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I've created KMZs that work well in Google Earth. Their placemarks reference embedded images files like so

<Placemark>
<name><![CDATA[IMG_1288]]></name>
<Snippet maxLines="2"><![CDATA[]]></Snippet>
<description><![CDATA[<center><img src="images/IMG_1288.jpg"><br></center>]]></description>
<Point>
<coordinates>174.812836,-36.826668,0</coordinates>
</Point>
</Placemark>

The KMZ structure is

doc.kml
images/
       IMG_1288.jpg

The same KMZ file does not work on iOS though. The popup window opens but it displays a broken image icon. What do I need to do to embed an image in a KMZ so that Google Earth for iOS can display it?

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  • 1
    Try Mapbox - gis.stackexchange.com/questions/8128/…
    – Mapperz ♦
    Commented Oct 31, 2012 at 13:47
  • Mapbox is iPad only and I'd rather get it working Google Earth thanks.
    – Craig
    Commented Oct 31, 2012 at 17:44
  • I have the same problem now. Only a little dotted square in the top left corner instead of my image.
    – Klaas
    Commented Mar 14, 2013 at 23:42
  • @Craig did you ever solve this? I'm still having the exact same issue today over 4 years later.
    – Nick
    Commented Nov 6, 2017 at 19:32

1 Answer 1

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This has recently been discussed on the Google Earth Help forum.

Apparently this is a bug or a current limitation of Google Earth on iOS platforms. Only workaround at present is to have the KML/KMZ refer to inline images with full URL located on a public web site.

Doesn't matter if embedded image is PNG or JPEG or uses STORED or DEFLATE compression. Google Earth does not currently display the inline images in balloon popups if images are embedded in KMZ on iOS platform.

This greatly limits the usefullness of the KMZ files but it's only a temporary condition. It has been reported to Google and hopefuly soon an update to GE will fix this.

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  • this still seems to be the case several years later on both Android and iOS. I tested several KMZs that work fine even with error checking enabled on Google Earth Pro on the desktop, but consistently get the large red X showing a missing image. Any other solutions out there?
    – Nick
    Commented Nov 13, 2017 at 22:39

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