Google Earth and Raster Design

[jefferyjensen]

Hello Raster Design Users,

Have you had success using Raster Design to import imagery from Google Earth? I'm having the following issues and would like your suggestions:

Problem with Google Earth (GE) Pro and Civil 3D

1. when I save an image from GE, it does NOT save the world file (.jpw) but does save the .jpg in color

2. when I use Civil 3D to import imagery from GE, the image is properly placed/position/geo-referenced in my Civil 3D drawing but the image is in Black & White/grayscale.

3. Civil 3D will NOT honor Arbitrary XY coordinate systems with transformations already set when IMPORTing a GE image. Civil 3D does give the option to support Arbitrary XY when EXPORTing a surface/model to GE KML/KMZ file. Would like to know if Raster Design works better with Arbitrary XY coordinates.


I feel the best and simplest solution would be if GE would just save a world file (.jpw) but I doubt this will happen.

Second best option is if Raster Design can create both a .jpw and color .jpg

Currently, I use the following method to import GE color images into Civil 3D which is cumbersome: http://faculty.unlv.edu/jensen/CEE_301/cee301spring09.html#Map3DGoogleLL2SPCS

If you have already solved these problems or have any suggestions on how to improve/simplify the process, I would be grateful for your input.

Thank you for your assistance,

Jeff Jensen

[lkaliakatsos]

I guess you should take a look in an AutoCAD plug-in (named Plex.Earth) that solves your problem as you describe it.



Next video shows how it works:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkrEpfbsoAk

[m4tts1m]

Here's a suggestion based on similar glitches i've had in the past.

If the image is inserting with the proper geo-reference but color is forced to grayscale, then
1. export a world file,
2. detach the image,
3. MAKE A BACKUP OF THE IMAGE(s)
4. open the image in some other raster editor
(Photoshop, GIMP; anything able to open and "save as" a file of this size)
5. do a "Save As" to overwrite the image
(generally, this is removing any fancy headers embedded in the file, which can -for whatever reason- cause AutoCAD to display grayscale)
6. insert the image into AutoCAD, but you'll need to use the World file since the header has been stripped out.

(7) if you want/need, you can now export a new image from AutoCAD with the geo-ref header embedded.

hope that helps
it's a few hoops to jump thru, but it worked for us.

matt

Edited by: m4tts1m on Apr 21, 2009 2:09 PM Edited by: m4tts1m on Apr 21, 2009 2:10 PM