Winner - Fantasy Architecture Court Fields Community School

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We are pleased to announce the winner of Fantasy London Google Earth - Court Fields Community School - The Spiral Tower by James.

It was a tricky decision as all the entries were in our view outstanding. Special mention goes to the both the Eco-Flower by Tildy and Hannah and the Triplet Tower by Rhys Darby. Both displayed a unique concept of structure and design while mixing functionality and a realisation of the need for sustainability.

All of the models will be ported into Google Earth as soon as we have chance (the route from 3DMax to Google Earth is taking longer than planned at the moment). Once the models are complete we will publish the Google Earth files so the designs can be explored in 3D.



The Winner will receive a £10 Gift Voucher from WHSmiths and all the runners up will receive a glossy A3 printout of their designs.

If your interested in further details on this project, or want to send in your own design, please drop us a email from the contact details on the side of the blog.

Finally - Well done James!


You can view a high res version of the winning building here

The Triplet Tower Fantasy London

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We are pleased to announce the third and final runner up in Fantasy London Google Earth - Court Fields Community School - The Triplet Tower.

Designed by Rhys Darby, the building is a series of three towers surrounded by 'ribbon shaped glass which changes from blue to red to green and finally gold at night'.

The over all winner will be announced next week and the buildings will also be ported into Google Earth.

You can view a high res version of the render here

Spiral Tower Fantasy London

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We are pleased to announce the second runner up in Fantasy London Google Earth - Court Fields Community School - The Spiral Tower.

Designed by James the building is designed as a 'tower used for modern art, being made of glass and steel'. James wanted the building to be one of the most beautiful in the world.

The final runner up will be modelled shortly and an over all winner announced. All the buildings will also be ported into Google Earth.

You can view a high res version of the render here

Eco-Flower Fantasy London

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As a follow up to yesterdays post on Fantasy London Google Earth - Court Fields Community School we have modelled the first runner up - the Eco Flower.

Designed by Tildy and Hannah the building is designed as a 'huge glass solar powered, flower shaped building for homeless people'.

The other two runner ups will be modelled shortly and a over all winner announced. All the buildings will also be ported into Google Earth.

You can view a high res version of the render here

Fantasy London Google Earth - Court Fields Community School

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Noel Jenkins a teacher from Court Fields Community School has sent in some wonderful building designs for our Fantasy London project. His class of 11 year olds have been learning about Urban Land Use and Digital Geography, a subject which is perfect for Google Earth. Noel runs the excellent website 'Digital Geography' which includes a number of resources aimed at exploring the teaching of Geography using digital techniques.

The buildings, designed by the pupils, have all been sent in with locations marked in Google Earth - we now intend to select three winners and model their drawings in 3D ready to put into Google Earth.

You can view the drawings in more detail by clicking on the images below:

The buildings and the winners will go online, fingers crossed, later this week and a prize for the best building will be sent in the post..

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As an update in case you came here via a direct link - the first runner up has now been modelled and rendered.

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Slow Week?

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Not many updates this week as I have been called away from work to look after my Dad who fell off the roof while chasing squirrels.

Next weeks got some interesting posts coming up though - we have a series of posts on Fantasy Architecture with drawings for a Geography Class to be made into 3D Models and put into Google Earth. The drawings arrived in A3 format and we have a A3 Scanner arriving Monday.

We are also thinking of a 'How To' series to put together a series of tutorials on how to do the things we put on the blog. If there are any tutorials you would like see then please post a comment and we will start writing....

SketchUp Acquired by Google

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SketchUp is without doubt one of our favorite pieces of software, software which now displays a 'from Google' logo on their homepage.

Google has acquired SketchUp after they worked together on the plugin for Google Earth. With the aim of making the easy to use 3D modelling software available to a wider group of users it seems to link in well with the expansion of Google Earth.

There are some nagging doubts in the back of my mind but personally I'm all for the wider intergration of easy to use software. Googles Picasa is a prime example of this - software which gets the job done in a way so simple you wonder why it hasn't been down before.

So how long before we see a SketchUp Lite version aimed at Google Earth users? - We bet within the next few months.

Stereo New York Google Earth

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After reading a post on Ogle Earth about stereo views in Google Earth we thought we would revisit a previous post on the 3D Euston Tower and create a 3D view of New York.

If you sit back from the monitor and view the image, the city floats in front of your screen - interesting but not much use, ultimately a Friday thing to do...

You can view a full screen version of the image here.

Digital Earths - Rendering

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JC Francois's site NoirExtreme was a life saver when i found i had to step into give a lecture to the British Council on Global Warming.

This obviously requires a highly polished visualisation of the earth linking data relevant to climate change and thus demonstrating how new technologies cna be used to inform the public. Its a no brainer to use Google Earth but for a intro movie 3D Max can produce a more professional output.

Francois has a tutorial on creating a digital earth complete with lens flare - allowing a intro movie to be rendered overnight in time for the mornings talk.



Google Earth is impressive but for pure visualisation you cant beat a good rendering in 3DMax.

Microsoft Live Local Technology Preview

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Microsoft Live Local have released a Technology Preview - tagged as being powered by Virtual Earth - which allows users to get street-level views of the Seattle and San Francisco city centers through the windshield of a car.

The concept is similar to the street level views from A9.Com Maps with the addition of views looking up and down the road with overlays, if required, of an in-car view.



It is not however anywhere near as successful in terms of interface implementation as A9.Com Maps. The in car view is 'tacky' giving the Live Local system an air of a cheap computer game from the early 90's. To compound this you are given the option to navigate with the keyboard which is almost impossible to use as its often difficult to stay on the streets. More interesting to note is the inclusion of a Microsoft XBox 360 controller on the cars dashboard - a hint that the system could come to the XBox Microsoft Live Service perhaps?

Microsoft Lives' Preview is currently a poorly implemented series of screen grabs made from an in-car mounted video. We hope the future of Virtual Earth is brighter than this...

Hidden London - Inside the Red Phonebox Panorama

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The Red Phonebox is a classic design by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott who amoungest other notable buildings also designed Battersea Power Station. The K6 "Jubilee" model pictured here was built to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of King George V in 1935.



The K6 can be found at Byng Place in Bloomsbury London and is actually a Grade II Listed Building.

View the Quicktime panorama of Inside the Red Phonebox in London (3.2mb).

Hidden London - Fitzrovia Mural Panorama

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Opposite the Habitat and Heals department stores on Tottenham Court Road is Whitefield Gardens which contains the Fitzrovia Mural. The Mural was painted on the side of the building tucked away behind Cafe Nero in 1980 and depicts many people from the local area.



The area, although small, is a perfect place for a coffee outside while examining the mural. Cafe Nero is an interesting chain of coffee houses, in an era where the highstreet is bland and corporate they tend to go for high quality frontages to their establishments. The use of subdued colours and awnings to cover outdoor seating areas is notable for its enhancement of the streetscape.

Compare this to the Starbucks located opposite Cafe Nero in the panorama and the jarring plastic branding and disregard for the local environment is self evident.

View the Quicktime panorama of the Fitzrovia Mural, London (3.2mb).