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Paths are useful for recording linear movements within your maps
and reduce the need for constant mouse clicking.
They can also be saved as tours.
To add a path, select the ‘Path’ icon from the toolbar at the top.
Give it an appropriate name and description.
In this example, we will make a path of the roads around the U of T Mississauga Campus,
so we will name it ‘Driving around UTM’.
In the description, let’s type ‘Entering at the main entrance and exiting at the middle entrance’.
Keep this properties window open to start drawing your path.
To draw the path, left click on spots along the path to make points.
White lines will appear connecting the new points that you create.
They illustrate how the path will appear.
The more points you add to your path around curves,
the more accurate and smoothly the path will play.
When you are happy with your path you can select 'Ok'.
To follow the path, select the path icon on the bottom left of the screen.
The path will begin to play like a tour
except it will follow the points that you have drawn.
Remember, the path follows the straight white lines
so it is good to place your points carefully.
If you want to save your path as a tour,
just select the save icon on the bottom left of the screen,
and it will create a tour out of your path for you.
Give your tour a name and description.
In this case, let’s name it ‘Driving around Campus Tour’.
This is how paths can be saved as tours,
and they can also be used in Google Earth presentations.
Click ‘Ok’.
If you want to change how quickly the path goes from one point to the next,
select ‘Tools’, ‘Options’, and select the ‘Touring’ tab.
Beside ‘Wait at Features’, you can control how many seconds the path will wait at a feature.
You can also select the ‘Fly along lines’ option.
Once satisfied, click ‘Ok’.
For further instruction in Google Earth, please visit our video archives.