Graphics Programs Reference
In-Depth Information
by Charles Goad; this map showed the mill and the immediate vicinity and
was used for insurance evaluation at the turn of the century. This type of insur-
ance map is fairly common for towns and cities of even small sizes. They were
created to assist fire insurance companies in assessing the risk associated with
insuring a particular property.
The insurance map was brought into SketchUp and carefully “stitched together”
to overcome the overlap caused by scanning the originals in topic form. Once
combined, they were grouped, and then scaled to the correct size using the
Tape measure tool. In this example, the scale was set as 50 feet to the inch.
Scaling the map accurately is a very important step in assembling a map to
Google Earth terrain.
Most maps have an illustrated scale. Place the Tape measure tool on the scale,
drag it to the appropriate increment on the map, and then immediately type
in the increment of the scale (in this case, 50 feet). You will then be asked if
you want to resize the model. If “Yes” is your answer, you can scale the entire
model proportionately.
Once the map was scaled, the model buildings were placed onto the map.
They, in turn, were scaled to the map using the Tape measure. The groups
bounding box was grabbed by the corner while simultaneously holding down
the Shift key to ensure that it is uniformly scaled. The resultant model is a
scaled photo-textured model on a scaled map. This does indicate progress,
but a village is yet to be re-created. Further research and modeling is required
to bring it to life.
Tip
Scaling with the Tape measure tool is the fastest way to rescale an entire
model, and it scales all dimensions equally. This can be accomplished
with the Scale tool; but difficulty arises when trying to scale all X, Y, and Z
dimensions equally.
Step 3: Combining the Model with Georeferenced
Terrain Data
Goal : Integration of model into Google Earth.
Inputs : Photo-textured building and Google Earth terrain.
Tools : SketchUp, Google Earth.
In this example of re-creating the historic Byng Inlet village, the terrain data
obtained from Google Earth did not contain any matching visual clues - the
historic buildings are mostly gone. The steps below (Figures 16.2a and 16.2b)
 
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