KMZ displayed incorrectly after Save to My Places and restarting Google Earth

Question

I have several KMZ files (for example see https://www.dropbox.com/s/60pk3xx82ydwwml/RiveraAndresRecent_glacier_variations_S0895981113000382_2.kmz). When I open one of these KMZ files in Google Earth everything looks fine. However when I select "Save to My Places" by right clicking the file in the Temporary Places panel and restart Google Earth, the KMZ file is displayed incorrectly. I see several red crosses instead of the image. I suppose the networklinks in my KML file are somehow incorrect - the related image files cannot be located anymore by the KML. Is there a way to solve this, so that I can save my KMZ-files correctly to My Places?

Answer 1

There is a bug in Google Earth with respect to having a KMZ with NetworkLinks whose target has referenced files being saved in the saved places file. When saved the base file path in your KMZ file is changed from the KMZ location to the location of the saved places file and the nested KML files and icons/images no longer refer to a valid file path.

A workaround is to save the KMZ in a non-temporary folder (e.g. My Documents, etc.) and create a Network Link in Google Earth to that file. From Google Earth menu, click Add/Network Link then browse to the KMZ file and click "OK". Then save to 'My Places'.

There are a some validation errors in the KML, but those errors are not contributing to the bug you're now seeing. You can get a list of the errors using KML Validator. Note the KMZ itself is too large but you can upload and just validate the doc.kml first.