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Download Aircraft Spotting at Ireland's Airports and Airfields for Google Maps, Google Earth and SatNavs
For just £2.50 you can download the file that will add placemarks to Google Maps and Google Earth to help you plan your trip. I have placed the information displayed on the main Ireland webpage into Google Maps and Google Earth to help give you a real idea of where you are going and how to make the most out of your trip. The fee is per download, so any subsequent updates will again require the fee - details of each new release of the file will be displayed below.
Google Maps is run from your web browser at http://maps.google.co.uk. To use Google Earth, you must have already downloaded and installed it. If you don't already have Google Earth this is a fantastic free download that initially gives you a satellite image of the globe for you to rotate. You can then zoom in and see, in incredible detail, cities, towns, villages, even roads and houses from any place in the world. As I said, Google Earth is free, you should download it here and check it out.
This file can also be uploaded to your Satellite Navigation System (SatNav) - again making planning your journey even easier and saving you time on the roads. I have added a marker for all the smaller airfields to show the entrance of the airfield. This will improve the accuracy of your SatNav directions and ensure you don't waste time getting lost, or trying to find the entrance. With the Spotting Points of Interest in Google Maps, Google Earth and your SatNav you now have some fantastic resources to take with you on your trips, allowing for far more flexibility and more airfields visited. To use the downloaded file on your SatNav, see the instructions below.
Good examples of this service are shown below, with the download and installation instructions further down. Here at Cannes Airport, France, you can clearly see the runways, terminal, viewing areas, hotels, the preserved Beech 18 and a couple of markers to help you navigate the smaller roads round the terminal area to get views of the ramp. The blue path from the terminal to the southside viewing areas and hotel is the route you need to travel by car. You can zoom in a lot closer than shown, or you can zoom out to show an overall view of the airports in this file. On the left side of the Google Maps screen shot you can see the various different placemarks for Cannes Airport. Clicking on one will highlight on the main map. Scrolling up and down in the left hand section will reveal all the other airports that are plotted on Google Maps. Looking now at the Google Earth screenshot, on the left side of this screenshot you see a little over half the airports available in the France file - once the file has been loaded into Google Earth, scrolling up and down in this section will reveal all the other airports.
KEY:
Aircraft - airports, airfields, airbases, often close to the main hangars and where the aircraft park
Green star pointers - Viewing areas
Yellow star pointers - Preserved/stored aircraft
White star - Entrance to airfields
Beds - Hotels and Resorts
Blue paths and pins - routes to viewing areas
R - Runways
M - Museums
T - Terminals
H - Hangars
A - Aprons
Cameras - Photo spots
White - Points of interest for guidance
All the information plotted is available in text form on the main page and should be used with these plottings.
Please note, due to the limitations of Google Maps (imposed on it by Google as it runs in your Internet Browser), only 200 Points of Interest markers will show up. Therefore in larger files such as Spotting in the UK, not all markers will show up. There are no such restrictions on Google Earth and the files will work perfectly with it. This does not affect the smaller files with less than 200 Points of Interest markers - these will work in Google Maps, as well as Google Earth.
Downloading and installing the file into Google Maps:
Before completing payment please add my email address "krayzeekris@hotmail.com" (without the quotation marks) to your address book and your list of safe senders, or your email provider's equivalent.
You must do this first because an email will be automatically sent to your email address with download instructions and most email providers will mark this as spam and/or junk because of the automated process. Adding my email address will ensure the email gets through to your inbox.
Once payment has been confirmed you will be sent an email with instructions on how to download the file.
**If you don't receive this email immediately, please check your junk and spam mail folders. If you still can't find it, please email me. As I'm not always on hand to make an immediate reply, you can visit the Log In page, enter your PayPal email address and click 'Sign In', leaving the password field blank. At the next page, 'Login Failed', enter your PayPal email address and click 'Please email me my password'. Your password will now be immediately sent to you, but will only get through the spam filters if my email address is saved in your contacts**
Visit the website in the email or click the link provided and enter your email address used in the transaction (this is in the email). Also in the same email is your password to access your newly purchased file - you must copy this exactly or highlight, copy and paste.
Now you can log in and download your file - make sure you click 'Save' to save the file to your hard drive, **DO NOT click open**. Once the file has been downloaded you can save it to any folder you wish.
