Download Google Earth "Gray Buildings" models

Question

I need to work with the 3d model of some places. Google Earth has the 3d building layer with "Gray Buildings" in it. This would be exactly what I would require. Is there any way to get the 3d models that are used? Is there a Google Earth API (other than the Javascript stuff)? (I'm working in .net) that would help?

Or is there at least a manual solution how I can get these models, say, into Sketchup?

Thanks a lot!

Answer 1

While there still isn't support for getting building geometry from Google's APIs, OpenStreetMaps does expose some data you can use. Check out this guide here:

http://wiki.flightgear.org/OpenStreetMap_buildings

Making a request like

http://overpass-api.de/api/xapi?way[bbox=-74.02037,40.69704,-73.96922,40.73971][building=*][@meta]

Will return an XML with building's base outlines and (in some cases) heights. You can use this info to extrude some very simple buildings: http://i.imgur.com/ayNPB.png

To fill in the missing height values (and they're missing on most buildings), I try to use the area of the building's footprint to determine how tall it might be compared to nearby buildings. Unfortunately, until Google is able to make their models public, this will have to do.