AWhere, Inc.

AWhere is an excellent mapping platform for generating and distributing maps quickly, but we have ahd a lot of interest in importing and exporting for Google Maps/Earth using the special spatial format known as KML.  Presently, AWhere does not have built in functionalilty to import and export KML files.  If the desire is to see your mapped data againts a satalite image or detailed road map we do offer the Microsoft Virtual Earth add-in that comes standard with all AWhere installs.  However if you need to place your AWhere data into a Google Earth or Google maps web page, we need another solution.  Fortunately, you do not need to pay for the pro version of Google Earth to get this functionality.

 A quick search of Google turns up two very useful tools for importing and exporting AWhere map layers.  Shp2KML and KML2Shp from a company known as Zunom Solultions.  These tools are free and "use at your own risk".  AWhere can not and does not offer support for these tools, but until a built in AWhere solution is offered, we wanted to point you to 2 solutions that appear to work well.

 The software is self explanatory, so I will not lay out steps for using them, but you should know a few things about AWhere map layers.  AWhere map layers are made up of a standard mapping format known as a "shapefile" created by GIS giant ESRI many years ago (AWhere, Inc is an ESRI business partner).  These shapefiles are stored in a "data" folder in the location your AWhere dataset is saved (where ever you might have saved it in your hard drive.  These shapefiles are needed by the Shp2KML and KML2Shp software.

 Initial testing of the tools using some census data showed all attributes were transfered between both of the KML and shapefile format.  The only drawback is any aliases you might have created for the attributes will be lost. This is natural since the aliases and color rendering information is stored in the dataset's AWH file.   With these tools you should be able to seamlessly move data between AWhere and your web projects.