Without wanting to speak too soon I may have 70% sorted this out by using a free software program called dxfauthor that converts GIS shapefiles (Shp.) to dxf. Seems to work well on everything but the largest files.
I'm going to try opening the others with the Google / Trimble Shapefile (*.shp) Importer.
Hi All
Sorry about the totally un-sketchupness of this question but I can't find any help anywhere else so I thought I'd ask here.
Does anybody know anything about G.I.S software?
I need to convert some free Ordnance Survey district maps that are in a tab.vector format to dwg or dxf so that I can use them in CAD. I know virtually nothing about G.I.S, I'm using a free program called Quantum GIS that opens the tab maps and they look beautiful but I can't do a lot with them as I don't really understand the software. 
Can anybody help? Thanks in advance.
By the way free Ordnance survey district maps available here: https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/opendatadownload/products.html
jon
Form Z / SKP models now added http://surfacearchitects.com/index.php/olympic-wayfinding-structure/
Happy Birthday in Afrikaans: Gelukkige Verjaarsdag
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Happy Birthday in Chinese (Mandarin): 生日快樂 (Traditional). 生日快乐 (Simplified) (shēngrì kuàilè). NOTE: Use the Traditional for regions outside of Mainland China. Use Simplified for Mainland China only.
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Happy Birthday in Romanian: La mulţi ani
Happy Birthday in Russian: С днем рождения
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Happy Birthday in Welsh: Penblwydd Hapus
Ah good to see that we are not alone. It's different if you are a sponsor.
Hi All
I haven't posted in a while so I thought I would tell you about a very cool thing my firm have done, unfortunately you will have to follow the link as due to contractual reasons I cannot say a certain event name in connection with it or post pics here http://surfacearchitects.com/index.php/olympic-wayfinding-structure/
jon
Only just got round to reading this, brilliant update.
Hi
After months of trying to figure this out myself I finally went to the mac shop and they fixed it so I'll explain in case it helps anybody else in the future. My problem was that I could not get passed an unresponsive green SU startup screen, I just got the hourglass and then an error message at which point SU crashed. Somehow the mac shop guy managed to freeze the hourglass so that he could un-tick the "show on startup" box on the green window. He said he had come across the issue before.
jon
Hi Driver
Thanks for the help. Sorry for the late reply. I have tried this and unfortunately this hasn't fixed it either. I'll take a trip to the mac shop...
Hi John
Thanks for helping, but I'm maybe getting this wrong. I think I've looked in the right folder but there is no file called com.google.sketchup8.plist
Hi all
Hope you are all keeping well,
I am hoping that somebody can help me. I have a macbook air running Lion and recently it has decided that it will not run Sketchup (8 free). It has ample memory. I've tried a clean install, clicking on files as opposed to the icon but nothing works. Any ideas?
Thanks in advance
jon
p.s, for no particular reason, I have attached something I'm working on
First model I've done for quite a while, mainly on cad and pen pushing at the moment. SU, Kerkythea, PS. Its a work in progress.
Well I am a relative newcomer to the cult of mac. Other than my ipod shuffle , the first apple product I bought was a macbook air earlier this year - needed it for work but at the time thought of it as a frivolous luxury. But now I really think maybe I've missed out on an easy life spending the last fifteen+ years mainly in windows, so much so I have just acquired 3 old titanium g4 powerbooks (2 working, one not so good) to tinker with.
I don't know much about Steve Jobs, but a man that can say this in all seriousness without being a corrupt banker has certainly lived.
'I'm the only person I know that's lost a quarter of a billion dollars in one year.... It's very character-building.'
Steve Jobs, Apple Confidential 2.0
After years of experiencing anti-sketchup snobbery I am now seeing a change. Architects offices, including my own are doing everything possible to cut costs at the moment, gone are the days of 3d studio licenses on every desktop. Our office (admittedly just a branch of a larger organisation - main office is highly resourced) is kitted out as affordably as possible. There are things we want, but we aren't pining for an expensive 3d app, and we aren't in any way debilitated relying on SU on a range of mid-spec laptops.
Wow that is really good. Thanks for posting