Coordinates

[Dave R]

I don't know why moving the model would be more prone to errors. I tend to think of the model space as real space and the model or parts of the model as real entities. If I had a table that I wasn't to be 6 feet to the right and turned 90 degrees, I wouldn't try to move the house or the earth around the table. I'd just move the table. Same thing in SketchUp.

[brookefox]

If my models were tables, I might agree. But still, the origin is an idea not an absolute, not the earth. If it were a real earth fix that would be cool. But it is a construct of SU and so I think should be configurable. I appreciate someone wanting to protect me from myself so long as they don't limit me to do so. I am in most ways free to screw up, or make better, my world. As it turns out, my models are overly wrought things with sometimes hundreds of layers, terrain and construction alternates. (Surely they could be more manageable than they are but I think that is not what we are talking about, primarily.) And moving the whole quivering mass to another spot so as not to have to alternatively move a conceptual point seems not right, nor the easiest way. But I do understand your point. As it turns out my origins have not proven to be problematic for me, but that neither is the point.

[rtd]

Perhaps I'm missing the intent of the original question, but, is the question about finding the coordinates of an existing object relative to the global or world ('all the world's a stage...') coordinate system?

If it is, then why not use the query tool?