The Copy-and-Paste Trick
If you want to view the KML for a particular Google Earth folder or placemark, you can easily copy the feature from Google Earth and paste it into a text editor such as NotePad. (It’s somewhat counterintuitive that you can copy a graphical feature from Google Earth’s 3D viewer and, when you paste it into a text editor, it’s converted to its corresponding KML textual format, but try it—it works!) Follow these steps to view the KML for a visible feature such as a Placemark, GroundOverlay (image laid on top of the basic Earth terrain), Polygon (shape), or LineString (path) in Google Earth.
- In the 3D viewer (or Places panel) of Google Earth, place your cursor over the feature to highlight it.
- Right-click and select Copy from the drop-down menu that appears.
Open a simple text editor and paste the contents of the clipboard; for example, by selecting Edit > Paste from the text editor menu.
The KML for the selected feature appears in the text editor. (Be sure to use a text editor that does not add extra formatting or information to the text file.)
- Save the file with a .kml extension in the filename (for example, myHouseInPhila.kml).