Building Maker to be retired June 1st, 2013 - Announcement

[CraigD - Google]

Hi folks,

Today we announced the retirement of the Building Maker tool. Through the use of new 3D imagery techniques, we hope to create and release updates to many of the same locations that are currently Building Maker cities. The Building Maker cities that don’t currently have 3D imagery available will remain “Building Maker” cities until we generate and process new 3D imagery for those areas. If you’ve created Building Maker content in the past, that content will still be available to you from the 3D Warehouse and can be downloaded at any time. 

I would also like to thank those of you who’ve contributed to Building Maker cities, and for supporting our first attempt at a tool that delivers consistent and accurate 3D coverage of largely populated areas. We’ve learned a lot during the development and support of Building Maker, and we hope to apply those lessons as we further develop the new 3D imagery technology of tomorrow.

Best,

- CraigD

[Billy Sastard]

I know progress and all that, but I can't help but think; Boo!

[SnowTiger]

And I say Yeah !

I never liked BM models in the first place.
While many were very good, most that I ever saw where extremely poor quality models and textures.
At least when compared to SU models.

[Scottio Wilson]

But it seems, if you are replacing Building Maker models in the flyover upsweep, Sketchup models are going away too. Is it correct to assume there will be no more Sketchup models in GE 3d layer?

[CraigD - Google]

Hi Scottio, 

As you may know, Google's policy has always been not to discuss any future plans for any product or data publishing schedules. This announcement is strictly related to Building Maker cities, that many had predicted would be replaced with the new 3D Imagery cities because of the similar technology. 3D Imagery is still only targeted towards large, highly populate areas, leaving the outlying regions for SketchUp style 3D buildings.

Best, 

    - CraigD

[matthiasbasler]

Hi Craig and all,

it is imho a consistent decision and one I am not too sorry about. While I do not think the 3D imagery will come anywhere close to the SketchUp-made building models in quality at any time, I believe it has the potential to reach the quality of current BM models in the near future - at a better coverage and with better consistency.

The only thing I'm sorry about is that this will likely mean that an this interesting technology will maybe not be developed any further. (Generating 3D models from pieces on 2D images and automatically texturing them.) I had hoped that this approach would make it into SketchUp one day.

One thing I wonder: Will the existing BM created models continue to show up in the legacy models layer (and in GE 6.x), as do the other user created models?

Matthias Basler

[Ricardo Nunes]

Mentioned this before, but will repeat myself because I feel it's very important:

Clickable buildings are being replaced by non-clickable versions.
This kind of defeats the purpose of having a 3D interactive map.
For good looks with no extra information, the 45º imagery + street-view is better that BM or autogenerated models...
But that is a problem for GEarth, not 3DWarehouse :-)

This being said, I'm happy to see a move towards recognizing that hand crafted models are special, and really shouldn't be mixed with fully/semi-automated processes.
The Warehouse will be more relevant this way.

[Max Kraft]

Oh no! Hello by the way.

I saw these "new technologies"!!!

Un-less they are modified to be good, I am NOT supporting this idea.

The buildings look like garbage!

[Mitchell "Papa" L. Alomar]

I've created hundreds of models of my community in the Bronx I am thankful that the bronx hasn't been touched and replaced with what I consider unrecognizable structures. for the sake of bronx residents skip us and allow me and my students to enjoy seeing the fruits of their labors on Google earth  Thank you Papa

On Wednesday, March 13, 2013 7:05:48 PM UTC-4, CraigD - Google wrote:

[CraigD - Google]

Hi Papa, the latest updates to NYC are actually 3D Imagery buildings and not Building Maker models (I'm assuming that you're replying to this Building Maker thread thinking that the latest update was Building Maker).

The situation is that Building Maker is going away, and more cities (and other heavily populated regions) will be modeled using the 3D Imagery technology, as that is where we are focusing our efforts. If you want to view the "legacy" 3D buildings layer, you'll have to change that setting in the "Options..." or "Preferences" 3D settings in Google Earth, for the time being.

I know that this comes as a disappointment to you and others who've created hand-made 3D models in these populated areas, however the technology is changing and we're having to adapt to continue at a lead pace.

Best,

   - Craig

[Mitchell "Papa" L. Alomar]

Hi Craig;  Can Google Earth have a selection process where a viewer can check off on the 3d building sub categories of  photo realistic, trees, gray then add categories to select between models and new imagery. This way a viewer can decide whether they want to utilize the old Google earth view or the new process. Thank you Papa 

On Wednesday, March 13, 2013 7:05:48 PM UTC-4, CraigD - Google wrote:

[CraigD - Google]

Hi Papa, the only option currently supported and available is within the Win "Options" or Mac "Preferences" settings. The 3D Imagery data is our main focus, which I understand can be a big disappointment for hand made modelers, but it is the direction that we are developing, and it's very unlikely that the option for legacy models will become more prominent. 

[Mitchell "Papa" L. Alomar]

Craig ; Thank you for the head up on changing my settings on options to view the legacy my previous post was addressing that same topic I wasn't aware of the already existing option Once again thank you Pop By the way not everyone will know about the legacy option and maybe my suggestion to make the process easier using the check off of 3 d building sub categories should be considered- just a thought thank you

On Wednesday, March 13, 2013 7:05:48 PM UTC-4, CraigD - Google wrote:

[Mitchell "Papa" L. Alomar]

Craig you beat me to the punch cancelling my previous post Take care Papa

On Wednesday, March 13, 2013 7:05:48 PM UTC-4, CraigD - Google wrote:

[yamu]

Will there be a new software that we could use to make buildings for Google Earth?

