kml placemarks as labels

Question

I am working on a GE local bike mapping project, and I am using placemarks to create labels with linked descriptions for the roads/trails on the map. While it is nice for the user to click a placemark/label on the map for a description; as the map has grown, the labels can also create visual clutter. The placemarks for the label/descriptions are currently stored with the lineStrings in folders for each road.

It would be nice to be able to turn all of the labels off or on without opening each of the separate road folders to de/select each one. The names of most of the roads are also available on the underlying Google Earth hybrid layer, so the labels and descriptions are helpful but not absolutely necessary.

Download https://sites.google.com/site/tuobikes/kml/hullcrabtree.kmz for an example.

Is there any way to define a set of placemarks as a subtype in order to turn them all on or off as a group? For example, placemark type=label or placemark type=photo... This seems like useful functionality, but I don't see it in the kml reference

Is storing the placemarks for the labels/descriptions together in a folder separate from the lineStrings for the roads the only way to solve the problem?

Answer 1

I don't know of any way other than a Folder to turn on/off a group of related placemarks.

That said, consider using one or more KML Regions to reduce clutter:

"Regions are a powerful KML feature that allows you to add very large datasets to Google Earth without sacrificing performance. Data is loaded and drawn only when it falls within the user's view and occupies a certain portion of the screen. Using Regions, you can supply separate levels of detail for the data, so that fine details are loaded only when the data fills a portion of the screen that is large enough for the details to be visible."