IM 5.2.2

[jch2103]

Mario - Just wanted to thank you for implementing the KMZ export module; very nice!

[stonecherub]

This makes KMZ files that cannot be edited, they're zipped.

KML files are more useful, I'm working with mine in Notepad++ all the time. In fact, the kml files that are so important to my website are on the site as KML, not kmz because I'm always tweaking something or other. When I'm done, I can zip them myself. Most are too small to need compressing.

[jch2103]

It's easy enough to unzip a kmz file. Otherwise, you might want to make a feature request to Mario for a kmz/kml option switch in the KML Exporter.

[stonecherub]

While this is true, so is the converse (make your own kmz). I think kml should be the default mainly because I can't imagine somebody putting something out on the web that they haven't edited or, at least, looked at.

[jch2103]

I expect Mario was following Google guidance for developers:

https://developers.google.com/kml/documentation/kmzarchives

You should create a KMZ file if your doc.kml file is larger than 10 Kbytes, or if the doc.kml files references other files (images, sound files, models, textures).

[Mario]

That's exactly why I selected KMZ files as the default format. They not only allow IMatch to include thumbnails and icons, but also result in smaller files.

I did not want to complicate things by adding multiple output formats, e.g., "Use KML, unless the user includes thumbnails or the KML file becomes bigger than 10 KB after it has been created". I saw no sense in that, better to use KMZ all the time.

I think that the (probably very small) user group who is interested in this feature are satisfied with KMZ files. If somebody routinely edits KML files with Notepad++, I'm sure he can also unzip the KMZ if needed.