On Wednesday, March 13, 2013 7:05:48 PM UTC-4, CraigD - Google wrote:

[CraigD - Google]

Hi Yamu, as policy dictates, we at Google do not pre-announce any possible upcoming software release or tool update, if they exist. SketchUp is still available for use modeling 3D buildings.

This announcement is mainly about the retirement of Building Maker, as we focus more on the 3D Imagery technology.

Hope that helps.

Cheers,

    - Craig

[CraigD - Google]

Updated: Here is the specific link to the official announcement.

[Alysia Mejia]

Hi Craig. 

Over the past year I have really come to appreciate Google Building
maker. Not so much for the “making of buildings” feature it offers, but rather for
the 5-6 different angled views it provides me when looking at a property.  I work for a small company in their solar
department and having the ability to see a property from several different
angles helps me tremendously in my design process. With Building Maker being
retired on June 1^st, where can I go to access these angled views? Thanks!

-       Alysia  

[CraigD - Google]

Hi Alysia, that's a pretty clever use of Building Maker, and one that I haven't thought of!

Unfortunately, those views will no longer be available for viewing.

[drobbins]

Too bad, Google couldn't convert programs like this to Open Source and then let the public have a crack at keeping them alive and then innovating them. Craig, you statement of Alysia's "clever" use of Building Maker shows that there is still ways to use Google's castoff and shut down products that the company might not be aware. It is a shame that some of this stuff has to be shelved. I realize that Google is streamlining and going in a different direction, but programs like this still have use, and there is a niche community out there that still might want to see it thrive.

Darian

[alp28]

Hello,

I've also greatly enjoyed Building Maker, and have also used it for purposes then just geo-modelling. For instance, finding out the height of a building, by importing the model into sketchup and measuring it. There are many buildings or skyscrapers in the world where data such as height, are not available on websites like emporis.com or skyscraperpage.co, and contacting municipal offices or looking up old blue prints would be difficult.
Thanks.

[J.Stevenson]

[CraigD - Google]

Hi Darian, I wish it was possible to convert Building Maker to Open Source, but unfortunately it's just not feasible. 

The Building Maker tool is only part of the process, as there is a large effort behind capturing, assembling/geo-coding, processing, and then publishing the data sources for the tool to use. We're aiming towards continual improvement of the 3D Imagery, so that it can serve the purposes of folks like Alysia and others who use imagery and 3D buildings to visualize areas that are not locally convenient or possible to see from above without a helicopter. :) 

Best,

     - Craig

[WCW]

 

This Blows!!   I am in the Solar industry and building maker was very useful to my clients!!  

How do I create models of building now?

PLEASE PLEASE Please bring Building Maker back ASAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wes.

[Google Craig]

Hi Wes, sorry to be the bearer of bad news. SketchUp, however is still available for use, and with clever application of Street View and 45 degree Maps imagery, you should be able to make very good models. 

PLUS, SketchUp has Sun & Shadow settings so you can actually see where the shadows are located and any time in the calendar year. I have a few friends in the Solar industry that use SketchUp strictly for that purpose.

Best,

 

     - Craig

[isidro del pino]

craigD,segun entiendo,ya no se van a aceptar nuevos modelos 3d,si es asi publiquen una respuesta concisa ,ya que si es correcto lo que veo expresado en este hilo,ya no seria molestia de la comunidad modelar,ya que no tiene sentido,gracias

[Google Craig]

Hi Isidro, I'm not sure what you're asking here, but I can say the Building Maker is no longer available.

You can create SketchUp models and upload them to the 3D Warehouse and Google Earth.

Best,

     - Craig

[isidro del pino]

gracias por la informacion,por lo que dices ,parece que podemos seguir modelando,un saludo

[Tim Shoemaker]

I am confused... I have received multiple "There's a problem with the model you submitted" emails... many are building maker, and many are Sketchup.. the one I just received was regarding: http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=db9a95cef84a4af271f23d677666eb20&ct=psce&hl=en which is definitely Sketchup, and in my opinion, is better then the soft edged model that has replaced it... the replacement model is even "incorrect" in many ways.

Why are the Sketchup models being replaced?

Tim

[Google Craig]

Hi Tim, here is the model that has been accepted in that area: http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=5daaef2d8ea47a598f2b8a83f09b4214&ct=3dbl&hl=en

This region has 3D Imagery, so the SketchUp models will not be seen by default in this city, but the model that replaced yours appears to have an inaccurate height, so I've marked that in the review.

[Sebastian S.]

Hi Craig,

I know this is not my case here but I followed the link you posted and you may wanna check all those models of this particular modeler again since the most of those models do not exist in that area (skyscraper on place where only small houses stand) and/or are just exact copies of other people's work. I guess the reviewers were a bit stressed and didn't recognized it.

 

 

Regards

 

Sebastian

[Google Craig]

Thanks Sebastian. I'm on it.

[yamu]

Hi craig, I was wondering why it retired.

[Google Craig]

Hi Yamu, the technology involved in capturing data and creating 3D buildings from imagery has advanced beyond what was capable in Building Maker, so we're focusing on the new technology. 

It was a great tool in its day though!

Best,

     - Craig

[Ashley Cattani]

Is there any way to get 3d maps for a business without the Building Maker tool? I am living in Montana and our Google Maps for the business im working with are unnoticable compared to such cities like San Fransico, whose buildings have 3d shading in teh map view.

[Jamie Laing]

Hi Craig, I work at an outdoor music festival and I'd like to improve the 3D appearance of the grounds.  I'm guessing this is no longer possible.  Is that true, and do you have any recommendations?

[Google Craig]

Hi Jamie, let's start a new thread specifically about that, instead of in this discussion, where I can learn a bit about what you're trying to do and how to do it.

Cheers,

   - Craig