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Fort Wilderness Site Maps in GoogleEarth


With many thanks to FortFiends.net member Santa for all his hard work...

"Along with the help of a few 'operatives' (TCD, FlaFortCampster, DisneyBishops, Tiggntaz, and others) I have developed a resource to address a particular need in the Fort Fiend community:

Every map available for Fort Wilderness only list the loops numbers and they are not drawn to scale... until now!

Announcing the Fort Wilderness GoogleEarth Site Map. This is still an early version and there are many improvements to come, but I wanted to release it now to keep others from duplicating my efforts, especially due to the recent interest in such a resource. Since there are improvements to come, my prime request is that you not redistribute the .kmz file (GoogleEarth placemarks file), but feel free to send folks to the website to download it for themselves. This way, folks will always know where to go for the latest version.

Another request, use this information for good, not evil! Seriously, if FW suddenly starts getting tons of requests for specific sites they may decide to stop honoring such requests altogether. Besides, the chance of a particular site coming available to coincide with your check-in is pretty remote during all but the slowest seasons. So the suggested method for getting the type of site you want is: list the things you want in a site, suggest a loop that you think accomplishes those goal best, and then perhaps mention a couple of sites that you think would be ideal.

As I mentioned above, there are many improvements to come. The most recently completed was to update the 600 loop to match the newly expanded configuration. Next will be to add the cabin loops.

I am very excited to hear your feedback as to how this resource could be improved. Much more information about the project and plans for the future are on the webpage. So, are ya ready?

A Brief Tutorial: as posted on Fort Fiends .net

First, you must download and install GoogleEarth software from here. If you have done that already and can successfully launch it and see the satellite imagery, then you are ready to use my file.

The next step is to download my placemarks file from here. To get started, I'd recommend getting the Fort Wilderness.kmz file. It is smaller than the Fort Wilderness.kml. Once you download the .kmz you should be able to double-click it to open it. If you get an error message saying you need to pick an application, find GoogleEarth to open the file.

My file is a set of data that gets mapped into your GoogleEarth. Once it is opened you should see a folder in the left pane under Places called "Fort Wilderness". If you see two (or more!) "Fort Wilderness" folders you would do well to select and delete them all, and then re-open the newest one.

If you double-click the folder, your view should shift as you fly to Fort Wilderness :banana:. The initial view is a high altitude position to see an overview of the whole Fort.

From here you can use the hand to grab the view (just click and drag), or double-click anywhere to zoom in a bit. The more you zoom in, the more info you'll see. For instance, you will see the loop name first, but if you zoom in you will see individual site numbers.

Note also, that as you got closer the big marker for the Meadows Recreation Area was replaced by the individual attractions in the rec area (the Sing-a-Long and Bike Barn can be seen in that last picture). If you see a site name that is underlined in the Places pane, that site can be clicked on to show more info... usually a picture of the site.

You can try to click any icon you see, and there is often more info that will pop-up. For instance, of the three icons you see in the overview the Settlement and the Meadow have pop-ups with video in them, whereas the Outpost one is merely a marker and has no pop-up.

That is a loop tour video (compliments of Tiggntaz) and some other info about the loop, including average walking distances to Fort features.

If you put your cursor in the top right of the view, navigation tools will appear which will allow you to manipulate your view, in just about every way conceivable (pitch, rotation, elevation, etc).

But the best advice of all is to play around with it... you can't break it! You'll be amazed what you can discover. Under the Places pane, there is a Layers pane with TONS of cool stuff to explore... try turning on 3D Buildings and check out the Disney Parks!

Enjoy, give feedback, and use it for GOOD!"


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