Smooth Touring

The default <gx:FlyTo> in Google Earth will pause at each Placemark. This is called  'bounce' fly-to. You can use the <gx:flyToMode>smooth</gx:flyToMode> tag to remove this stop and create a smooth tour.  

Smoothed tour

Over a long distance, it's better to use the default, because it will automatically slow the camera as you approach your destination. Smooth uses a constant speed between Placemarks so it can be jarring over lang distances. A good practice is to set up your tour like this:

Bounce followed by a series of smooth

For tips on placing pins for this kind of tour, see the 'Placing views for a tour' link.

1. Create your tour from a folder - and save the file as a KML.

2. Open your tour in a text editor - commonly used editors are SCiTE  (PC) or TextWrangler (MAC), both free

Instead of moving some of the KML from your file into a template file in other tutorials, we are going to add a small piece of KML to your file. No template needed.

Your code should look like this (some elements truncated to save space):

...

    <gx:FlyTo>

        <gx:duration>5</gx:duration>

            <LookAt>

                (truncated to save space)

            </LookAt>

    </gx:FlyTo>

<gx:Wait><gx:duration>2</gx:duration></gx:Wait>

    <gx:FlyTo>

        <gx:duration>5</gx:duration>

            <LookAt>

                (truncated to save space)

            </LookAt>

    </gx:FlyTo>

<gx:Wait><gx:duration>2</gx:duration></gx:Wait>

    <gx:FlyTo>

        <gx:duration>5</gx:duration>

            <LookAt>

                (truncated to save space)

            </LookAt>

    </gx:FlyTo>

...

You may have already learned that you can change the time between the Placemarks in the Editing Touring time page.

3. Add the <gx:flyToMode>smooth</gx:flyToMode> after the <gx:duration>5</gx:duration> tag.

...

    <gx:FlyTo>

        <gx:duration>5</gx:duration>

        <gx:flyToMode>smooth</gx:flyToMode>

            <LookAt>

                (truncated to save space)

            </LookAt>

    </gx:FlyTo>

<gx:Wait><gx:duration>2</gx:duration></gx:Wait>

    <gx:FlyTo>

        <gx:duration>5</gx:duration>

        <gx:flyToMode>smooth</gx:flyToMode>

            <LookAt>

                (truncated to save space)

            </LookAt>

    </gx:FlyTo>

<gx:Wait><gx:duration>2</gx:duration></gx:Wait>

    <gx:FlyTo>

        <gx:duration>5</gx:duration>

        <gx:flyToMode>smooth</gx:flyToMode>

            <LookAt>

                (truncated to save space)

            </LookAt>

    </gx:FlyTo>

...

4. Practice! adding <gx:flyToMode>smooth</gx:flyToMode>  tags is part coding, part art. It can take time to get the tour as smooth as you'd like it. Follow the guidelines on Placing views for a Tour.