Ok, so in the previous post, I went through the steps to manually create a Google Earth fly through of a GPX file.

Since then, I’ve made it a little easier on myself, by creating a script to do some of the cleanup for you. Basically, the script creates a copy of the GPX path, and cuts out every Nth waypoint. It then re-times it, and creates a set of tracks. You’ll may have to play with the decimation value (N), and the the re-timing setting.

Run the script with something like this:
gpsbabel -i gpx -f trip.gpx -o kml -F trip.kml
python ~/scripts/kmldecimate.py -i trip.kml -o - -d 25 --folder Points

In the above example, you’ll end up with trip_dec.kml.

Once you’ve run the script, to create a KML, open it in Google Earth. If the decimated tracks don’t work too well for your flyover (Tour), then play with the folder of decimated ( “*_dec” ) waypoints, and as in the previous post, “copy as tracks” and create a new Tour. Repeat until satisfied, then export with the “Movie Maker” option.