New Horizons in Parametric World Modeling – SketchOSM by PlaceMaker
Have you ever wondered, why not put your neighborhood on the map? The SketchOSM plugin for SketchUp, by?PlaceMaker, lets you do just that! You can create parametric buildings in a few quick clicks and share them with the world in a jiffy.
Trimble SketchUp is famous for its flexibility, which comes from its ability to integrate many extensions or plugins from various sources. Though only SketchUp Pro and above can do this, it is still an awesome way to customize and empower this lovely modeling and rendering software.
One such great extension is SketchOSM by PlaceMaker.
SketchOSM by PlaceMaker
The main functionality of the extension is two-fold. First, it lets you create 3D buildings that add site context to your model. You can do it by establishing a constant, which, in the equation of a curve or surface, can be varied to represent a family of curves or surfaces.
Secondly, you can share these buildings with the world by directly uploading them to OpenStreetMap. Yes, you guessed right, this is how the plugin gets its name, by combining the software and service names.
If you don’t know, OpenStreetMap is an enormous database of geoinformation, available to everybody on earth. It is accessible and editable by anyone.