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Google Earth: New 3D cities released- Berkeley, Cologne and The Hague

Google has just expanded the 3D building count in three cities, adding tens of thousands of buildings in the process. The three cities are Cologne (Germany), The Hague (Netherlands) and Berkeley (California, US). Here’s a shot of how Berkeley looks with all of the new 3D buildings:

While all three cities look great, the most interesting has to be The Hague. If you’ll remember, there was a large workshop back in February where 60 people got together to help build out the city in 3D. The workshop must have gone quite well, because the city looks great!

Congrats to all of the users that participated in modeling out that city. Also, thanks to anyone else whose building showed up today as part of the update — your hard work helps make Google Earth better for everyone!

Google Earth: Cover the world in 3D buildings

Google’s goal has long been to “add a 3D model of every building on the planet to Google Earth“, and with the help of you and I they continue to make strides toward that goal. In the five years since Google purchased SketchUp, users have contributed tens of thousands of buildings generated from SketchUp and by using tools such as Building Maker.

To help further expand the 3D coverage, Google has just unveiled the Your World in 3D site to give people a great place to access tools and information to help model their own buildings in 3D. They’ve compiled a ton of great resources including an events calendar, message forum, tips based on your level of use and a gallery of great 3D buildings around the world.

If you’re not convinced that it’s worthwhile to spend time modeling buildings in 3D, Google has a video titled “Why create 3D models for Google Earth?” that tries to answer that question for you. They give some great examples of why 3D models can be useful for a city or organization:

New cities in Building Maker

If you climb up on the roof of your house and cup your hands to your ears, I’ll bet you’ll hear cheering. That’s the sound of everyone in Fresno, Lake Tahoe, Austin, Phoenix, Sacramento, San Diego and St. Louis celebrating the arrival of better Building Maker coverage in their cities. Touching, no?