I am interested if it is possible to add 3D models of buildings in Google Maps? Although Google (and community) have 3D mapped biggest cities, there a lot of cities that remain flat (2D), but have interesting landscape and tall buildings that stand out. For example, my hometown Rīga, Latvia.
As I searched this question, a lot of resources came up that states "nope, the community can no longer add 3D models - Google is now mapping everything with satellites".. but that info is 2-5 years old. And information in different forums is conflicting, so it is worth a shot for a new discussion.
There is even SE question with exactly the same question. Since more than 2.5 years have passed I feel that things might have changed, so please do not mark this as a duplicate to a super-old post. :)
Question - is this true?
Or (even today) it is possible to add 3D models to Google Maps? If yes, then please provide any guide/link/information how to do it.
Seems like it still is not possible.
Hello #Diezvai No, It isn't possible right now.
Several years ago when Sketchup was still for Google, we had this
ability to create 3D models and submit them for public visibility on
Google Earth as dear #ermest mentioned. Also in Map Maker we had some
basic tools to create simple 3D models of buildings but both retired
years ago. Even we missed the tool for creating flat polygons!
After that (and also simultaneously in labs) Google focused on smart
modeling the world. These days system gathers needed information and
images from many resources like satellite, aerial photography, photos
from users, street view photography and many others to generate 3D
models of buildings, trees and even cars! Also system doing same for
showing simple models of buildings on Google Maps.
So there is no tool for users to create 3D models and upload them to
Google Maps or Google Earth. Maybe currently smart 3D modeling aren't
available in somewhere (like Iran for example) but by improving
artificial intelligence and more data one day they will.
Source - https://www.localguidesconnect.com/t5/General-Discussion/Is-it-possible-to-upload-3D-models-to-Google-Maps/m-p/1802100/highlight/false#M495932
Related
I'm an undergraduate computer science student who wants to try creating 2D graphs as well as 3Ds on website. I did googling and I've found out that either WebGL or WebGPU could be used to create the graphs. However, it is hard to decide which one suits me the most. So, I would like to ask your suggestions before diving deep into a certain API.
Thank you everyone.
I've been looking into contributing 3D data to Google Maps/Earth. I am not entirely clear how to go about doing this (In this instructions they have explained how to go about it but in the link with the form to get started they seem to suggest that only organizations can contribute). To start with, I need to clarify the following:
I am not part of any organization. I have some 3D models of buildings in my city. Do I have to be connected to some organization in order to contribute?
And if the answer to 1 is no, then where do I upload by models?
Here is the official post in the official 3D Modeling for Google Earth & Maps forum: 3D program retired
It is no longer possible for you to submit 3D models for inclusion in Google Earth. To answer your questions: 1. It was possible to submit 3D buildings for anyone. 2. This was done by uploading them to the warehouse and then filling in a form.
The way I read it is that you as an individual contributor can also submit models via the 3D warehouse. (I assume you have less than 100 models).
The steps seem to be pretty straight forward, if you use SketchUp there is a feature in the program to upload to the 3D warehouse, and if you have a KMZ with the model you can upload to the 3D warehouse from the site itself (there is an upload button in the top right of that site).
For a project at my university I have to collect information about Google Indoor Maps. I spent several hours searching information about how Google Indoor Navigation really works. I've found several links on how to create Google Floor Plans like this:
http://support.google.com/gmm/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1685896
And how you can improve location accuracy with the Google Maps Floor Plan Marker app:
http://support.google.com/gmm/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2667756&topic=1685871&ctx=topic
They say the app collects public broadcast data. But nowhere information about which information is collected and how. Several discussions here and a few articles I found say that google uses wifi-access points and the cellular antennas for indoor positioning. But I couldn't find any official information from Google, which I can use in my project.
Can you suggest me where I can find answers to the following questions:
How does the Google Maps Floor Plan Marker really work? Which information is collected and how? A official technical Google paper would be nice, so I can use that for my work.
How can I increase the accuracy of the Google indoor navigation, by adding Wifi Access Points, Bluetooth stations or other technology?
How can I add additional information like Emergency exits and toilets to a floor plan, so the user can navigate with his smartphone to this special points?
Is it possible to add information about rooms, so the user can tap with the finger on them to get additional information? For Example which department is situated in this room and so on?
I found a lot stuff about indoor positioning and indoor navigation. But nothing about how google uses them.
Thanks in advance.
This project just provides maps for indoor places. It doesn't do anything special to augment navigation in these places beyond the standard (GPS, WiFi, etc).
When they talk about (augmenting) positioning with Wifi and Cellular data, they are talking about the same stuff they use on the regular Google maps. This data is collected from cell tower info, and the Wifi stuff is sniffed from the Google street-view cars and then augmented by user-data as people with devices come into contact with these devices and send info back to Google.
It is not very accurate - or even accurate as GPS. It is kind of a "ballpark" estimate. For example, if a Google street-view car detected your WiFi signal when it drove by your house - if you had no GPS, and Google Maps saw your WiFi box, it could estimate that you were somewhere within a few hundred feet of where the Google Street View car detected the signal.
