Google Building Maker
Google has announced the launch of Google Building Maker – a fun and simple tool for creating buildings for Google Earth.
You can think of Building Maker as a cross between Google Maps and a gigantic bin of building blocks. You pick a building and construct a model of it using aerial photos and simple 3D shapes – both of which provided by Google.
When you’re done, Google will take a look at your model. If it looks right and if a better model doesn’t already exist, Google will add your model to the 3D Buildings layer in Google Earth. You can make a whole building in a few minutes.
Below are some information you should know about Building Maker:
* Building Maker is an online tool, and it runs entirely in your web browser (Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, etc.)
* Before you can add a building to Google Earth, you need to sign in to your Google Account (so you get credit for what you contribute).
* Models you create with Building Maker “live” in the Google 3D Warehouse (a giant, online repository of 3D models).
* You can use Google SketchUp (our free, general-purpose 3D modeling tool) to edit or otherwise modify anything you make with Building Maker.
* Make sure you have the latest version of Google Earth installed on your computer.
* If you’re on a Mac, you need to download the Google Earth plug-in directly.
For more information, you can check out the following video to see Building Maker in action:
Building Maker is free and is currently available in 14 languages.
To join the worldwide mapping community, you can go to www.google.com/buildingmaker.
Related posts: