Google Earth import for Civil 3D 2014

[rkmcswain]

Since this was a pretty active topic a while back, I thought I would make a post on a potential solution

Google Earth import for Civil 3D 2014

[MikeEvansUK]

Almost as good as the original version, pity it's not OTB.

[michael.robertson]

Funny, I never see anyone mention the legal ramifications of using regular (not commercial/pro) version of Google Earth for imagery. Know of a few firms that have been hit with big bucks penalities for using plain GE for work instead of commercial version.

[AllenJessup]

I would hope that a commercial product would include a license agreement with Google. I imagine that is why it costs $400 for a program that only has a couple of offset tools along with the Google import.

Allen Jessup

[michael.robertson]

Since GE Pro is $399 (for 1-10 licenses) I would check before I hoped.

[cwitzel]

GE Pro does more than just offsets.  It has Parcel data for most of the United States (Don't know outside the US).  It also allows for more video export options (I can't remember if regular GE allows video exporting at all.)

We use Pro all the time.  It makes finding owner information ten times faster than before.  I bet we make back our $400 in a couple of weeks.

It also has cenus and traffic counts, although we don't use those as much.

Sometimes when I am home, I wish I had the pro version for something quick.

My two cents,

Conan Witzel

[csevers]

Can you explain how you can get parcel data from google earth into Civil3D? I frequently have a hard time getting ahold of raw gis parcel data from rural counties. Is there some way if I have a .kmz boundary, I can clip the parcels within it and export to some sort of file that can be imported to civil3D? 

[rl_jackson]

I would say you would be best to contact the particular county to obtain there shape files. I have done this on numerous occasions for wetlands and fema data that was unavailable at the time. A simple call and usually by the end of the day I had the information I had requested in an email. So counties offer there datasets as a freely downloadable item and some require a fee.

[csevers]

Dude, you didn't read my question. I am specifically looking for a way to avoid dealing with the county. You've had much better luck than me if you get a response by the end of the day. BTW I'm talking rural Wyoming, Montana, N. Dakota, etc. Most of the counties I am dealing with don't have a website. 

[Pointdump]

Chris,

No more parcels on Google Earth after Jan. 29, 2016 :
https://productforums.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!category-topic/maps/k3szta49co0

RL's advice is good. Make a few phone calls. And every day more and more GIS sites spring up.

Dave

[csevers]

I wasn't saying it was bad advice. It's just not applicable to my question. Basically, you've said, "just do it the same way you've always been doing it."