Hey guys, this is Aaron.
We've got a lot of questions lately about how the new geo-location using Digital Globe
is going to work with placing models in Google Earth.
There's good news, and that is: it works!
Even better news is it's pretty simple.
So what we're going to do is we're going to take a look at doing that right now, we're
going to create a model in geo-location using Digital Globe and place it and view it in
Google Earth.
I'm going to start by geo-locating this model.
So I'm going to go to File>Geo-location.
And click "Add Location."
When the Add Location window shows up, during this transition from Google Earth into Digital
Globe we do get a notification that this layers button right here will allow us to switch
providers, so we're going to go ahead and go with our Digital Globe satellite information.
I'm zoomed in here on a section of Boulder, Colorado that I happen to know is open.
And I'm going to go ahead and place a building right here behind this hospital.
I'm going to go ahead and select the region.
I'm going to actually zoom out, get a little bit more.
Get those buildings in there and go ahead and grab that.
That's going to import information from Digital Globe and place it, just like always, right onto
my modeling window.
I'm going to zoom in here now and I'm just going to create a quick building just to reference
something that we can pull into Google Earth.
Okay, so there we have a quick building that we can pull into Google Earth.
What I'm going to do now is go up to File>Export 3D Model.
For the filetype, of course, I'm going to choose .kmz.
This is the type of file that Google Earth can import so it's the kind I'm going to need
to export.
I'm going to give it a name.
Export.
And then I'm going to hop into Google Earth.
Alright now in Google Earth I'm going to zoom into about the same place.
Sit back and enjoy this long sweeping zoom into Boulder, Colorado.
Awesome, looks good.
Zoom in here a little bit.
And what I want to do, of course, is go find about the same spot, so we don't have to be
zoomed into the exact same spot but just near where that model went.
So that model was placed right about here.
What I'm going to do now is go up to File and Open... and I'm going to open that .kmz file.
What Google Earth is going to do then is zoom in very specifically on where we're going
to place and it and put the model into my view there.
So now I actually have the model that I created in SketchUp visible inside Google Earth.
And you can see that it knows exactly where it's supposed to go.
The coordinates are the same.
So the fact that it came from a different provider for the geo-location really made
no difference and I have my model available and visible in my Google Earth.
Now if you ever do decide there is some discrepancy on where the model was imported based on geo-location
and where it's sitting in Google Earth, you can make modifications.
You can actually move this model around.
If you come over to the Places menu over here, the Places toolbar, and this little down arrow
next to your model.
You will see this little model link at the bottom.
If you right click and hit Get Info that'll bring up the information about this model
as well as give you grips here.
If I click on the center grip I can actually take and move this model wherever I need to.
Back here I actually have a little control also to rotate.
You can see it jumps a little bit because it's trying to ride the geometry of the Google
Earth right there.
But this actually gives you the ability to place it exactly where it is, where you want
it to be.
In case there's any discrepancy between where it was in geo-location and where it ends up
on Google Earth.
So that is all there is to geo-locating a model in SketchUp and then placing it into
Google Earth.
Thank you!