I emailed a .kmz file from Google Earth to my computer. The file has one place mark.
In SketchUp I went to:
File>Import
For file type I selected “Google Earth files (.kmz)”
Then selected the .kmz file.
Got a message “Import Failed”.
Tried this with several kmz files with same result.
What’s going on?
How can I import a Google Earth kmz file into Sketchup?
Unless there are at least some edges SketchUp can recognize in the KMZ file, there’s nothing for it to import. If all you’ve got is a place mark, Use Add Location in SketchUp and find the same place. Import the location from there.
I tried to import a polygon. That didn’t work either.
How was the polygon created?
As I said, if the mark is something that SketchUp can read, it works fine. Here I’ve drawn a polygon geo-located over an image I imported with Add Location.
After exporting the file as a KMZ, I opened a new SketchUp file and imported it. It came in as expected.
Most people don’t realize that a KMZ is a compressed archive that can contain multiple types of data. In a KMZ, geometry can be described using a SketchUp model but it can also be described using KMZ’s own native geometry elements. Both forms will display on Google Earth, but SketchUp can only import what is modeled using SketchUp geometry in the kmz.
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I’m using SketchUp Pro 2016 Version 16.1.1449 64 bit
In SketchUp I went to File>GeoLocation>Add Location and chose a spot in California
I opened Google Earth and went to the same spot. I added a polygon. I right clicked the polygon and selected Save As, and saved it as Test Polygon 2.kmz
In Sketchup I went to File>Import.
Selected “Google Earth File (*.kmz)”
And selected “Test Polygon 2.kmz”
SketchUp said “Import failed”
See screenshot
And attached kmz file.
How did you add the polygon in Google Earth?
Here is the SketchUp fileKmzTest.skp (1.8 MB)
This skp file is a bit different because the one I tested was over 3MB and had to select a smaller area. However, the test results are the same.
I created the polygon in Google Earth. Does it create elements, specifically a polygon, that SketchUp can’t import?
How else can you create a kmz in Google Earth?
Since you didn’t create the polygon in SketchUp, there’s nothing SketchUp can read in your KMZ file and of course the import would fail.
Google Earth has no ability to create a SketchUp model, rather SketchUp can export a model wrapped in a KMZ file that the Google Earth application can load (note: online Google Earth no longer accepts SketchUp models). When you draw geometry in GE, you generate KML (keyhole markup language) geometry elements that the SketchUp importer doesn’t handle.
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Thanks for the responses.
I often view projects in Google Earth. I create place marks, paths and polygons to annotate important aspects of the site. I can share this with others by emailing the kmz file to them. I also want to use this information in my SketchUp file. I would prefer not to have to re-enter it all into SkecthUp. that was my purpose in wanting to import to SketchUp the information I had put into Google Earth.
I’m not trying to import SU models from Google Earth or export them to Google Earth. Although both of those things would be useful to do.
I’m puzzled as to what is the purpose of importing kmz files if SU can’t understand kmz files created by Google Earth (or other programs?)
Of course, there would be no point in my creating items in SketchUp, sending them to Google Earth and then importing them back into SU.
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I understand your problem.
This all goes back to the days over 4 years ago when Google owned SketchUp. Google created the kmz importer, I believe.
They originally bought SketchUp as a means to let ordinary people create 3D buildings to populate the online Google Earth. To that end, they added kml elements to embed a SketchUp model in a kmz compressed archive. Since the SU file is literally just copied into a folder of the kmz archive, importing such a kmz into SketchUp is almost trivial: unzip, navigate to the skp, and load it.
But Google didn’t anticipate any need to import native kml geometry into SketchUp. That would be a more involved process of translating the geographically specified kml lines and polygons into model-located entities in SketchUp. Then Google abandoned the idea of using SketchUp in favor of other mechanisms and sold SketchUp to Trimble. Trimble hasn’t seen enough requests for importing kml geometry to justify the development effort.
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I’m going to start a separate thread with a related question: how import KML data into SketchUp
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