User:25or6to4/KMLInstructions

Sadly, ArcGIS is too smart for its own good. But since it's all I'm allowed to use, here's my process for creating KML files for the road files (or for any line feature, for that matter).

ArcGIS

 * 1)  Open your preferred beverage.
 * 2)  Open ArcGIS and add your preferred layer.
 * 3)  Now select the highway/road/line feature you want for KML.  Note that the more segments there are, the tougher it is to reformat later.
 * 4)  Right click on the layer on the left side -> Selection -> Create Layer from selected features.  This step is what differentiates the ease of the qGIS steps from ArcGIS, as you cannot create a KML from a selection.  You have to separate it into a new layer.
 * 5)  Rename the new layer to something easier, like the name of the feature itself.
 * 6)  Next open up the ArcToolbox, expand the "Conversion Tools" menu, expand the "To KML" menu, and run the "Layer to KML" tool.
 * 7)  In the tool
 * select the layer you separated in step 4 as input.
 * locate where you want to save the KML, and give it a name.
 * set the layer output scale to 1
 * click ok. Note that the output is a .kmz, and there is no way to switch it to just a kml.

Unzip
Go to your file browser, find the .kmz file, and use any unzip program to bring out the .kml

Google Earth

 * 1)  Open Google Earth and open the kml file.  The file will open in the temporary files on the left side.
 * 2)  If your line is only one segment, skip to the next step. Here's where having fewer segments comes in handy.  If you have more than one segment, make sure they are in order.  Double-click on each one to check their progression.  If any are out of order, they can be reordered on the left side by dragging the section into the correct location.
 * 3)  Right-click on each segment and select "Properties".
 * 4)  In the Title, rename the section to something more useful.
 * 5)  If there's anything in the description box, right click anywhere in the description box, select "Select All", then press delete.  Then click OK.  This step takes the tables that are embedded in the kml file by ArcGIS back out, as they're not useful here.
 * 6)  In the second tab (can't remember name offhand), you can change the color and thickness of each line.  The line will have taken the color and thickness that was defaulted in ArcGIS.
 * 7)  While you have the properties open, you can hand edit any points around if you need to move anything.  You can also extend lines as needed.
 * 8)  When all layers have been cleared of descriptions, renamed, and any point adjustments made, right click on the main layer, and select "Save layer as", and save over you previous kml file.

Wordpad

 * 1)  If your line feature had more than one segment, open the file in Wordpad to do some editing.  Note that this is not for the faint of heart.  If you line is one segment, skip to the next section.
 * 2)  The file will have multiple sections, corresponding to each segment.  To merge the segments into one, you will be deleting all the coding between the final lat/lon point in one segment and the first lat/lon point in the next segment.  MAKE SURE that these two points are similar points, otherwise you may be merging non-consecutive points.  Once all the lat/lon points are in one long stretch, go ahead and save.  Do not close Wordpad.

AttachedKML

 * 1)  If you were able to skip the previous Wordpad section, go ahead and open the kml file with Wordpad now.
 * 2)  Now open a new page at
 * 3)  Select the entire text file in Wordpad, copy it, and paste it into the AttachedKML page.
 * 4)  Save.
 * 5)  Go to the page you are attaching the KML to and add the  in the "External Links" section of the article.
 * 6)  I usually preview it, then try out the newly added link to make sure the file displays correctly.
 * 7)  If the file looks good, save.

During this whole process, between any four steps, take a drink of the beverage you opened in step one.

Done.