Why is Google satellite imagery crooked?

Hey folks! Sorry, I’m new to sketch up, so maybe this is easily answered. Please, can anyone explain, when I import an image from google maps/earth using the terrain plug-in, why the locked group (red line) is not symmetrical to the image?

Every time I import the image, it doesn’t line up evenly on the axes. How can I fix this? Or is there some work around? It’s very frustrating when trying to drape topo lines with sandbox tools onto a rectangle of equal size… My topo lines then become crooked on the new surface.

Thanks!

The default NorthAngle is set to true north in all SketchUp model templates.
But the satellites that took the imagery, were not. Or the imagery was cut up and aligned to a survey datum line. (WGS84) See: Ruby API: Sketchup::Model#set_datum

To align the model to the image, in the Ruby Console, run these Ruby statements:

mdl = Sketchup.active_model
mdl.shadow_info["DisplayNorth"]= true

Sketchup.send_action('selectNorthTool:')

# when done:
mdl.shadow_info["DisplayNorth"]= false

… if that is what you really want.

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Thanks Dan, that clarifies things. So I don’t really want to adjust the scripts.

What I’d really like to do is be able to align a rectangle with the 3d topo lines I create, so that I can drape them onto the surface and have flat, 2d topo contours. I’m not able to do that as it is, because: a) the 3d contour lines, which I create from intersecting a grouped array of rectangles with the image layer, all come out as a bunch of small individual line pieces and SketchUp cant snap to any corner, and b) I can’t snap to a corner of the image, because the image itself is cockeyed to the actual entity that SketchUp creates to hold it.

Any advice on how to work around this misalignment?

Make a copy of the model file, and try adjusting the north angle in the copy.
If the Sketchup.send_action('selectNorthTool:') does not work, it is a Pro only function.

See this other thread: