WVCaver2011 wrote:Man, that bites that you have to spend all that money just to get a shapefile to work properly...
Well, I spent $200 back in 2005 for a student copy, and it is all I've ever needed. Not a big outlay of cash, and any student can qualify for the discount.
Meanwhile, ArcExplorer will not let you do what you seem to want to do- that is, view a three dimensional model of the cave and the surface above the cave from any vantage point below the surface. Doesn't do it with a shapefile, doesn't do it with a KML file.
You can answer your other questions-
WVCaver2011 wrote:...I would rather just like to know how much dirt and rock is above my head at any given point in the cave. Also I would like to know how close certain areas are to the surface just to see if there may be other entrances to the cave in that direction....
with some pretty basic map interpretation, comparing cave elevations to surface elevations. You can use the PopUp tool in ArcExplorer to identify these numbers, or view your elevations in Compass while reviewing the KML file in ArcExplorer.
A case of getting what you pay for ;-)