ReadWriteWeb

For some locations, Google already shows 3D buildings in Google Earth though it wasn't very easy for users to add their own buildings to these maps. Today, however, Google released Building Maker, which takes an almost game-like approach to crowdsourcing the production of these 3D buildings. Users simply pick a building in any of the 50 cities worldwide where this project is currently active, pick a building you would like to model, and Google will present you with aerial images of this building. All the user has to do is align a 3D wireframe model of the building with these images and a textured 3D model of the building is automatically saved in the Google Sketchup 3D warehouse. Once approved, the model will be added to Google Earth's building layer.