Lasse van den Bosch Christensensen
Thesis Attachment
Email Correspondence 04
Jon B.



Subject:
Re: A request regarding 3D-modeling for Google Earth
From:
Jon B.
Date:
04/03/2014 05:45 PM
To:
Lasse van den Bosch Christensen

Hi,   
No problem, not intruding. 

I used Google Earth at work in various ways and grew to appreciate its 3D potential.  Line of site evaluations and satellite coverage maps etc.  After coming across the 3D modelling and the associated Building maker platform associated with it,  I started used Building Maker as hobby and a way to de-stress after work. But also to do something with my time that might get appreciated by others in Google Earth.  Kind of like artwork,  but with a purpose and a potential world wide audience.   

That hobby grew into a bit of an obsession at one point,  where i'd tackle large buildings/complexes or difficult things others hadn't yet tried or figured out how to do yet.  Like the Canadian War Museum. Some of these models took dozens of hours and multiple tries.  I spent a lot of non-work hours on these models.  Never got to finish some like the War Museum.  I also grew more frustrated by Google's review process as time went along.

When the Trimble buyout news came along, I basically stopped.  Seemed like i'd help build up Google Earth 3D so they could sell it.  The gifts although a nice gesture would of been nicer if it had been 1 company stock share for all the hours of labour.  I'd gotten a t-shirt previously as a top modeller and then the gift package at the end.  The t-shirt was super poor quality, right into the rag bin, nice thought though.   The gift package, again a nice gesture. 

When Building Maker got taken down - I stopped modelling all together.  Although I've used Sketchup on and off since for modelling other things in 3D (work related or my kitchen remodel)  I found it was difficult to use for modelling buildings from online satellite photos.  Haven't quite got the hang of it. 

The Trimble deal put a damper my hobby.  The shut down of Building Maker killed it.  I've moved on to other things to occupy my time,  probably for the better. Still enjoy running across my building models in Google Earth though. Your email sent me back to "My Models" yesterday.  I see the web site has totally changed.  I might revisit modelling again someday, but life has other priorities now. 

I hold no grudge against Google/Trimble.  Free software tools always have a price. I use many Google services for many things free of charge.  My only gift to them is the online model collection. 

Good luck with your project.

Cheers,
Jon



On Wed, Apr 2, 2014 at 8:47 AM, Lasse van den Bosch Christensen <lasselvdbc@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Jon,

I hope you don't feel like I'm intruding. I managed to find your email trough the Google 3D Community forums. 
I'm an art and design student researching the drastic changes happening to SketchUp, the 3D Warehouse and Google Earth over the past two years.

I'm trying to reach as many top modelers for Google Earth as possible, and I'm therefore contacting you. 

My particular interest lies in how you, as a modeler and active contributor to the platforms, react to these changes and how you perceive/perceived the now former provider (Google) in this phase. You invested much time in building up the platforms which, ultimately, were closed and dependent on the will of the Google. 
I hope that you could help me in a small thought experiment. 
Upon receiving the top modelers 'thank you gift bundle' in 2012 (see attached images for reference), consider sending a present back to Google. You already contributed your time and models to Google, but as a physical response to their gift, what would you give back? What would it look like, what would it contain, what message would it convey? It could be directly inspired by the gift you received from Google.
I want to create the gift(s) based on your descriptions, whether these are expressed trough a text, notes, sketches (perhaps made in sketchUp), or other means. Finally these will be displayed them as part of the final presentation of the project. Coming from the most dedicated members within the modelers community, and in a very direct way, I hope that this gift-collection will reflect the multiple voices and opinions about Google.

I hope that you will consider my proposal. 
Also, please don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions.
 
All the Best,
Lasse van den Bosch Christensen
Master Student at the Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.