Happy Birthday, Building Maker!

When we launched Google Building Maker on October 13th of last year, folks could build models in 50 cities on 3 continents, and Building Maker was available in 14 languages. During the past year, Building Maker’s coverage has grown to 101 cities on 6 continents, and it’s now available in 40 languages. Modelers can now also add their own photos and Street View textures, and even open their buildings in SketchUp to add finishing touches.

To celebrate this anniversary, we’re highlighting three of the individuals who have made incredible contributions to the worldwide 3D map:

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Peter Sih a.k.a. PeterX

Pavilhão Carlos Lopes | Lisbon, Portugal

Lives in: San Jose, CA | Primarily modeling: Everywhere!

"Modeling with Building Maker you get almost instant gratification. I learn a lot by modeling places I don't know as well as places I know well. Modeling for Google Earth ties together my lifelong fascination with geography, architecture, travel, photography, and computers."

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Grant Firl a.k.a. Grant F

Albuquerque Plaza | Albuquerque, New Mexico

Lives in: Fort Collins, CO | Primarily modeling: Albuquerque, NM

“I choose to model with Building Maker for many reasons. Principally, I think that the 3D buildings layer is a very worthwhile tool and I view it as both a privilege and a kind of duty to help fill in content. Secondly, it is both fun and rewarding to create models of physical buildings, especially given the opportunity to share them to Google's users for their use and enjoyment. Thirdly, the 3D buildings layer provides a unique way to preserve and share the hard work and inspiration of actual builders and architects.”

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Tim Shoemaker a.k.a. Timshuwy

Building in Los Angeles, California

Lives in: San Clemente, CA | Primarily modeling: Riverside, CA

“I have only been doing modeling for a couple of months, but have enjoyed spending some spare time filling in the blanks in the 3D world. I have been a Google Earth user for quite some time, and use it for tracking all the places that I have traveled for my work.”

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Thank you all for making this such a fun first year for Building Maker!

Posted by Nicole Drobeck, Building Maker Community Advocate