KML to CZML conversion...

While the current code we have in czml-writer for KML conversion is a good start, it’s only just a start. Many files don’t translate correctly or crash the converter. It would be great if someone were interested in working on the KML converter and making sure we cover 100% of the standard (plus whatever common Google extensions are out there).

Now, obviously Cesium doesn’t support 100% of the features in KML, but that doesn’t mean the converter itself can’t handle the entire spec and spit out a good log of warnings and errors for things that CZML/Cesium doesn’t currently handle. This will also help us figure out what common features we’re missing that can help KML support get better as well as flesh out the CZML spec.

As it stands now, I tried to convert the 3 files we have on cesium.agi.com so that they use the new format, but only US States converts normally. Whal_shark.kml crashes the converter and the STS conversion has wonky time-scales. (The STS might be converting correctly and just might be a “bad” KML file, (bad in the sense that it’s technically correct but not a good example for us to use). Scott is going to comment out the two files giving us problems for the time being, so we can update cesium.agi.com to use the new CZML format.

Is anyone interested in working on KML? I plan to spend a bunch of time working on it alongside the other CZML related work I’m doing, but if someone wants to give it more attention, that would be great. There’s a lot of issues that can be worked independantly from one another, so there’s no reason this can’t be a team effort. To me, this is one of the most important features Cesium needs for wide-spread adoption and also has a lot of low-hanging fruit for someone who may be new to the project. You’ll be working in C# and there’s no 3D involved, so it’s certainly a different beast compared to hacking on the client-side Cesium code itself.

Thanks,

Matt