Guide to the Google Guides

[Google Guide Alex]

You see our names dotted throughout the forum and may wonder who we are and how our credentials make us qualified to answer your questions. Well, here you go!

The 3D Warehouse Forum Google Guide team is comprised of six 3D modeling enthusiasts with diverse backgrounds including 3D Design, Digital Film, Architecture, Graphic Design and Quality Assurance. We are based out of Boulder, Colorado, and our team was created at Google 6 years ago with the directive to model Denver and Boulder for Google Earth as a pilot to explore how this geo-modeling process could work. You can view that first collection of models here* and see others throughout the 3D buildings layer under the Google 3D Warehouse account. For our first 2.5 years at Google we worked in 3D production and spent our days modeling and providing feedback for the development of modeling tools. You can find models created by us from that period in the AIA 150, Burnham and Henry Hudson 400 collections.

*[note: You may notice that upload dates for author:Camelot are only a couple years old. Initially these buildings were uploaded in blocks of buildings. A few years ago we split the models and uploaded each building individually.]

From then on we’ve been involved in many programs related to geo-modeling. For the sake of transparency, here is a list of roles that we own today:

• We manage the weekly layer updates - a task which consumes several days of full-time work.
• We manage the review teams and closely evaluate the quality of their judgments. They are based around the world and spend their days looking at thousands of models, one at time.
• We manage the Senior reviewers who split their time responding to Appeals and modeling for Google Earth [some recent models here and here and here].
• We aid in SketchUp, Building Maker and 3D Warehouse maintenance and development.
• We work with Google Earth and 3D Warehouse engineers to develop and refine the 3D Building acceptance criteria.
• We run the Cities in 3D program, Google Qualified Developers program and Google Earth 3D trees layer.
• Our team helps out with competitions like Model Your Town.
• We create tours for the Google Earth 3D Buildings gallery.
• We participate in Geo Community Summits and 3D Basecamps. Recently you may have seen us in Singapore, Mountain View, CA, Barcelona or here in Boulder.
• And, last but not least, with Nicole’s recent move to a new opportunity we now monitor this forum.

Since our first day at Google we’ve dedicated our time to the creation and maintenance of the 3D pipeline. We are passionate about modeling for Google Earth and have our hands in every step of the process.

As one can imagine, the 3D community has grown and changed drastically over the past 6 years. With it we work to adapt our processes to fit popular feature requests, common complaints and internal limitations. While aspects of the 3D pipeline are ever improving we’re also faced with an endless list of ways to make the 3D modeling experience better.

And so, there you have it. I hope this post proves to be insightful and helpful as you consider how we can assist in your 3D modeling experience.

Sincerely,
Mason, Adam, Jordan, Alex, Catherine and Craig