Implications of end of google earth

bmike

I use a relatively cheap (and easy to use) app for hiking / adventure / bike routing - is uses various servers for aerial images, as well as topo maps, etc... as far as I know access to many of these is free or relatively cheap. I know there are pros that use this for trail mapping, etc.

http://topofusion.com

Can SketchUp integrate with the maps / topo in a similar way?
Here are all the map sets / imagery that is available in TF:

http://topofusion.com/features.php#imagery

pbacot

What's really good for quick studies is the geo located aerial imagery. That way one can quickly locate new work relative to existing features, good enough for initial planning and presentation. The actual "terrain" model (that I've seen) is only so useful at the site scale. Topo maps might be better, lacking a survey.

bmike

@pbacot said:

What's really good for quick studies is the geo located aerial imagery. That way one can quickly locate new work relative to existing features, good enough for initial planning and presentation. The actual "terrain" model (that I've seen) is only so useful at the site scale. Topo maps might be better, lacking a survey.

Agreed that the usefulness of the imported 3d data isn't always as useful, but its usually close enough for early stage work, until a survey is done or can be found / imported / created.

sketch3d.de

@unknownuser said:

Update 4/4/2017: The new data layers are now available in SU 2017. This means that Pro users will see two new layers in add location: "DigitalGlobe Satellite" and "Trimble Map". Make users will now see a "Trimble Map" layer. Google Satellite will remain as the default layer for a few more weeks.

glenn

digitalglobe imagery is terrible compared to google satellite.
Image is blurry, typically older.
But at least Trimble didn't wait until the last minute to address this issue.

pbacot

@sketch3d.de said:

@unknownuser said:

Update 4/4/2017: The new data layers are now available in SU 2017. This means that Pro users will see two new layers in add location: "DigitalGlobe Satellite" and "Trimble Map". Make users will now see a "Trimble Map" layer. Google Satellite will remain as the default layer for a few more weeks.

And if we stick to 2016 we'll still have the same functionality as before? (I haven't seen a change)

sketch3d.de

@pbacot said:

And if we stick to 2016 we'll still have the same functionality as before?

@unknownuser said:

SketchUp 2016 (Pro or Make) and older versions of SketchUp
At this time, there is no feasible way to update these versions of SketchUp to use the new geodata service. The Add Location and Photo Textures features will no longer function.

@pbacot said:

(I haven't seen a change)

22.05.2017

pbacot

Understandable. Still I find that statement to be disingenuous (corporate). They don't WANT to update anything. You paid for it but it will no longer work.

blackdogsketch

The quality of the DigiGlobe is dismal...just a bunch of fuzziness. And the Trimble Map is nothing but extremely basic street maps...almost zero detail. Worthless to me.
This is REALLY a serious setback for those of us that use crisp ortho imagery in presentations on a daily basis. Completely frustrating. Trimble buys this fuzzy mess? It doesn't seem worth anything.
Not a happy camper.

Dave R

You should be frustrated with Google. It's they who are removing the option to use their imagery.

AcesHigh

If imagery for the US is bad, I can only imagine the quality for it in South America, Africa and Asia!

blackdogsketch

Digital globe probably does have high quality imagery...but why isn't Trimble offering it to the customer base?
We are used to a fairly high level of resolution from Google, and new we get this fuzzy crap to work with. (I encourage everyone to go and examine the difference between the two before the May 22 deadline). As a professional, I'm fine if they need to charge for the highest resolution. But to not offer customers ANY good options is infuriating...and it's going to really affect my work and presentation for the worse. I'm surprised that there is not way more discussion about the issue here.

UPDATE: from reading Trimble's statements on the actual SketchUp forum, they claim that they are providing the highest level of resolution available from DigitalGlobe. They claim the problem is that DG captures imagery via satellite, and so resolution is inherently lower than that from GE, who uses planes. As I user, I could care less if they use drones or oil tankers...I just need high quality data...and DG is NOT!

alpro

@unknownuser said:

As I user, I could care less if they use drones or oil tankers...I just need high quality data...and DG is NOT!

Totally agree, not only is it not as high of a resolution it's old, working on a site now that has a fairly new building on it which I can see on Google maps but not on the DG imagery.

@unknownuser said:

You should be frustrated with Google. It's they who are removing the option to use their imagery.

I think it's fair to be frustrated with Trimble, I'm losing a feature that I consider valuable and that I paid for and it's being replaced by an inferior product, will my SU license cost less ? I don't understand why Trimble couldn't work out a deal with Google and pay for their map data like a lot of apps do. Or even Bing maps like Autodesk did. DG to me is pretty useless.

Dave R

@alpro said:

I don't understand why Trimble couldn't work out a deal with Google and pay for their map data like a lot of apps do. Or even Bing maps like Autodesk did. DG to me is pretty useless.

It's not a case of working out a deal. Google is removing the access to the API. They aren't offering it at all.

According to SketchUp:

@unknownuser said:

We are displaying the highest resolution imagery available from DG. 25cm resolution means that a single pixel in the imagery, covers approximately a 25cm x 25cm area.

@unknownuser said:

...the core use case for Add location is - to approximately locate a building on a site. Trimble is not intending for the imagery to be used for geo-modeling or survey purposes. Users who require a high level of accuracy from their imagery should be sourcing their imagery from a reliable provider.

There are many resources for better imagery and more accurate terrain data than DG or Google Maps.

alpro

Yes I can get better images and terrain data like lidar or dem but how do I get that into Sketchup? Without 10 different work arounds. Might as well go back to Autodesk. And I still feel I have the right to be frustrated with Trimble no matter what Google did, after all it's been Trimble that I have given my money to for the last 5 years and in return I'm getting an inferior replacement for what I consider an important aspect of the software.