The 3D Initiative - Model your house; your town; the world!

[Nicole - Geo Community]

For many years now, Google has been working on creating an accurate, 3D representation of the real world. Over the years we have been evolving in our methodologies, but one thing that has always remained the same is the importance and desire for the models that you all contribute. More on that soon, but first, a little more explanation...

Recently one of our methods of creating models has become more public - we now use Building Maker to create models, just like many of you. We realize that the influx of public models that has resulted from our efforts has been surprising and confusing, so we would like to address your concerns.

How can one person upload so many models so quickly?
These accounts are comprised of *teams* of people, not individuals.

How are all of these low-quality models getting into the 3D Buildings Layer?
These models go through the same exact pipeline as any other model - there is no special treatment. If they pass the Acceptance Criteria, they will go into the layer. One of the reasons why we wanted to make these models public was to show that Google models are in no way treated differently than user models.

What about really bad models that don’t pass the acceptance criteria?
Inaccurate models can always be reported, improved, or replaced by a better model.

It’s true that some Building Maker models are not as high-quality as the SketchUp models that can be produced. The images can sometimes be blurry and there may not be as many details, but these models have inherently accurate locations and dimensions (when the points are properly placed), and these models can always be further improved in SketchUp.

Sometimes it is difficult for some faces of Building Maker models to be textured properly because of the angle of the image, the availability of images, and occlusions from surrounding structures. As long as the model is photo-textured, it will pass the Acceptance Criteria. In the best situations, these models will be updated with higher quality textures.

Some of my models have been replaced by these models and they are lower quality than mine.
Our policy is *not* to replace your models. If there is a good model that already exists, we will not model it. If you have experienced some of your models being wrongfully replaced, please appeal the model so that we can correct our mistake. The best model will always win, regardless of who created it.

Why is Google creating models?
There are many buildings that will probably never be created - these kinds of buildings are garages, warehouses, and the general outskirts of cities that people find less important than the historical or skyscraper-filled downtown areas. While these kinds of buildings are usually not as interesting on their own, they make the city whole and provide context to the masterpieces that you all create.

There are millions of people all around the world who can benefit from experiencing the 3D models that are being created for Google Earth and Maps. The world is a very big place, comprised of billions, maybe even trillions, of buildings. Google cannot create the 3D world alone, so that is why we hope to collaborate with all of you so that we can create this 3D world together.