4.11 desktop does not show custom icons

I have several *.desktop files like the one below on my desktop. I can not get it to show the icon on the desktop. The icon displays fine in the application menu.

The png file pointed to by the line Icon=... exists.

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=Google Earth
GenericName=3D planet viewer
Comment=Explore, search and discover the planet
Exec=/home/myuserid/google-earth/googleearth %f
Terminal=false
MultipleArgs=false
Type=Application
Icon=/home/myuserid/google-earth/googleearth-icon.png
Categories=Application;Network
MimeType=application/vnd.google-earth.kml+xml;application/vnd.google-earth.kmz;application/earthviewer;application/keyhole

the file works ok in a gnome session, I think.
See also thread here:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2186456&page=3