Aven generated KML visualization/altitude doubts

[Olly Betts]

On Thu, Sep 02, 2021 at 01:55:57PM +0000, Rodrigo Severo wrote:
> I'm just exporting from Aven to KML for the first time.
> 
> My first try didn't show anything on Google Earth. As I suspected, it
> was because my cave, being underground, was below the terrain so
> Google Earth hided my cave under the terrain.
> 
> To be able to see my cave line in Google Earth I manually edited the
> Aven generated KML file changing all occurences of
> 
> <altitudeMode>absolute</altitudeMode>
> 
> to
> 
> <altitudeMode>clampToGround</altitudeMode>
> 
> It worked but it is a clumky solution.

Since 1.2.36 you should get a "Clamp to ground" checkbox in the KML
export options (it's the last one at least currently) which just
omits the `altitudeMode` element entirely (the spec says "Any KML
feature with no altitude mode specified will default to clampToGround"
and not writing it out over and over makes the file significantly
smaller).

This checkbox is off by default, but perhaps we should look at
everything that consumes KML and consider what the most sensible default
is.  The altitudes are actually still present in the KML file with it
on, so a reader could still access it if it wanted it.

Cheers,
    Olly