When will it be possible to export data from the Google Maps Engine Lite? I really like the product - it's a huge improvement over My Maps - but not being able to export a KML file (or any other format, really)  is severely limiting!

That's something that has been requested, but there's no indication of when it might be available.  The product is only in a very early beta stage at the moment.  Google hardly ever releases information about future development for any product.

I agree with you. Without proper export-import feature, potential users will be hesitate to build their map in this engine, because there's no way out if some day google shut this project down. 

I've created a quick and simple web application for exporting maps from Google Maps Engine Lite to KML files, which are used by, among other things, Google Earth. It is named, of course, MEL2KML.

The current URL is: https://mel2kml.herokuapp.com/

You can export in three different ways:

• A bookmarklet that you put in your browser's bookmarks toolbar and run while on your map page
  
• Uploading a file saved using your browser's web-page-saving feature
• Directly inputting the textual result of using your browser's HTML-source-viewing feature

If anyone has any questions, they can feel free to contact me.

drewbug - i used your tool, which works well, except it only captures one layer from my MEL map.  how can i capture all the layers?  or do i need to make several maps?

thanks.

Guysmiley,

I did not test my tool at all with multiple layers, but I will work on adding this ability. I've got work until late tonight, so it may be until tomorrow before I can do this.

I highly appreciate the bug report. If you (or anyone else, for that matter) find other bugs, please do not hesitate to let me know!

Thanks,
~Drew

Guysmiley,

My tool now supports multiple layers! If you would be so kind as to test it for me, that would be terrific.

Thanks,
~Drew

On Friday, May 3, 2013 9:59:21 AM UTC-4, drewbug wrote:

Guysmiley,

I did not test my tool at all with multiple layers, but I will work on adding this ability. I've got work until late tonight, so it may be until tomorrow before I can do this.

I highly appreciate the bug report. If you (or anyone else, for that matter) find other bugs, please do not hesitate to let me know!

Thanks,
~Drew

On Friday, May 3, 2013 9:50:00 AM UTC-4, (guysmiley) wrote:

drewbug - i used your tool, which works well, except it only captures one layer from my MEL map.  how can i capture all the layers?  or do i need to make several maps?

thanks.

drew - works great!  also, on my MEL map, i have phone numbers and comments from the original spreadsheet that dont seem to transfer when exported.  is there a way to capture additional fields besides label and location?

thanks.

Great work drewbug, just what I was looking for.
 I found that only using the 1st export option (bookmark) worked, the other 2 just got the originl data I imported to the map engine and di not show any changes that had been made in map engine lite.
The export just got the first 2 data fields (columns), would it be possibel to export the data from the other fields?

What happens to the data that gets uploaded to your site? how secure is the data when it gets exported?

I think that the bookmarklet is definitely the way to go. I only came up with that idea after creating the other options, and I think I will soon remove the other options, especially if they aren't working as desired.

How would we want the other data fields to be exported? Embedded in the KML file (would be viewable in Google Earth like this: https://developers.google.com/kml/documentation/images/GolfCourse1.gif) or as a separate file, such as a CSV file (that can be opened in, e.g., Excel)?

The site is encrypted with SSL, making your connection to it is secure. Currently, maps processed by my site are stored in the database so that the link can be displayed on my page, but I may try to embed the entire conversion into the bookmarklet. If I go that route, none of your data would ever even be seen by my site, and you could still export from MEL even if my site were to go down.

The source code for the site is available here: https://github.com/drewbug/mel2kml

Thanks,
~Drew

in regards to the other fields, embedded in the kml file is perfect.  will this also show up if imported into google maps?

for my needs, you can do whatever you want with my map data, but i suppose someone out there might like the all in one bookmarklet. 

thanks.

Many thanks Drew, the example looks perfect. CSV export as an option for expanded data fields would be great

Thank you very much guy ! Excellent job ! I hope google will make a tool like yours ! 

Thanks. It works, but I'd like to see one minor improvement.

It seems that it's only exporting these fields into the .kml file:

/Folder/description

/Folder/name

/Folder/Placemark/description

/Folder/Placemark/name

/Folder/Placemark/Point/coordinate

In my map, I created some extra fields, which I use for grouping/labeling. It would be great if the Bookmarklet could include those fields too.

Great work

Kml has been available for about a week now, in the menu next to the "add layer" button.

Oh man I was looking for something like this :) Thanks for the app Drew.

I see the source is no longer available, did you took it down?

Thanks

radumza,

I took the source down because Google added their own KML export feature that was vastly superior to mine.

~Drew

Hi drewbug,

Zach,

Quick question: are you using Firefox?

~Drew

Yes, and it's totally useless to be able to export in KML only, and not to be able to re-import to a new map that same KML file;  like when I'm trying to combine the 3 layers into one.

I just created a Lite map, exported to KML and imported it into classic maps. One layer with less than 10 markers. It only imported 4. Colors are wrong. I dunno, seems like Google is loosing its touch. Their software used to be top notch, this is simply half baked. Marking something 'beta' is no excuse. Once the genie is out of the bottle you can't put it back in so now they're stuck. It would be best to disable 'Lite' and work on it some more. I've also switched back to classic maps for 'regular' map use, not just saved maps. It's simply better. The new maps engine is slow and misses functionality. Really quite flabbergasting how a company with -so many- engineers and so much riding on public opinion allows such a mediocre product to be released.

Hay Sunil you can Print as PDF if you have it installed in your list of Printers thats how i have been downloading my maps and it works, try it for your self might work for you too..