If, like me, you like to track your skiing on Slope, Ski Tracks etc., you’ll be wanting to create something pretty with all that data so you can be a show-off. Luckily it’s pretty easy to get some decent results with a bit of amateurish fiddling around.
I use the Ski Tracks app (iOS | Android) to record my tracks on the mountain – there’s also a free version, Ski Tracks Lite. But any tracking app that lets you export the tracks as KMZ files will do the trick. You’ll also want to install Google Earth Pro for viewing your tracks on the big screen.
You need to export each day’s ski tracks from your phone individually, which can become a bit of a ball-ache. You do this by opening the day in your history in Ski Tracks, and clicking the share icon in the top-right, and choosing the KMZ option.
This will then give you your various share options for the KMZ file – use whatever method you feel comfortable with getting the file to your PC/Mac – Google Drive, OneDrive, DropBox, Email etc. Gather your various day’s KMZ files together somewhere neat.
Next, on your PC, open Google Earth. Drag the KML files into your My Places layer folders in the left sidebar of Google Earth. You might want to create a sub-folder for them in your My Places first if you’re sorting them by trip / resort / season etc.
If you expand each day’s track layer, you’ll see there are multiple layers within it – allowing you to e.g. hide the Start and Finish markers or photos as I usually do, or change the colour / thickness of the track’s path by right-clicking the track path layer and going Properties.
I usually just give each day a different colour strictly for garishness. I usually thicken the lines a little as they can look a bit weedy.
You can also adjust the sun’s position within Google Earth, allowing you to for example just give a faint twilight to show up the mountain features, leaving your tracks a glowing neon mesh.
