Fix a kml exported from GEE so that holes are respected

fix_kml.R

fix_kml <- function(infile, outfile) {

    intext <- readLines(con <- file(infile))
    out <- list()
    ll = 1
    indout <- 1
    # cycle on lines of input
    while(ll <= length(intext)){
        curline <- intext[ll]
        # If a "hole block" is starting, check if there is only
        # one ring. If not, enclose all rings in
        # <innerBoundaryIs>" - "</innerBoundaryIs>" blocks
        if(length(grep("<innerBoundaryIs>", curline)) != 0) {
            if (length(grep("</innerBoundaryIs>", intext[ll+4])) == 0) {

                while(length(grep("</innerBoundaryIs>", intext[ll+1])) == 0) {
                    out[indout]     <- "<innerBoundaryIs>"
                    out[indout + 1] <- intext[ll+1]
                    out[indout + 2] <- intext[ll+2]
                    out[indout + 3] <- intext[ll+3]
                    out[indout + 4] <- "</innerBoundaryIs>"
                    ll <- ll + 3
                    indout <- indout + 5
                }
                indout <- indout + 1
                ll = ll + 2
            } else {
                out[indout] <- curline
                indout <- indout + 1
                ll = ll +1
            }
        } else {
            # Otherwise, simply copy the line in the output
            out[indout] <- curline
            indout <- indout + 1
            ll = ll +1
        }

    }
    outarr <- unlist(out)
    outfileConn<-file(outfile)
    writeLines(outarr, outfileConn)
    close(outfileConn)
}

Useful to fix holes on vector maps exported from GEE. Example of usage (after sourcing the function):

infile_kml  <- "C:/Users/LB_laptop/Downloads/FireCCI_RD_36KWE_20190623_20190708.kml"
outfile_kml <- "C:/Users/LB_laptop/Downloads/FireCCInew.kml"
fix_kml(infile_kml  , outfile_kml )

The new kml file should be readable by GDAL driver (eg in QGIS) and holes should be ok.