Your project site's location in Google Earth is all you need to know in order to place it into an empty drawing and start designing.
Introduction
With Plex-Earth, it is feasible to locate your project site and import high-quality, up-to-date imagery into your AutoCAD drawings in the blink of an eye, even if you do not have access to any information related to the geographic location of your area of interest. All you need to do is create a Placemark in Google Earth, copy the geographic information tied to it to your clipboard, and use the Import Imagery Mosaic command found on the Imagery Panel of Plex-Earth. It's that simple.
This tutorial is intended to demonstrate the step-by-step process that needs to be followed in order to fully leverage this key feature of Plex-Earth.
Step 1: Create a Placemark in Google Earth
For this step, you will need to locate your project site in Google Earth and create a Placemark to be used as a reference point. Once it's done, copy your newly created Placemark using your cursor:
Step 2: Import Imagery Mosaic
To proceed with this step, return to AutoCAD and select the Import Imagery Mosaic command found on the Imagery Panel of Plex-Earth, as shown in the screenshot below:
On the window that appears next, you will be prompted to select your desired way of specifying the area to be covered with imagery. For the purpose of our example, we will pick the Select in Google Earth option:
Plex-Earth also offers the option to select your preferred provider and define the quality of your Imagery manually by altering the applied Zoom Level.
- In order to choose between our available Basemap Providers, you can click on the respective option. In this tutorial, we will import Imagery from Google Maps.
- In order to define the quality of your Imagery manually, you can set the predefined option to Custom. If you would prefer Plex-Earth to calculate the optimal combination between the resolution of your imported Imagery and the number of tiles depending on the size of your area of interest, you can set it to Automatic. In this tutorial, we will set it to Custom.
Both options are highlighted below:
After setting our desired parameters, we click Select in Google Earth. We are then presented with a notification window informing us that we currently have a Google Earth element copied to our clipboard, and asking whether we would like to import Imagery for that area. We then click YES, USE THAT AREA, as demonstrated in the screenshot below:
Once we do, we are presented with the Image Resolution Manager, which allows us to specify the desired Zoom Level and gives us an accurate estimation of the tiles necessary in order to cover our area of interest with an Imagery Mosaic. We can alter the specified Zoom Level according to our needs, and once we are done, we click SELECT, as shown in the screenshot below:
Once we hit the SELECT button, we are presented with a notification window providing us with brief information in regard to our calculated Imagery Mosaic, and offering the option to capture our Imagery with the click of a button. In order to do so, we click Start capturing now!:
Plex-Earth then imports an Imagery Mosaic that covers our area of interest in accordance with the parameters specified previously and automatically activates the Mosaic Editor. Below is the end result for our example:
It is worth noting that Plex-Earth applies a coordinate system by utilizing a custom georeference based on the World Geodetic System (WSG84), with respect to the copied Google Earth Placemark used.
Here is a much clearer view of our project site, after hiding the Mosaic gridlines by using the respective command of the Mosaic Editor:
And here's a closer look at our project site, just to give you a taste of the clarity of Imagery imported into your drawings with Plex-Earth:
Conclusion
Plex-Earth was developed to make drafting an exciting experience. The ability to import high-quality Imagery into AutoCAD drawings in a matter of seconds is only the tip of the iceberg, as the newest version of our software comes packed with a wide range of powerful tools, designed to make life easier for professionals who trust our services.
We hope that you have found this tutorial on how to import georeferenced imagery into AutoCAD from Google Earth View using a placemark, helpful. Feel free to contact us at support@plexscape.com for any questions you may still have.
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Compatibility includes:
AutoCAD Version: 2024 , 2023 , 2022 , 2021 , 2020 , 2019 , 2018 , 2017 , 2016
Civil 3D® Version: 2024 , 2023 , 2022 , 2021 , 2020 , 2019 , 2018 , 2017 , 2016
AutoCAD Architecture Version: 2024 , 2023 , 2022 , 2021 , 2020 , 2019 , 2018 , 2017 , 2016
BricsCAD Pro: V23 , V22 , V21