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Disclaimer: This free web application does not store your data on the web server, not even temporarily. We also do not view your data, use it in any way nor forward it to others. Use this program at your own risk!
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Google Analytics is a free website analysis tool that can be used to analyze various statistics about a website. Among the types of information that can be viewed are charts and graphs showing the number of new visitors, returning visitors and the geographical location where the visitors are located. While Google Analytics is an excellent tool for webmasters and market analysts, it does have some short-comings, one being the lack of integration with Google Earth and Google Maps. This web application allows you to view data in the Map Overlay section of Google Analytics using either Google Earth or Google Maps.
How to Use this Application
In Google Analytics you can export your Map Overlay data by clicking on the XML link under the Export tab as shown in the image below. This application only uses the XML format.
Save the XML file to some directory.
Use the Browse button above to select the file that you exported.
Viewing in Google Earth
To view your website visits in Google Earth, specify the name of the folder that you want to use in Google Earth where the placemarks will be stored. By default, the name of the folder will be called "Website Visitors". Click the "Create Google KML File" button above and wait for this application to open a dialog asking you where to save the KML file. The default filename is "Google_Analytics.kml". You have the choice to either save it or open it. If you open it, the placemarks for the cities associated with your Analytics data will automatically be loaded into Google Earth. If Google Earth is not running, it will be automatically started. When you click on a placemark in Google Earth, additional Analytics data will be shown.
Placemarks for Google Analytics data are created in Google Earth under the following folder:
Temporary Places > [Google Analytics,<[Detail>, <DateRange>] > [NameOfFolder]
If you created your Analytics file from a report based upon a specific country, <Detail> will be the name of the country. If the data is based on all countries, <Detail> will be named "World". <DateRange> is the starting and ending date for the Google Analytics data. <NameOfFolder> is the name of the folder you specified above.
The color and shape of the placemarks indicate the number of visits. The numbers shown below the placemark in the image below indicate that the number of visits for the location is up to and including that number.
Trying to see which countries placemarks are located in in Google Earth can be somewhat problematic if you have many visitors from locations like Europe unless you zoom-in on each country. An overlay is available in the Google Earth Community forum that creates colored polygons over each country. When the countries are all colored in, it makes it easier to visualize what countries the placemarks belong to when you are not zoomed-in. The overlay is located at:
http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php/Cat/0/Number/42988/page/vc
In case the posting has moved, visit http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/search.php?Cat=0 and type in "World Countries as Polygons" (with quotation marks) in the Keyword Search Term box, select "in subject" and then click the submit button.
Viewing in Google Maps
To view your Analytics data on a Google Map, select the Analytics XML file and then click on the "View Google Map" button above. The a new page will be loaded showing the map. To return to this page, use your browser's back button. As with any Google Map, you can use your mouse to pan. Click on a location marker to bring up a popup indicating the name of the town and number of visits from that location.
Additional Resources
Average latitude and longitude of countries
Last Updated: 05 January 2010
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