Google Brings Building Maker to Google Earth

Google is giving those with a little extra time and a bit of creative yearning a new outlet: designing 3D renderings of buildings in select cities. The Internet giant announced today that it will be offering a new feature on Google Earth called Google Building Maker. The new program will allow the user to select a city and specific building. Assuming you have the correct Google Earth plug-in, you can then use blocks provided by the feature to design a model of the building in question. Google provides aerial photos for use as reference. Submit your building to Google’s 3D Warehouse, and if it is selected, it will be used on Google Earth.

The new feature is available for 21 U.S. cities and 16 European cities including Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago, Dublin, Venice and Budapest. Nine Japanese cities, including Tokyo, are also part of the feature. In addition to creating buildings from the ground up, users can also improve upon existing models and submit for review to replace less accurate renditions that are currently being used. Outside of needing a Google account and the Google Earth plug-in, you can get started right away at the Building Maker website.

So, if you’ve ever had a Constanza-like fascination with architecture or enjoy building scaled-down models of any sort, this new feature should prove to be an entertaining and productive use of your time. [via PC Mag]