Use your own photos in Building Maker

Previously, Google Building Maker restricted you to using only our aerial images for your models. Today, we are happy to announce a new feature that allows you to upload your own photos for building creation - resulting in higher-detailed and more realistic building facades! The following images demonstrate how this new feature improves your building's appearance:

Watch this video to learn how to use this feature:



A new "Add your own photos" link will appear below the left image list after you have constrained three points of a block in at least two aerial images. Click on that link to upload your photos to a Picasa album, choose the photos for modeling, and specify the direction you were aiming when you took the photos. The new photos will appear in the image list.

Select one of these photos and adjust the block to fit. You must first adjust the block to fit (having added 7 points) before the Building Maker tools will be enabled. For further information refer to our user guide article.

There are also some example photos here for your experimentation. We hope you will have fun with this new addition!

Posted by Zhe Fan, Google Building Maker Team