Photographing Your Building, Finding Your Building

Photographing Your Building, Finding Your Building

One of the first things that we need to establish is where to find your building inside Google Earth™, this will allow us to get the correct footprint of your building using the roof line as a guide.

When modeling your building we use the satellite image to work out construction axes, foundation extraction and geometric building volume from inside SketchUp, as shown above. Because the satellite photography inside Google Earth™ and Google Maps™ varies in coverage it's best to make sure that your building is visible before you go any further.

Satellite Tab inside Google Maps You can find out whether your building has been covered by satellite imagery by following the steps below. Google Earth™ and Google Maps™ share the same satellite imagery so you can check over the Internet via Google Maps™

Open your Internet browser and go to: http://maps.google.co.uk
Put your post code into the search box, and click 'Search Maps'. You should now see an arrow marking the geographic location of your post code, this is not necessarily your building.
Click the 'Satellite' tab
Zoom-in using the Zoom Bar. Move the map around until you can see the roof of your building.

If you can see the roof of your building then you're covered by satellite imagery and we can model your building with GeoDock Bricks & Mortar™.

'Here I Am'
Printable Sheet

Because we need to know exactly which building we are dealing with and also details like which is the front, back and 'Hero Side' of your building etc., we have created a printable sheet to help you. This sheet is available via this link: 'Here I Am'.

Tracing your building from the computer screen

On the 'Here I Am' sheet you will find areas that you can fill in, including (for the purpose of this section) a Sketch Box. This 'Sketch Box' allows you to produce a rough outline sketch (or tracing) of how your building appears on the Google™ satellite image. Using this 'Sketch Box' you can also mark which faces of your building are front, back and sides etc.

A neat little trick is to print the 'Here I Am' sheet onto plain paper and trace your building directly from the screen; great if you're not that good with drawing.

Darken the room, so you can see through the paper.

Get your building up on your computer screen via Google Maps™.

Carefully place the 'Here I Am' sheet on the screen and trace the outline of your building

into the Sketch Box (using a soft pencil, please only press lightly else you might damage your screen, you have been warned).

Make notes onto the drawing of things to look for that are unique to your building, including arrows showing the front, back and 'Hero Side' of your building.

Please Note:
Google™ updates its satellite imagery periodically. For this reason it is best to draw your buildings' outline just before you post your CD and 'Here I Am' sheet to us. This will limit the chances of the satellite imagery changing before we have had chance to lock down your buildings' location and geometric orientation. Thank You.

	Find out if your building is covered by Google's satellite imagery via Google Maps™ . If your building is covered you can continue with your photography, as covered in this guide.
	When you are about to send off your photographs and any other reference material to us (on CD) print out the 'Here I Am' sheet onto plain paper and use the Sketch Box to draw a simple outline of how your building appears on Google Maps™ satellite image.
	Don't forget to indicate on your outline drawing which are the front and back of your building in addition to which Faces(s) will be the 'Hero Side' (area with the most detail).
	Post the completed 'Here I Am' sheet along with your CD to us at: earthHD 28 Darby Road Wednesbury West Midlands WS10 0PN

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