- Google KML Reader/Writer
- Google KML Quick Facts
- Resource Traversal
- Google KML Reader Parameters
- Google KML Writer Parameters
- KML Writer Feature Type Properties: Format Parameters
- Writer Pipelines
- Atom Metadata
- Style Management and Common Styles
- Document Element Omission
- Raw Text
- Update Mode
- Feature Representation
- KML Dataset Structure
- File Structure
- Identifying Elements
- Documents and Folders
- Tours
- Extended Data
- User Defined Schema
- Layers and Feature Type Fanout
- Feature Attributes
- Geometry
- 3D
- Fixed Schema
- Common Element Attributes
- Common Format Attributes
- NetworkLinkControl
- Document
- Folder
- Placemark
- ScreenOverlay
- GroundOverlay
- PhotoOverlay
- NetworkLink
- Style
- StyleMap
- Tour
- AnimatedUpdate
- FlyTo
- SoundCue
- TourControl
- Wait
Although the KML specification permits multiple child elements of the <kml> element, Google Earth, and many other applications only support a single child element. The most common child element is <Document>, and the default behavior of the KML writer is to create a <Document> element that contains the rest of the dataset's features.
The KML writer's default behavior is sufficient for most users, however there is occasionally a need for alternative root-level elements. The KML writer supports requirement via the OMIT_DOCUMENT_ELEMENT directive. If set to yes', the writer will skip writing the <Document> element, and write the child element of the document as the child of the <kml> element.
Note: The Document can only have 1 root element, which can be a folder that can in turn contain other elements.