Chattanooga 3D Featured on Google SketchUp Blog

Chattanooga aims to get on the virtual map

By Bruce Polderman, Project Manager, Google    12-08-09, 4:45 PM

Last month, a small group of volunteers launched a community-wide effort, called Chattanooga 3D to put Chattanooga, Tennessee on the 3D Map. Their goal is to "Bring Chattanooga to life in Google Earth for everyone to enjoy. Architecture, attractions, businesses, streets, greenways, parks, art...whatever you want. It can be done."

The effort was organized by Karen Liwanpo, Creative Director, and Stephen Culp, Founder and Chairman at Smart Furniture, headquartered in Chattanooga. Smart Furniture was one of the early adopters of the Google 3D Warehouse. They used Google SketchUp to publish product catalogs for use by architects, interior designers, general consumers, and design enthusiasts.

Karen was aware that many people model 3D buildings for Google Earth, and she realized her familiarity with Sketchup could make it easy to do the same in Chattanooga. In the midst of one of the world's largest community visioning processes ("Chattanooga STAND"), Karen and Stephen saw an opportunity to launch Chattanooga 3D as one of the first community-inspired initiatives to emerge from STAND. And since Google SketchUp and Google Earth are tools that just about anyone can use, they were perfect for such a collaborative community effort.

While Karen was an experienced SketchUp user, she had never used the program for geo-modeling. So, she contacted us. She said, "We're holding an event next weekend, we'd like to create 3D model for Google Earth in real-time. What do we need to do to get people up to speed to model Chattanooga for Google Earth?" Next weekend? Yikes! We directed her to the plethora of online training resources, and also connected her with Chris Wilson, the director of the community modeling effort in downtown McMinnville, Tennessee. As a pioneer of community modeling for Google Earth, we thought Chris would be willing to share his learnings with Karen. And sure enough, he was - a quick call between them and Chris was arranging his schedule to provide a quick training session to the Chattanooga volunteers.

The Chattanooga volunteers are doing a great job modeling their downtown, and their models are beginning to appear in Google Earth's 3D Buildings layer. The project has garnered lots of attention, which in-turn has helped to create awareness and aid their volunteer effort. If you're interested in helping the group model their downtown, or getting some tips for your launching own effort, you can contact Karen through the Chattanooga 3D web site.

Chattanooga 3D: Putting the Scenic City on the (virtual) map

by Casey Phillips
Times Free Press – 11.30.09
Click here to view the front page feature of the Life section.

Chatanooga 3D Models now on Google Earth

Quick update! We now have 11 models live on Google Earth. Special thanks to Patrick, Chris and Coffield for getting these models done. Looking forward to seeing Chattanooga continue to take shape.

Chattanooga 3D Mentioned on Chattanooga Stand

Putting Chattanooga on the Map—In 3-D
11.20.09
Ben Johnson
“I can guarantee that this will make all who participate in it no money…”

This is an unexpected project introduction at a business start-up event. But then again, the Chattanooga 3-D project is anything but expected. Intended as an event to incubate small business start-ups, 48Hour Launch was designed as a start-up resource for the entrepreneurial community. 89 people gathered over the weekend, the vast majority of whom worked on projects that they hoped would eventually turn into viable financial enterprises. Chattanooga 3-D on the other hand, started with the goal to “start something” cool that would benefit Chattanooga, even if it had no tangible economic impact for the participants.
The brain-child of Stephen Culp, Chattanooga 3-D was begun in response to Stand’s call for people to “start something.” Using a combination of Google Sketch-up and Google Earth, teams of volunteers have taken hundreds of pictures and are using them to make three-dimensional renderings of Downtown Chattanooga. During our 48-hour long event, over 20 people—by far the largest team at 48Hour Launch—built 3-D models of most of Main Street in Downtown Chattanooga. In the wake of the 48Hour Launch, the project is continuing full-throttle, as anyone with a good camera and a few hours to learn the program can contribute to the 3-D maps Chattanooga.

As we saw at 48Hour Launch, entrepreneurism and innovation is not only of great economic benefit, but is also a vital part of civic engagement. The ease with which people can join in this project allows for broad participation, and the potential applications are equally broad. Architecture, attractions, businesses, streets, greenways, parks, art…whatever you want to do with it can be done. The Chattanooga 3-D project is aptly described as “open-source,” the goal being to create this map, release it to the community—and see what happens. Embodying Stand’s goal of empowering individuals, they are providing a resource and leaving it up to the initiative and creativity of all of us to determine how we can best use this information. 

