Forums >> Revit Building >> Tips & Tricks >> how to import a topography from google earth by using sketchup Lite

frifer

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Joined: Mon, Jul 30, 2012
107 Posts

Hi guys!

it took me 2 days to find out how to do it, even if it is pretty simple. there were free tools to do this before, but now you have to pay for them with revit2013, and the autodesk plugin does not allow you to take the topography but just the image.

so i decided to make a video!

if you like it please comment and rate.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4TSA2koM6A

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mbsteve

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Joined: Fri, Sep 22, 2006
759 Posts

pretty impressive, how accurate is the global google map?

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frifer

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Joined: Mon, Jul 30, 2012
107 Posts

according to this document ( http://dds.cr.usgs.gov/srtm/version2_1/Documentation/MIL-PDF-89020B.pdf  the accuracy is +-30 meters sea level. but obviously you wont have one point 30 meters too high, and the next 30 meters too low.. points near each other should all have a similar offset. so i dont see this as  an issue. what i see more as an issue is that google earth uses an average of a lot of measured points so you maybe wont have all the data you need... in simple words, if you have a "bump" somewhere, google will use the average of the point measured on the bump and all the other measurements made around that bump, so the bump itself will result quite flat compared to reality...  but for rendering purposes and to get an idea of the location i think its good enough. for precise work there is an elevation plan anyway..

regards

igor

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frifer

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Joined: Mon, Jul 30, 2012
107 Posts

found this online:

"Thank you for the additional information. This data is in line with the error margin I had noted while looking at a runway in the Ottawa area. However, I believe that we cannot conclude that 5m is the typical error margin when looking at Google Earth elevation data. I looked at a Colorado desert area (known to be very flat and without buildings) and the error margin there would be less than 1m. I also looked at the Cape Canaveral launch area which is located in a very flat terrain area. There again, the error is in the order of 1m and appears to be mainly contributed by the two tall buildings on the launch site. Same type of conclusion when looking at the runway cose to the launch pad. All that to say that the accuracy of the elevation data is very much a function of building structures and terrain irregularities surronding the area you are looking at i.e. if the surronding terrain is "smooth"; then the elevation accuracy could be in the order of 1m but could also be more than 5m if the surronding terrain is very irregular. The Google Earth elevation data appears to be an average of elevation data for an area centered over the point you are looking at. Unfortunately, I do not know the size of the area used to compute the average. If someone knows the answer to that question, I would very much like to know."

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mbsteve

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Joined: Fri, Sep 22, 2006
759 Posts

looks like I stick with the old tried and true aerial mapping, or ground.

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