For some time now the guys at DigitalUrban – a blog by the folks at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA) of the University College London – have been talking about a large collection of 3D buildings they have ready for Google Earth. However, they are trying to arrange a licensing arrangement with Google before they release it. I hope they work out the licensing soon, because I’ve been impressed by DigitalUrban’s teasers.
In the meantime, I noticed someone at the Google Earth Community has been posting some basic 3D buildings for east London 
. Posted by ‘barnabu’ (who also did Google Saturn, and Kings College Chapel), he says he purposely kept the building models low in complexity. This simplicity makes for a fast download and good performance once the 3D buildings are loaded. I’m really looking forward to seeing what the CASA folks have done though.
About Frank Taylor
Frank Taylor started the Google Earth Blog in July, 2005 shortly after Google Earth was first released. He has worked with 3D computer graphics and VR for many years and was very impressed with this exciting product. Frank completed a 5.5 year circumnavigation of the earth by sailboat in June 2015 which you can read about at Tahina Expedition, and is a licensed pilot, backpacker, diver, and photographer.