3D Views Continued…
I wrote recently about the 3D views of buildings and entire towns being done by people and submitted to Google’s 3D Warehouse. Well, here’s some more information about what’s done, what’s being done and what’s to come.
This past summer a group of students of varying design and architecture majors at University of Massachusetts Amherst created a 3D visualization of nearly their entire campus using Google Earth and Sketchup. Initially this was a project for a particular class, but it turned into something huge and fantastic that has now become a model for other campuses to follow. The project was submitted to Google, and now everyone who has Google Earth can see the amazing work that was created by these Amherst students. Read the full U Mass article here.
Aside from it being a cool project that a lot of people participated in, the possibilities for uses of these 3D models is infinite. The school can use these in civic planning proposals, to show prospective investors, or future students what the campus looks like, just for a couple examples.
Then take this on a bigger scale. All schools and towns of earth in 3D. How much better will this be for solving issues in a particular city, or for planning, making the best use of space? When you have an accurate 3-dimensional view of something it’s ALWAYS easier to figure things out.
But trust me, none of these ideas are mine, Google is all over it. Yesterday they released “Cities in 3D”. With this tool, cities and regions of earth will be able to share their own data of their own locations with Google Earth, who will then turn this information into 3D models. The specifics of how local governments will fit into all of this, see the full article at GovTech.com.
Good things are ahead…I can feel it. And of course, I’ll keep you posted as I find things out.
Technorati Tags: google earth, sketchup, amherst, umass, govtech.com, 3d warehouse, cities in 3D