internet access this option could be disabled in settings) could be usefull to view what it looks like or have more informations on it...

capture03.jpg


capture05.jpg

hoping that there are not too many bugs still in ;) ...

-> Download Here BGLBoundaries <-
 
Vogel

Vogel

Messages
211
Country
france
I had to rethink step of "Placemarks" creation by the soft. Indeed, when working on scenery with thousands of objects repeated requests to http://fsxsoc.dynamicfxgroup.com causes too much overload on server in addition to a slowdown of tool work.

Use of local Object Catalog: Object <-> GUID
* So I decided to directly integrate a "catalog" of FSX standard objects that are classified according to their Guid. -> stored in "catalog.xml "
* I added a second object catalog of the same type, in order to reference the objects coming from the installed addons, so I named it with originality: "Addon_Catalog.xml". So in this catalog, it is possible:
-> to add the objects contained in the additional BGL files added to the "Scenery" folder of FSX or P3D. To do this, simply press the "Update Catalog" button on bar menu ... The tool will automatically search for new BGL files located in this directory.
-> Automatically add the discovered objects loaded when dragging and dropping new BGL files on the software. For this, check that the "Add objects infos to Addon Catalog" option is checked in "setting".

New iconography for placemarks:
In order to differentiate objects more easily, I modified the icons associated with placemarks. Thus, at a glance, it will be possible to know if this or that placement refers to an object referenced in the dragged and dropped BGL files (red icon), or contained in the standard FSX library (green icon) or in Addons catalog (yellow icons) or an FS9 format object (blue icon).

Icone_Help_small.jpg

a summary table of the icons used for "placements" and the objects they refer to.
​
Using the KMZ format instead of KML:
And to facilitate the management and integration of new icons and also reduce size of generated .kml files, I opted for the use of .kmz file format (only for placemarks file).

Note:
it's now possible to drag and drop several folders at the same time

And finally, a short video in order to show how the tool work...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top