Google Building Maker: Create 3D Buildings on Google Earth Right From the Browser!

Oct 14, 2009 by Abbas

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I am a HUGE Google fan there is no two ways about it. One of the best things I like about Google is that they create means to solve the problem instead of solving a problem or to put it in another way Google creates tools to get the work done instead of doing the work (mostly).

Today’s newly launched tool “Building Maker” is the best example I can quote. With such tools Google takes advantage of the loyal and tech savvy user base which helps the company localize the product once it is developed.

Google building maker is based on web version of Sketchup, a company Google acquired couple of years ago. Although, the web-based plugin does not offer as many features and tools, the tools offered are enough to make a decently detailed structure.

The secret of making a structure which closely resembles the reality is refining the layout as much as possible. Go over as many images as you can under the “Image views” column on the left, if you are done with the existing images, click on “Load next 2 images” and add more details to it.

Here is what downtown Chicago looks like and the one building that I am currently working on is the University of Chicago (marked with a red arrow).

It’s a fun tool to play with, I remember marking an entire area down when Google Earth was first release and I’ll probably do the same with the building maker!

For those of you who want to do the same.. watch the video below to see how the tool works..