@FiremarshalBill
Here are examples of maps created by my friend using
Google Earth. The objective was to pinpoint exact positions of various units at different times based upon official Army documents. He said he could not (or did not try) to sketch a Route with
GE. The main reason is he was tracking a Tank Battalion which moved around a lot. They could be in one position for 3 or 4 days and then move 20 miles away over night. Also he was tracking so many---i.e., Company A, B & C and the infantry battalions/companies they were supporting.
GE is good if you want more precise locations. It is also great because you can "see" the terrain which was important for the mountains of Italy. I haven't tried but I suppose it would work just as well for the mountains of Tennessee.
He first started out by finding the GPS Coordinates. For his Tank Battalion, he used the Army documents and had to convert the Army 6-digit grid coordinates into GPS coordinates. (I have a link that does this conversion for any WW2 Army map coordinates.) You can find the coordinates by placing a Pin on the Google Earth map (or even on a Google Map) and clicking to obtain the coordinates.
Then he created a spreadsheet with all the data and the comments for a pop-up window. The spreadsheet is imported into the
GE program and it creates a map that you can maneuver around and view from various positions.
This 1st map shows the result after plotting just a few points. Each point is labeled which can also be color-coded. The Yellow label has a 6-digit number which is the Army grid coordinate; this is followed by the Date. The pop-up note gives details such as unit, the time of arrival or departure, etc.
In September 1944, Company C of 752nd Tank Battalion, in support of the 338th Regiment, fought some hard battles here in Northern Italy against well fortified German positions at Sambuco and Caburrccia. This shows how he plotted various coordinates over a few days, and it also shows the contents of a pop-up note.
Google Earth has some other great features. You can rotate and tilt the view so you can see the topography as the soldier would see it from his position. Or if you want to check the topography, you can plot it.
This 2nd map shows two positions held by the Germans on the GUSTAV Line called Hill 66 and Hill 69, which by its designation says one is 3 Meters higher than the other. This height elevation plot shows these two hills were the same height.
The Red Line traces the path along which a height elevation diagram was constructed.
EDITED TO ADD
This is how I have used
Google Earth to view the terrain. You may want to use this method to highlight details that you can't visualize on a 2-D map. I simply captured a screen image from
GE and edited it with Paint.
This shows how the 337th Regiment was advancing along Hiway #7 on the West coast of Italy. They rode into an ambush just below Terracina. They had to deploy over the hill and fought the Jerry in an old cemetery. My Dad's 328FA set up position on top of that hill and shelled North towards Anzio.