Visit Google Maps and sign in using your Google Groups and/or Google Mail email address and password. If you haven't registered with Google before, it's free, quick and easy to do. Once logged in, click 'My Maps' near the top left of the screen - it's in the horizontal light blue bar. Click 'Create New Map' below it and then click 'Import' - located next to where 'Create New Map' was previously. A box will now appear asking you to import map data from a KML file. Click browse and you will now need to locate the folder you have saved your downloaded file in. Click it to highlight it, and then click 'Open'. Now click 'Upload From File' and wait as the map is filled with a maximum of 200 placemarks as I explained above. The information displayed on the main webpage is as up to date as the information I receive or from my own personal trips, it is correct to the best of my knowledge and it is this information that I have placed into Google Maps to help you plan your trip. If you can update, amend or add anything please email me.
Downloading and installing the file into Google Earth:
If you have already downloaded and installed the file into Google Maps, please skip to the paragraph below as you only need to download it once
Before completing payment please add my email address "krayzeekris@hotmail.com" (without the quotation marks) to your address book and your list of safe senders, or your email provider's equivalent.
You must do this first because an email will be automatically sent to your email address with download instructions and most email providers will mark this as spam and/or junk because of the automated process. Adding my email address will ensure the email gets through to your inbox.
Once payment has been confirmed you will be sent an email with instructions on how to download the file.
**If you don't receive this email immediately, please check your junk and spam mail folders. If you still can't find it, please email me. As I'm not always on hand to make an immediate reply, you can visit the Log In page, enter your PayPal email address and click 'Sign In', leaving the password field blank. At the next page, 'Login Failed', enter your PayPal email address and click 'Please email me my password'. Your password will now be immediately sent to you, but will only get through the spam filters if my email address is saved in your contacts**
Visit the website in the email or click the link provided and enter your email address used in the transaction (this is in the email). Also in the same email is your password to access your newly purchased file - you must copy this exactly or highlight, copy and paste.
Now you can log in and download your file - make sure you click 'Save' to save the file to your hard drive, **DO NOT click open**. Once the file has been downloaded you can save it to any folder you wish.
Load up Google Earth and click 'File' and then click 'Open'. You will then need to locate the folder you have saved your downloaded file in - click it to highlight it, and then click 'Open'.
The file will now appear in the 'Places' section in the left hand section of Google Earth. At the moment, it's showing under the 'Temporary Places' folder - this means that each time you load up Google Earth you will have to open the file manually, as described above. If you would like the file to always show all the placemarks automatically, you will need to move the file up into the 'My Places' folder.
To do this, click and hold the file, drag the mouse upwards until it is over 'My Places' and release the mouse button. Now click 'File', move the mouse to highlight 'Save' and a new menu will appear to the side. Click 'Save My Places' and this will always display the locations.
Please note this file has been created using Google Maps and Google Earth version 6.2. Whilst this file will work with previous Google Earth version 5 and newer versions when they're released, I strongly recommend that you upgrade for free to the latest version (but NOT the beta version as that is still being tested), as using version 5 may mean that a couple of placemarks will be slightly away from where they are meant to be. This is unavoidable but their correct position will be obvious. In the unlikely event that one of these incorrect placemarks is a hotel, it could give you a misleading idea of where it is in relation to the airport. Regardless of what version of Google Earth you use, the information displayed on the main webpage is as up to date as the information I receive or from my own personal trips, it is correct to the best of my knowledge and it is this information that I have placed into Google Earth to help you plan your trip. If you can update, amend or add anything please email me.
Using the file in your Satellite Navigation System (SatNav):
Once the file has been downloaded using the instructions above, you can use it in your Satellite Navigation System (SatNav) either by manually entering the co-ordinates, or if your SatNav has the ability to upload files, follow these very simple, easy and quick instructions:
First you have to convert the file to the correct format for your SatNav and this is free, easy and very quick. Visit POI Editor, click 'Load POI File', (just to the right of the centre of the screen) and click browse.
The kml file is in the folder (or your Desktop) you use when downloading from the Internet, click it and then click 'Open'. Then click 'Load POI'. Any paths/routes that have been mapped out (for example showing the route to walk from one place to another) will appear at the top without a description - this is normal. You can scroll down the list to find all the other points of interest.
