Blog
A Day of Skiing - Tracking the Helicopter Flight Path Using GPS and Google Earth
A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to go on a heli ski trip in the Chilcotin Mountains of BC with new and old friends alike. Besides the helicopter (which many of us were enamored with), and skiing, I brought Lars' GPS - Garmin Forerunner 205 - watch to track a day's worth of skiing in Google Earth from TLH's Tyax Lodge out to the mountains.
I placed the watch inside my ABS bag- the mandatory airbag for avalanche safety- and it looks like we finished the day with 28k feet of vertical. Looking at the flight path and turns in Google Earth, it appears as though the watch captured most of the day.
Google Earth, 3D and Rendering for St. Mary's Hospital
The tools available to present 3D are seemingly limitless. The linked article includes a video demonstrating multiple applications used to visualize interiors, exteriors, and location. These applications include: Google Earth, SketchUp, Vray and others.
concept3D was fortunate enough to work with Perkins and Will to present its design of St. Mary's Hospital in 3D and Google Earth. For the article below in Healthcare Design Magazine, Zack pulled a nice video of the project including the exterior renderings, sketchup interiors, and rendered interiors. He also threw it into Google Earth to demonstrate the georelationship of the hospital. Pretty cool....
The animated concept3D logo
If you have seen any of the concept3D video training series, you've probably noticed the animated opening sequence. It was created with a screen capture application simply recording an animated Dynamic Component created in SketchUp Pro 7. The words were added in a basic movie editing application.
In this two part tutorial learn how the Dynamic Component functions as well as how you can create the effect. You can download the dynamic logo at sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse.
Geoweb for Higher Ed (Chapter 1)
While more campuses are built in 3D Google Earth (TM), their uses can be limiting as standalone models. Having said that, 3D + Maps + Google Earth + building metadata can provide recruits, alumni, security, event planners, sports fans and others with visualization and informational tools that didn't exist a year ago.
Consider a junior in high school in the top 10% of their class with limited budget to visit schools. Using self-navigable virtual tours on Google Earth and integrated web content student can select schools to apply and experience the campus without having to purchase a plane ticket or miss an exam. Upon acceptance, the future co-ed can see their dorm and classrooms in Google Earth, save directions in Google Maps and view on their mobile phone once arrive on campus. This video gives you a feel of how 3D and the web can be used together to bring a campus and local community to life, virtually.
Hacking Balloons in Google Earth 4.3
Description balloons are a feature in Google Earth that appear as a window in the shape of a text balloon you might see in a comic strip. Their primary purpose is to provide more information about a location in the form of text, images, videos and/or flash. More importantly, there are features and hacks that can be used to weave these balloons together to create compelling and user-friendly presentations/"geo-websites" about any subject matter.
Authoring Imperfect Dynamic Components
We live in an imperfect world and adding imperfection to your SketchUp models can add a realistic touch. This can be a tedious effort, but creating imperfect dynamic components with the RANDBETWEEN() function is actually quite easy and fun. I have created a four part tutorial to show you how to create an imperfect bike rack dynamic component.
Part 1: Creating an intelligent DC whose parts scale and position
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RLOefRosvw&fmt=22
Part 2: Adding repeating parts to an existing DC
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPO7d-dI3E8&fmt=22
Armageddon Pills and KML in Google Earth
Republished from Google's Maps API blog:
I’m Matt Brown, a kml developer and designer at concept3D in Boulder, Colorado.
Google Earth has provided a new group of developers with the opportunity to build virtual ‘geowebsites’ specific to vertical markets. Armageddon Pills, a travel book by John Higham, combines this power of Google Earth and a printed book to illustrate the tale of one family’s journey around the globe in 52 weeks.
After creating numerous kml files, he asked us (concept3d) to create a browser look and feel while in Google Earth. We attempted to simplify the Google Earth experience for a broader audience, focusing on its on-screen and balloon navigation systems.
concept3D Redesigns and Launches New Website
Two and a half years ago we offered Google Earth and SketchUp models with the belief that the market – and we – would evolve. Our previous website served the purpose of presenting lots of content, but with an antiquated services proposition and tired storyline.
Fast forward to today and we are a different company with our roots still in 3D and design, but also a host of complementary skills to provide a wider range of multimedia and location based services.
So, we had to change our messaging, look and feel and explanation of our services. We hope this new site articulates and provides a better visualization of who we are and what we do today and in the future. The site redesign is a result of the tireless efforts of Jin Pak and colleagues - primarily Lars Zimmerman. Let us know your thoughts.
How Google Earth™ Stacks Up in the GeoWeb
Stacking Up The GeoWeb And Google™ Over a year ago I wrote a blog that posed the question, “Who cares about the GeoWeb besides Google™ and Microsoft™?” A year later we see real consumer adoption of location-based mobile services with the iPhone , Android Browser, and other GPS –ready devices. Over the same period, Google Earth™ continues to evolve by supporting Web integration and new application development. Having said this, we’re still only at the earlier stages of adoption and 3D presentation is mostly limited to desktop use.
Reorganize Dynamic Components in the Component Attributes browser
When authoring Dynamic Components in Pro version of SketchUp 7, the Component Attributes browser is where the "dynamic" magic happens. At any given time, that browser will show you a parent shell component and all of the nested children component. With the current version of SketchUp used in this video, there is no direct way to reorganize how the children components are listed. By using a simple "cut" and "paste-in-place", you can (somewhat) easily set the order of the children components. Watch the video to learn how.
