Big Update: How to Create a Legend in Google Earth

This is a big update from an old post.  Now it is possible to simply copy and paste the code into Notebook.

For my Russia-Georgia War maps I had a fixed non-movable legend in the bottom left corner of the screen. I preferred the legend because it provided a solid reminder of what date was being shown and it promoted the blog.

First, create a legend in an image editing software and save as an image file like .jpg, .bmp, or .gif. Second, open Notepad. Then type/copy in the code below into Notepad.

Only the name, description, and icon data need to be changed. The icon path should be something like "c:\maps\russiageorgia\legend.jpg

<ScreenOverlay id=”legend”>

<name>Give the file a display name</name>

<description>Write what you want displayed in the properties textbox</description>

<Icon><href>Write the path to the legend image</href></icon>

<overlayXY  x=”0” y=”.055” xunits=”fraction” yunits=”fraction”/>

<screenXY  x=”0” y=”.055” xunits=”fraction” yunits=”fraction”/>

<rotation>0</rotation><size x=”0” y=”0” xunits=”pixels” yunits=”pixels”/>

</ScreenOverlay>

When the text is inserted save the file as something like "legend.kml". Make sure the file is not saved as a text file. Now go into Google Earth and open the saved kml file. Your legend should be displayed. Using Google Earth you can make it change how opaque it is.