SU 2021 Geolocation Problem

SketchUp Pro
#1

Has anyone used Geolocation for a model? Google Earth is no longer supported and work well in the past. High resolution imagery is now provided by Digital Globe which charges per image, I attempted to “Preview” the Tile and received a message that I was out of “preview credits”. This is the first time using Digital Globe, so why am I out of credits. The end result was that I purchased the Hi-Res image image from Trimble and the image was not what I consider to be a quality image without Terrain. SU technical support was contacted and received a reply “Unfortunately we do not have a way to reset that count, currently it can only be reset by making a purchase”. The message from The SketchUp Team at Trimble Inc the also stated
We are, however, aware of the inconvenience of this system. We are planning on releasing a change in a few weeks that would change this to be three previews per session. This timeframe is subject to change depending on how pre-release testing goes.

After purchase of the image from Digital Globe, a Preview of selected Tile again returned a message You are out of preview credits. Please make a purchase to obtain more previews.

#2

Actually it’s Google Earth that no longer supports SketchUp. This isn’t new. It happened A few years ago.

#3

When I researched Google Earth support of Sketchup, Google stated “they (SU) decided to go another route” indicating it was SU decision to stop using Goggle Earth for Geolocation services.

#4

What actually happened was when Google sold SketchUp to Trimble, they gave Trimble five years to sort out a different source for geo-location terrain data and imagery. Google’s terms of use for their Earth and Maps products were changed to prohibit use of that data and imagery.

Also, they dropped the use of Google Earth and switched to Google Maps while Google still owned SketchUp.

#5

There are a few things worth knowing.

Digital Globe images are free, it’s Nearmap that charges for tiles.

My colleague did ask for any ideas at the time that you contacted us. You’re the first person to have this issue, and I didn’t have an idea at the time. But looking at your account I see one potential issue. You have used your gmail address with the Free version, and you have four subscriptions connected to your work email. There is an issue with add location at the moment where you may be asked to sign in even though you are currently signed in. If that happened to you, and you signed in with gmail having previously signed in with the work email, that could lead to some confusion. It ought to be possible for us to test that theory.

The quality of the terrain is related to the zoom level. If you imported at a 16X zoom level you would have 1/16th the level of detail that you get with 18X. The quality of the Nearmap images is down to its independent import level, which goes to 21X. You would get poor results if either of those were on lower settings.

Given that you didn’t get the chance to see a preview, I will suggest to my colleague that he starts a refund for the $8.40 that the test cost you.

For my interest, could I see the file that has the import that you did do? I can then replicate it, and see if the results I get are better, but also to check to make sure that there isn’t an issue with the exact location you chose to test.

You can click on my avatar and send a message straight to me, if you would rather not share the file publicly.

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