James Fee GIS Blog

Link - Google Earth St Paul’s and Digital Elevation Model

I’ve been focused on using Google Earth for a GIS viewer, but some others have been looking at using it for 3D models.

…problems have arisen with the Google Digital Elevation model (DEM). St Paul’s is located on a natural hill in London but the resolution of the DEM is not enough to compensate for the building size and structure.

By default Google Earth drapes the models to the landscape, resulting in a model which slopes, losing the straight lines and introducing distortion. To get around this it can be placed absolute to the ground, resulting in a 11 metre difference between the front and the rear of the building - as it sits on a hill. This has been compensated for in the model but it throws out the actual building height relative to the skyline.

Interesting. I’ve noticed some problems with a x/y shift going on when I try and create 3D views of buildings in Google Earth, but it looks like those who work with 3D Studio Max and ArcScene are also left wondering how/if Google might fix their issues with Google Earth.