Not as accurate as GPS - but not too bad if you conciser within a few hundred feet better than "no idea". In short - these sources to not give you better or more refined positioning of indoor places. They would be good - for example - to be able to tell you that you are in that particular building if you were inside, and out of GPS coverage.
Indoor positioning uses WLAN interface. To estimate the real-time location of a user, location systems have to perform a number of steps and various calculations. The calculation of more than one distance from several Access Points (APs) could be used to estimate the exact
location.
The main principle states that signal strength at the receiver is inversely proportional to the square of the distance that the signal travels.
RSS fingerprinting method is used which is based on recording and sampling of patterns of radio signals in specific environment called as pattern recognition or fingerprinting.
Since this post is a little old I thought I would still add my thoughts. First of all you can make edits for your own custom maps using MyMaps. As the previous answers stated Google Maps uses cell data, wifi data, gps, etc for tracking. It can also use phone sensor data such as your accellerometer. With the current level of wifi infrastructure it can actually be quite accurate using a method of wifi fingerprinting (The more access points the more accurate it will be given they are effectively positioned). There are several scholarly articles demonstrating its viability down to a couple meters of accuracy. I would suggest reading an article on RSSI fingerprinting. Also check the google maps developer documentation for more detail on editing map information.
Also I was reading that they will be using light detection for additional indoor accuracy (not sure if implemented yet).
I am a final year Computer Science undergraduate student from India. I want to create a WPF application that displays 3D buildings like in the latest Google maps 5 for android. This will be the basis of my final year project. I have some questions before i start working on this.
Should I make it desktop or web based, or should I use the web to store some metadata and render the data in the desktop software?
For 3D display of buildings in a map area, is WPF enough or will I need knowledge of XNA and Direct X too?
Will this violate Google Maps TOS if I use Google Maps API? (I want to do something Google Maps does not provide in India) Is using Bing Maps a better option?
Is it feasible to read building elevations and rendering them using the above mentioned Maps APIs? Is it that the elevation data available through Google Maps API is only for the terrain and not for individual buildings?
I have three months to complete this project and have given details of the technologies I intend to work with.
Will I need in-depth knowledge of any more technologies for this?
Excuse me if I missed some detail. I am posting this from my cellphone using opera mobile. It's time we have an android client for stackoverflow.
1) That is entirely up to you. As you don't specify your target user then it is hard to say what the best way to deliver the application is. For example, if you want to be able to widely distribute it and have a high compatibility then perhaps a web-based application would be best. Conversley, if you require high performance and are targeting a specific os, chip-set, etc then a stand-alone application may be better.
2) Again, it is hard to say. WPF can certainly render 3d objects and may provide you with everything you require. If again you require more complex rendering you may also want to look at later versions of Direct3D, which can help a lot with things like HDR textures, Multi-threading, etc.
3) I am not a lawyer so I can't say for sure - even if I If I were it would still depend on the specifics of your implementation. That said, the bing maps section 2 (i) seems pretty good for you - Academic use seems pretty open as long as you make the application available publicly without restriction. The Google TOS seems more restrictive to me at least.
4) To me that would be a breech of the Google Maps/Earth TOS - The section on Restrictions on use seems pretty clear...But again, I am not a lawyer so I can't say for sure...
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Do you know any imagery where I can get satellite images of places for free?
I have a terrain editor which uses GIS data for visualizing heightmaps but I want to texture them with satellite image.
I hope some of you can provide some sources?
some source just for satellites - as I understood that you do not need vector data...
open source gis
free gis
Nasa satellite
umiacs
USGS Seamless with a caveat if you want to grab a whole bunch of data at once...
I'll give you one of the best "secrets" that I learned throughout the years after going through many different pains (leeching scripts, manual clicking, etc). It is an old-school trick... contact a real person there!
For example, the best way do get the NED elevation dataset is to contact USGS's Eros group directly at bulkdatainfo_at_usgs.gov
You send them an external drive and after 4 to 8 weeks (usually much less than that) they will send you the entire dataset that you requested.
Of course, you can always try to click away do grab data through their horrible Web UI.
Also, if all you are looking for is some coarse elevation or NASA marble imagery, the test datasets from Spatialite have imagery and elevation for the entire world :)
There is a whole blog dedicated to the subject which includes lots and lots of resources
Depends on the usage, you can use ESRI's map services: "ArcGIS Online standard map services are available at no cost for internal (personal or within an organization) and non-commercial, external use."
As other have mentioned there are online services that enable you to view sat. imagery all over the world, although downloading all the actual data might be tricky. USGS and ResMap are in this category.
THe USGS Seamless website provides free satellite and aerial imagery. The website is a bit dated (ok, very dated), but it's a good starting point.
Unfortunately, downloading a very large amount of data (such as a full city) is cumbersome.
Many satellite image providers have some example or old data for free, some have a lot, f.ex from Landsat you should be able to find something for most places. If you are not looking for a specific site there should be much to choose from, and you can find higher resolution imagery, e.g QuickBird images at DigitalGlobe.
Probably not all provide stuff for free, but if you Google the different sensors and check their website you should find out. Some other satellite sensors are NOAA, Aqua and Terra MODIS, Terra ASTER, SPOT, Seawifs, ERS, IKONOS.
Trawl the NASA web-sites, they publish a lot of this sort of stuff freely.