Set and measure elevation above sea

When you geo-locate a model, the reference data is written into a “GeoLocation” attribute dictionary.

See this post for a snippet of Ruby, and the link to a nifty inspector extension to view attribute dictionaries:
Finding and Exporting Google Earth Coordinates for survey - #3 by DanRathbun

and for some examples (explaining the values of TranslationZ is in inches,) see:
Astrodynamically Correct Shadows at Altitudes Much Greater than Z=0 - #3 by DanRathbun