How to view shapefiles in Google Earth

I have tried it in ArcGIS 9.3.

In Arc Toolbox choose Conversion tools > To KML then choose the layer that you want to convert then choose scale as 1 if your data is currently in WGS84 projection. It will be saved as a zipped kml file (.kmz) because you chose to save a layer of your map document. Just double click the output kmz file and there you go.

Here's a screenshot of my sample shapefile (Isabela, Philippines) as viewed from Google Earth.


In one of my graduate course project, we have studied dengue and identify high, medium and low risk areas in  Quezon City, Philippines. We have also included the Google Earth upload of our output layers as part of our methodology. Here's a sample shot showing how the fields and attributes are preserved after exporting the shapefile to kmz.

Dengue Hotspots in Quezon City, Philippines
So there you go. I'll be posting too on how to work the other way around; from KML to SHP next time. Enjoy googling (^_^).

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