Help Model a City
If you're looking for help on modeling an existing city, please visit the FAQ page for instructions.
Setting Up a New City
If you would like to have the community of 3D artists on the Google 3D Warehouse assist you in modeling your city for Google Earth, you must provide them with the necessary information to do so. This includes images of the buildings to be modeled and locations of the buildings to be modeled via imported terrain files. These images can be easily uploaded for free to Picasa Web Albums to be shared with the world.
Step One
First, make sure you have the proper photography for modeling, also scan/convert any drawings files you have into .jpg files and organize all of the files by building.
Step Two
Set up a new Google account.
Step Three
Download and open Picasa and organize your images into folders or albums divided by the different buildings to be modeled. Next right click on the album or folder in the right side panel and select "Upload to Web Album...".
After your imagery is uploaded, please geo-locate your photos by selection the "Map Photos" button at the top of the screen. This will open up a new page that will allow you to drag and drop your images to where they were photographed on a map. By providing these locations it will make the modeling process much easier for the 3D Artist.
Step Four
Navigate to the 3D Warehouse homepage and select "create a collection" on the right side. Name it after the city (e.g. "London") and make sure you select "contains: other collections". Within in this new collection create two "child-collections": one for completed models (e.g. "London") and one for models to be completed (e.g. "Help Model London"). In your "Help" collection's description make sure to include something about submitting completed models to your other child-collection "London". By having these two collections you can determine the quality of the final models for your city. Many people will, more than likely, attempt the same model and submit it to you for review, so this gives you a chance to pick from the best and take down completed models from your "Help" collection that you are satisfied with. By taking completed models off of your "Help" collection, all of the buildings you post will be attempted instead of the same one over and over. It is recommended to add a discussion group when you create the collections, to help organize your modeling efforts. You can do this when you create a collection or afterwards in the edit menu of that collection. You may even wish to create sub sections (child collections) which include topics such as future buidings for the city or even buildings you would like to see in the city.
Step Five
You will need to create geo-located SketchUp files for each building you would like completed. To do this, download both Google SketchUp and Google Earth. Open Google Earth and find the location of one of the buildings that you have a PicasaWeb album for, and zoom in so the building is the focus of the screen. Minimize this window and open a new SketchUp file and select "Tools">"Google Earth">"Get Current View". This will bring the proper Google Earth terrain and imagery into your SketchUp model. Since the 3D Warehouse will not allow you to upload a model with only the Google Earth import in it, you will need to add something to the model, such as some simple massing of your building or the "Model Me" sign which can be found here.
Save this model after the name of the building, and select "Tools">"Google Earth">"Share this Model" which will add your model to the 3D Warehouse. An upload window will appear for you to add a name, description, website (link to the PicasaWeb album with imagery for that particular building), and search terms. Once you have uploaded the model, a window with the model will appear and you will have the option to "add to my collection..." at the bottom of the screen. Add the model to your "Help" collection. Repeat this step for each building.
Step Six
Once you have completed all of these steps, submit a request to us to add your collection to our "Help Model a City" collection by clicking the "contact the owner" link on the Help Model a City collection.