Next click 'Save POI File'. You can now set a name for the file and the file type (or format) that you want it saved in, for example OV2 for TomToms, CSV for NavMan and Garmin among others and other options including ASC (ASCII), GPX and LMX (Nokia). Click 'Download POI', set the location of where you want the file saved and click 'OK'. Once downloaded, refer to your SatNav manual on how to upload the file and use it.
This file is wholly owned by me and may not be shared, sold or distributed by any means of communication or in any form of publication. By downloading the file you agree to abide by this and to use this file solely for your own personal use.
FAQS & Troubleshooting
| I have purchased a file but haven't received the email within 30 minutes containing the download instructions |
Please check that my email address "krayzeekris@hotmail.com" (without quotation marks) is saved in your address book and in your safe senders (or your email provider's equivalent) list as this automatic email is often incorrectly classed as spam/junk and filtered out accordingly. Once my email address has been saved, please check your spam and junk folders for the email. If you can't locate the email, you can have the password resent to you immediately. Visit the Log In page, enter your PayPal email address and click 'Sign In', leaving the password field blank. At the next page, 'Login Failed', enter your PayPal email address and click 'Please email me my password'. Your password will now be immediately sent to you, but will only get through the spam filters if my email address is saved in your contacts. If you still don't receive the instructions within a further 30 minutes, please email me and I'll respond as quickly as I can. |
| I have purchased a file, I have received the email contatining the download instructions but haven't received the email from Paypal confirming payment |
Unfortunately, as that is a transaction between you and Paypal, I am unable to help. If you do require a confirmation email of payment and/or a receipt, please log in to your Paypal account and check your transaction history. |
| I have purchased a file, but haven't received either the email contatining the download instructions or the email from Paypal confirming payment |
Please check that your purchase and payment was completed successfully by logging into your Paypal account and/or checking with your bank or card company. If the transaction was successful then please email me for futher help. |
| I get an error when opening the file in Google Earth |
This appears to be a problem with BT Internet, (although not limited to just BT Internet), not downloading the full file. I am unable to replicate this error to look into why this is happening, but it appears that a break in communication with the server while downloading the file causes the error and stops it completing. Please email me for further help. |
| I get an error when opening the file in Google Maps |
This appears to be a problem with BT Internet, (although not limited to just BT Internet), not downloading the full file. I am unable to replicate this error to look into why this is happening, but it appears that a break in communication with the server while downloading the file causes the error and stops it completing. Please email me for further help. |
| I have opened the file in Google Maps but not all the Points of Interest markers are displayed |
Unfortunately, due to the limitations placed on Google Maps by Google (as it's run by their servers in your Internet browser), a maximum of 200 markers will be shown. Therefore any larger files like the Spotting in the UK download will not show in its entirety. They will however work perfectly in Google Earth as it does not have any limitations, running from your PC as an application. This does not affect the smaller files that have less than 200 Points of Interest markers - these will work perfectly in Google Maps AND Google Earth. |
| I haven't downloaded the file as I no longer wish to use it, how do I get a refund? |
I do not offer refunds. There is no time limit for downloading the file. You do not have to download it immediately, you are free to download it as and when you require, but you can only download it once. So even if you don't need the file now, there's a chance you will need it again in the future, and as the information contained within it (e.g. airfield locations and airfield entrances) will remain the same barring any closures or expansions, it will remain current and accurate for a long time. |
Version 1 contains all 32 locations listed with viewing locations, hotels and preserved aircraft where known:
Abbeyshrule
Baldonnel-Casement Air Base & Museum
Birr
Citywest Hotel Helipad
Clonbullogue-Clonad
Connemara-Inveran
Cork
Dromod-Cavan & Leitrim Railway Museum
Dublin
Dublin-Knocksedan Heliport
Dunshaughlin-Trevet Farm
Galway-Carnmore
Gorey
Gowran Grange
Granard-Ferskill
Hacketstown
Kerry
Kilkenny
Kilrush
Knock
Letterkenny
Limerick-Coonagh
Newcastle
Portarlington-Limetree
Rathcoole
Shannon
Sligo
Thurles
Toomyvara-Pallas West
Trim
Waterford
Weston
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