The 3D buildings in Google Earth are a great way to understand an area visually, and they just got better at conveying information about the place itself. Currently, you can click on model that was created by 3D modelers using tools like Google SketchUp and Google Building Maker to open a balloon.
Today, we've added two new sections to those balloons: Photos of nearby places and Nearby places. Not only can you learn more about the place from the balloon, but you can also dig deeper by following the links. Want to see more nearby photos and places? What to learn about the Ferry Building listed as a nearby place? Click the links in the balloon to explore further.
Next time you're exploring a city with 3D buildings, watch for the familiar glow as you hover over a building, and give it a click. You might learn something new about the place.
Madrid, Spain is the latest city to be introduced to the 3D Buildings layer in Google Earth.
The City of Madrid contains scores of beautiful structures ranging from art museums and classical monuments to palatial government buildings. The prevalence of architectural wonders may explain why passionate geo-modelers have created thousands of models there (using both Google SketchUp and Google Building Maker) -- the largest concentration of 3D models anywhere the world!
To start your virtual tour, I recommend you fly-to El Palacio real de Madrid (Royal Palace of Madrid), the official residence of the King of Spain. From there I'd fly over to the Puerta de Alcalá, a famous classical monument located in the Plaza de la Independencia (Independence Square), and then over to the Monumento a Alfonso XII en el Parque del Buen Retiro, a beautiful monument that is among the greatest in Europe.
And don't miss the Plaza de Cibeles where the famous statue Fuente de Cibeles is surrounded by trees and beautiful buildings, including the stunning Palacio de Comunicaciones (Madrid City Hall) and Banco de España (Bank of Spain) buildings.
If I were to visit Madrid for real, I think I'd want to stay at the Palace Hotel, which is a short walk to the famous Prado Museum (one of my all-time favorite models in Google Earth) where you can fly inside and experience the great works of art.
The countdown to the 2010 Winter Olympics has begun, and the Google Boulder office has been busy modeling the Olympic venues in Vancouver, BC using Google SketchUp.
Last month, we introduced photo-realistic 3D models for eight of the nine venues hosting the games.
Today, we released updates to many of the models using higher-resolution imagery, and, the last venue for the Olympics: the Bobsled Course!
With today's release, all nine venues (54 buildings in total) are completely modeled in 3D and available for viewing in Google Earth's "3D Buildings" layer (or view the collection in the Google 3D Warehouse). The collection includes 3D models that range from downtown event centers to ski lifts and spectator bleachers.
In addition, the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games incorporated the models into the Official website using the Google Earth plugin. To see the models, simply click on "Spectator Guide," then "Venues." You'll find a "3D View" tab that loads the 3D model.
We're pleased to announce that we added Cincinnati, Ohio to Google Earth in 3D today. Start exploring by opening Google Earth and searching for "Cincinnati, OH"; make sure the "3D Buildings" layer is turned on.
This city is a great example of how multiple sources have been used to populate Google Earth with 3D buildings. The city contains a large number of user-generated models (made with SketchUp), Google-generated models, and untextured 3D models contributed via theCities in 3D Program. Have fun exploring Cincinnati in 3D!
Fall is just around the corner here in Boulder, and with it comes our next release of Google SketchUp (cue the bugling elk). The team's been working long hours through the summer on projects large and small. I'm proud to announce that Google SketchUp 7.1 is available today for you to download and install. Don't you just love the smell of fresh new software?
Even though we're calling this a "point" release (you lucky Pro 7.0 users will get this update for free!), Google SketchUp 7.1 includes a lot more than just minor tweaks and bug fixes. We've added a batch of new features and functionality that make SketchUp (and LayOut 2.1 in SketchUp Pro) even more useful for everyone. Here's some of what's new:
Large Model Handling
We overhauled SketchUp's rendering engine to make it easier to work with big models. With the right setup, operations like orbiting, zooming and drawing are quicker and smoother. Of course, how much quicker depends entirely on factors like your computer's configuration and the specific model you're working on. For most people, most of the time, SketchUp should feel snappier when they're working with lots of geometry. Have a look at this article to find out how to take advantage of the improvements we made.
Better File Exchange
One of the things we're pretty concerned about around here is something called data liberation. Too often, your stuff's locked inside proprietary file formats that force you to use whatever tool you used to create it. We don't think that's right, so we're doing what we can to make it easier to move your data around.
COLLADA is a 3D file format based on open standards; it makes it easier to move your models between different pieces of software. KMZ is the standard file format for packaging 3D models together with information about their geographic locations. SketchUp 7.1 can import and export COLLADA and KMZ files, which should go a long way toward letting you do whatever you like with your data.
Modeling in Context
Whether you're building photo-textured, geo-located models that are headed for Google Earth, or just trying to cobble together some context for a design proposal, you should be interested about the stuff I talk about in this short video:
Get Photo Texture gives you direct access to Google Maps Street View imagery from right inside SketchUp. You can use panoramic, street-level photography we've gathered to photo-texture your models. It's spooky-cool. Nearby Models lets you use the Component Browser to search the 3D Warehouse for buildings located near the one you're working on. Bringing in a geo-location snapshot first tells SketchUp where to look. Upload Component provides a shortcut for uploading parts of your model to the 3D Warehouse without having to save them out as separate files first. This is handy if you're modeling several buildings on the same block; it's also useful for preserving the functionality of Dynamic Components when you upload them.
Dimensioned Drawings in Google SketchUp Pro
We've given SketchUp Pro a big upgrade in this release; it's specially targeted at those of you who need to make professional design documents to communicate your work to clients and partners. LayOut 2.1 (included in SketchUp Pro 7.1) now includes a simple but surprisingly powerful tool for dimensioning models and creating dimensioned drawings. There's a bunch more to talk about in LayOut 2.1, but we'll save that for another blog post tomorrow.
...and if that's not enough, have you got an idea for what we should do next?
In earlier days, we used to be able to talk to everybody who was using SketchUp. Every week, well over a million of you are using SketchUp, and it's getting really hard to remember all of your names – much less the new features you'd like us to build. For this release, I've put up a shiny new Google SketchUp Product Ideas page that you can use to let us know what you think we should build next. Don't hold back – I'm listening, and I'll respond formally to (at least) the top ten ideas you post.
And if you just want to talk about SketchUp, please head on over to the Help Center where you'll see that we've done a big upgrade on our discussion forums.
