Exporting an IOF XML from Purple Pen

Once you have planned your course in Purple Pen, you need to generate a KML file for uploading to MapRun. The generated file will also need checking to ensure the points are all in the right place. To work with KML files, you will need to use Google Earth. This can be run in your browser, but it is more efficient to use the desktop version called Google Earth Pro.

The obvious way to build your MapRun course after planning in Purple Pen would be to open your Purple Pen file and Google Earth Pro side-by-side and manually add the corresponding points to a new list in Google Earth, but this is both time-consuming and open to errors (it is easy to pick the wrong road junction, for example, especially when zoomed right in). Purple Pen allows you to export your course as a IOF XML file using the Create Data Interchange file (IOF XML) option on the File menu which can be converted to KML.

• If your base map is geo-referenced (if an OCAD or OpenOrienteeringMapper file), the IOF XML will be also be geo-referenced. This can be converted to a KML file
• If your base map is an OCAD or OpenOrienteeringMapper file, but is not geo-referenced, then it is not too hard to use either of those programs to roughly geo-reference it by specifying the latitude and longitude of a point on the map (it does not need to be too exact as you will be checking and adjusting the controls in Google Earth later). OpenOrienteeringMapper is free and will open OCAD files, so you do not need to own a copy of OCAD for this. Using these tools for geo-referencing is beyond the scope of this document
• If it is a PDF from OpenOrienteeringMap, it will not be geo-referenced, but the KMZ file you exported at the same time will be geo-referenced and will cover exactly the same area (this is a good reason why you should keep the same reference number in the filename when exporting so you can be certain the two files correspond exactly). The IOF XML can be used in conjunction with the KMZ to created a geo-referenced KML file.

Tools for these conversions, can be found here. This page contains many tools. The sections to use are:

• Convert Georeferenced IOF XML Course File to KML Course Files (in a Zip file): if your base map is geo-referenced
• Convert Un-Georeferenced IOF XML Course File to KML Course Files (in a Zip file) using a matching KMZ file to provide the geo-referencing: if your base map is a PDF, but you have the matching KMZ

The conversion tools will give you a zip file containing individual KML files for all the courses in your Purple Pen file (including All Controls). Copy the KML files for the courses you want out of the zip file and rename them as appropriate.