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(If you are looking for information on how to help model an existing city, please go to the FAQs page for instructions.)
Setting Up a New City
If you would like to have the community of 3D artists on the Google 3D Warehouse assist you in modelling your city for Google Earth, you must provide them with the necessary information to do so. This includes images of the buildings to be modelled and locations of the buildings to be modelled via imported terrain files. These images can be easily uploaded for free to Picasa Web Albums to be shared with the world.
Step One
First, make sure that you have the proper photography for modelling, also scan/convert any drawings files that you have into .jpg files and organise all of the files by building.
Step Two
Set up a new Google account.
Step Three
Download and open Picasa and organise your images into folders or albums divided by the different buildings to be modelled. Next, right-click the album or folder in the right-hand side panel and select "Upload to Web Album...".
After your imagery is uploaded, please geolocate your photos by selecting the "Map Photos" button at the top of the screen. This will open up a new page that will allow you to drag and drop your images to where they were photographed on a map. By providing these locations it will make the modelling process much easier for the 3D Artist.
Step Four
Navigate to the 3D Warehouse homepage and select "create a collection" on the right-hand side. Name it after the city (e.g. "London") and make sure that you select "contains: other collections". Within this new collection, create two "child collections": one for completed models (e.g. "London") and one for models to be completed (e.g. "Help Model London"). In your "Help" collection's description, make sure that you include something about submitting completed models to your other child collection "London". By having these two collections, you can determine the quality of the final models for your city. Many people will, more than likely, attempt the same model and submit it to you for review, so this gives you a chance to pick from the best and take down completed models from your "Help" collection that you are satisfied with. By taking completed models off your "Help" collection, all of the buildings that you post will be attempted instead of the same one over and over. It is recommended that you add a discussion group when you create the collections to help organise your modelling efforts. You can do this while creating a collection, or afterwards using the Edit menu of that collection. You may even wish to create sub-sections (child collections) which include topics such as future buildings for the city, or even buildings that you would like to see in the city.
Step Five
You will need to create geolocated SketchUp files for each building that you would like completed. To do this, download both Google SketchUp and Google Earth . Open Google Earth and find the location of one of the buildings that you have a Picasa Web album for, and zoom in so that the building is the focus of the screen. Minimise this window and open a new SketchUp file and select "Tools">"Google Earth">"Get Current View". This will bring the proper Google Earth terrain and imagery into your SketchUp model. Since the 3D Warehouse will not allow you to upload a model containing just the Google Earth import, you will need to add something to the model, such as some simple massing of your building or the "Model Me" sign, which can be found here.
Save this model under the name of the building and select "Tools">"Google Earth">"Share this Model", which will add your model to the 3D Warehouse. An upload window will appear for you to add a name, description, website (link to the Picasa Web album with imagery for that particular building) and search terms. Once you have uploaded the model, a window with the model will appear and you will have the option to "add to my collection..." at the bottom of the screen. Add the model to your "Help" collection. Repeat this step for each building.
Step Six
Once you have completed all of these steps, submit a request to us to add your collection to our "Help Model a City" collection. To do this, click the "contact the owner" link on the Help Model a City collection.
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