If you have a few hours to spare, and would like to contribute to this project, head over to their website at http://www.chattanooga3d.com/ for details on how to get involved.

Progress!!!

If you check Google Earth, you will see a new structure downtown: The DoubleTree Hotel. Newly renovated in the past couple of years, it is now accessible for anyone around the world to see where it is and what it looks like! Eventually, you might be able to see inside! Check it out when you have a chance. Also, view our growing collection of Chattanooga 3D Models here. Special thanks goes to Patrick, AKA, Museum Maker who created this awesome model.

What came out of 48 Hour Launch Chattanooga

First fly through downtown Chattanooga. Chattanooga 3D launches the weekend of November 13-15, 2009 at CreateHere during 48HourLaunch.org event. A team of 10 people, some experienced and some new to SketchUp, join forces to build downtown in 48 hours.

48 Hour Launch (informal) Schedule for this weekend

Friday
6:00 – Sign-in + Eat
6:45 – Assemble for orientation
7:00 – Pitches
7:30 – Trade Show
8:15 – Pick Your Team
8:45 – Begin Round 1
Resource Staff Available until 11 pm
Saturday
8:00 – Breakfast
8:30 – Update # 1
9:10 – Begin Round 2
11:45 – Lunch Available
12:30 – Update #2
1:10 – Begin Round 3
5:30 – Dinner Available
6:15 – Update #3
7:00 – Begin Round 4
Resource Staff Available until 11 pm

Sunday
8:00 – Breakfast
8:30 – Update # 4
9:10 – Begin Round 5
11:45 – Lunch Available
12:30 – Update #5
1:10 – Begin Round 6
5:00 – Launch! Final Report
6:00 – Operation Dinner Out

Chattanoogans Put Their City on the Map (in 3D) with SketchUp, Google Earth, and Community Collaboration

(Chattanooga, TN) "Putting Chattanooga on the Map-- in 3D" (a.k.a. "C3D") is one of the first citizen-inspired initiatives to emerge from Chattanooga STAND, one of the largest community visioning processes in history. Building on STAND's call to "start something", C3D will launch November 13th at 48HourLaunch, a groundbreaking event to be hosted at Chattanooga's CreateHere,
The goal of C3D is to bring the Chattanooga downtown and region to life in Google Earth for everyone to enjoy. Local entrepreneur and sponsor, Stephen Culp, says the idea is quickly taking on a life of its own. "It's becoming clearer every day that this project can make our city more accessible to all kinds of people and organizations," he adds, including local residents, public officials, artists, planners, tourists, architects, developers, and businesspeople. As a result, the project will likely be staged in "layers" corresponding to Chattanooga's uniquely diverse architecture, downtown art, attractions, businesses, parks, greenways, and more.
The C3D project also continues to take on new volunteers and partners. Initially inspired by collaborative spirit of Chattanooga STAND, Culp has seen volunteers emerge from the local design, architectural, academic, and entrepreneurial communities, as well as early partners in organizations like RiverCity, CreateHere, 48HourLaunch, and Smart Furniture. On the 3D front, the team will be supported by the Google Sketchup/3D design team from Smart Furniture led by Karen Liwanpo, and the expertise of Chris Wilson, who led a similar and successful effort with the "Main Street McMinnville" project.
The C3D project will launch at 48HourLaunch (48HL), an innovative event itself launched by three Tennessee-based entrepreneurial organizations-- Springboard, Knoxville Overground, and Launch Memphis. The event will kick off Global Entrepreneurship Week, and, according to local organizer Sheldon Grizzle of Springboard, is a "blitz-idea-incubator" based around collaborative creativity. Grizzle adds, "It will be a chance for entrepreneurs, project managers, web developers, pr and marketing minds, strategists, designers, and writers, to come together to do the unthinkable— create and launch real businesses and sustainable initiatives in 48 hours."
The team will initially meet at Create Here (55 E. Main Street, Chattanooga TN 37408) this Friday, November 13th, at 6pm. For volunteers interested but who can't make it Friday, C3D will continue through the 48HourLaunch on Saturday, 8am–7pm and Sunday, 8am–6pm (and if you can't make the weekend, still contact C3D-- this will be a long-term project). The C3D team invites anyone interested to join the team of volunteers to be part of this launch, including Google SketchUp users, photographers, and other creative folks. Bring a laptop and camera if available-- the team will be indoors and around the city, photographing, drawing, and "pushing up" the city in 3D.