There is a hidden treat behind the update a couple days ago to the layers. Google has crafted a fantastic collection of 3D building models for the city of Denver, Colorado. This collection was obviously created to show of GE 4’s ability to show high quality photo textured 3D models, and is a part of the new “Best of 3D Warehouse” layer found under the “3D Buildings” layer in GE. This ONLY works with the latest GE 4 – so go download GE 4 if you don’t have version 4.0.2722 or greater. A word of caution: if your computer doesn’t have a recent 3D video card, your performance may not be very satisfactory as more buildings load. To give you a preview of what it looks like on a new computer, check out this YouTube fly-thru demonstration of the new buildings I created this morning:
Wondering how I flew through the buildings like that? Check this out to find out how.
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.
Looks like Pittsburgh has a fair share of high res buildings as well. This feature is amazing!
I eagerly plugged in my SpaceNavigator and flew into Denver to check this out, but as more and more building textures loaded my (2 year-old) computer slowly ground to a halt. I swear, Google’s gonna make me buy a new computer just to run GE.
the building acroos the street from my office on the golden triangle was completed maybe two months ago and it is in this model
pretty amazing
i can’t belive they didn’t model the dump we work in
when does tha actual satellite imagery get updated for denver? c’mon google…geez
@Lauren:
Trust me, you’re not alone. My system is virtually new — far from top of the line, but still, virtually new. And once those textures all load? Useless. Worse than unusable. Thank God it’s not just me.
Truly amazing. Looks like the modeling was all done by one person, hope he got paid well…
Any guesses, why they didn’t include some of the signature buildings, like the Wells Fargo building into the best of link?
Hi,
You are far from alone, my computer was bought in May, Ever since I use the amazing buildings overlay, my computer stalls consistently, is there any work arroudn they can provide, maybe further breaking it down by city so you can turn the other cities on or off????? I love it, but it’s begining to create headaches !
I think this is going to need some kind of 3d engine such as in games like Half Life 2. Right now it seems like its rendering every detail even way out where you cant see them, all a waste of computing power.
Thank you for posting this. I am in Denver and I am having a really hard time using this feature because it is bogging down my system for quite some time. Two questions for you – 1)Is it true that the basic gray buildings are now not available and have been replaced by these 3D beauties? and 2)will getting a 3D video card make this a usable option for us?