WKML: a Fortran library for producing KML output.
WKML is an output module built on top of FoX, expressly designed to aid the outputting of KML from Fortran – in order to allow th easy visualization of geospatial data as produced by Fortran programs.
Go straight to download. (Note that this version is a pre-release version, with several known bugs)
Many commonly used scientific programs in the geospatial domain are written in Fortran; and many geoscientists are most comfortable programming in Fortran. Visualizing data in Google Earth requires the use of KML, which is unfamiliar to many traditional geoscientists, and for which there are no existing Fortran interfaces.
WKML brings the power of Google Earth to within the grasp of the Fortran-literate scientist, and enables existing Fortran codes to output data to Google earth with only trivial amounts of effort.
We have already successfully used WKML to generate visualizations in multiple scientific domains:
- Glaciology, using GLIMMER – inspecting the three-dimensional form of a predicted ice-sheet.
The KML depicts the calculated form of an ice sheet over Greenland. The height is magnified by fifty times to make it more visible; and in addition colour is used to highlight the variation in height.
- Seismology – using hypoDD – refining estimates of earthquake epicentres.
This illustrates two datasets; initial and final estimates of the epicentres of a group of seismic events; the blue-black placemarks are initial, and red represent final estimates. The size of the placemarks represent the magnitude of the earthquake.
Download/Documentation
The current release-candidate of WKML may be downloaded from http://source.uszla.me.uk/FoX/wkml.
Full documentation on the API may be found at http://www.uszla.me.uk/trac/FoX/wiki/WkmlApi.
License
WKML is licensed under a 3-clause BSD license; which is to say that it may be used freely by any and all users; redistributed in source or binary form; provided always that the copyright notices are maintained. This is the full license text.
Further details / help
For further details, please contact the authors, Gen-Tao Chiang and Toby White