Computer Research

Google Building Maker

Google released Building Maker, a tool that lets you help their Google Earth/ Google Maps/ SketchUp suite of apps by creating 3D building data for them. My first impression of this (Google Earth plug-in based) web app is that it’s very casual to use, and could turn out to be a fun toy. You zoom in on a Google Maps area of choice and then look for a placemark; afterwards, based on reference bird view imagery, you’ll start dropping rectangles and other shapes and align them with the real thing (and switch to a viewer tab to get a preview of your progress). Your model will be saved to the Google 3D Warehouse and then be reviewed for inclusion on Google Earth. Andy Baio thinks of it as “crowdsourcing 3D buildings ... by making it playful”.

[Thanks Franta!]

[By Philipp Lenssen | Origin: Google Building Maker | Comments]