Total Station CSV to KMZ with Site Photos
Last updated 26 September 2026
Turn a raw total station export into one KMZ file with a photo in every point's balloon — naming photos, matching them to points and adding boundary lines.
1. Export the points from the instrument
From your Leica, Trimble, Topcon or Sokkia controller or office software, export the job as a comma-separated file with the point number, easting, northing, elevation and code — often called P,E,N,Z,Code. Headings are optional: for a file without them, choose the column order when you open it (for example Point · Easting · Northing · Elevation).
2. Name the photos after the points
A photo is matched to a point when its file name matches the point name: TREE-01.jpg goes with point TREE-01. A mark photographed more than once can use TREE-01-1.jpg, TREE-01-2.jpg and so on. If renaming isn't practical, add a PHOTO column to the sheet with the file name for each point.
3. Open the file and set the grid
Open the CSV in the web app or the Windows app and choose the coordinate system under Coordinate system. Not sure which one? See the grid pages.
4. Attach the photos
Under Site photos, add the pictures. Each one is marked as matched or not, so you can spot a misnamed file straight away. Phone photos carry their own GPS position: the tool warns when a photo was taken further from its point than a distance you set (30 m by default) — usually a sign it belongs to a different mark.
5. Make the plan readable
- Point symbols give each kind of point its own marker, guessed from the code — trees, benchmarks, pegs — and put each kind in its own folder so it can be switched on and off in Google Earth.
- Lines and areas joins points into lines, one line for each code, so a BOUNDARY or FENCE code becomes a line with its length, and a closed boundary gets its area in square metres and hectares.
- Balloon contents chooses what a client sees when they click a point.
6. Save one KMZ
Press Save KMZ. A KMZ is a KML with the pictures packed inside it, so a single file carries the points, lines and photos and opens on any computer or phone with Google Earth — nothing gets lost when you email it. Photos are shrunk as they're packed to keep the file small.
Try it with your own sheet