Some Instructions on Creating and Viewing KML Files

A bit about KML
KML is a type of markup language, like HTML, but specifically designed for representing geographic information. You can do lots of interesting things with KML, but we will not do anything too fancy for this homework. I have made two sample KML files for you to play with: newTest.kml and path.kml. Your program needs to produce these kinds of KML files. Here is the link to a KML tutorial by developers at Google.

Seeing your map.
There are essentially two ways of viewing your KML files; these are described below.

Every user login on the computer science machines has a special "hidden" directory called located in your home directory. Anything placed in this special directory is "served" by the CS web server as http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~hawkid/filename, assuming hawkid is your CS login name. What this means is that files in this directory can be viewed by you or anyone else in the world using their web browser. If you wanted to build a homepage for yourself on the CS web server, this is where you would place your files.
Instructions for Windows users
1. Right-click "My Computer" and select "Map Network Drive..." from the menu.
2. In the "Map Network Drive" dialog, select "H" for "Drive" and type "\\webedit.divms.uiowa.edu\homepage" for Folder.
3. If you would like this drive to appear in "My Computer" the next time you login/reboot, make sure "Reconnect at logon" is checked. If you checked this, you will not have to repeat this process the next time you logon.
4. Click on "Finish" and you are done!
5. Now you can move or copy your KML file into the "H" drive and it is ready to be viewed by you or anyone else anywhere using a browser.
Instructions for Unix users To move your KML file into this directory:
```
  % mv newTest.kml ~/.public-html
```
To set "permissions" correctly so that your file is visible to the world:
```
  % fixpub -o
```
Then use your web browser to visit:
```
  http://maps.google.com/maps?q=http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~hawkid/newTest.kml
```
This will open your map in the browser in Google maps. Alternatively, with Google maps, I find it easier to just type the URL
```
  http://www.cs.uiowa.edu/~hawkid/newTest.kml
```
in the search box.
Alternately, KML files can also be viewed in Google Earth. In fact, if you have Google Earth on your personal computer and try to open a KML file by clicking on it, it will by default open in Google Earth and visualize it, more or less, in the same way as Google maps.