Updated Google Earth Extension for AutoCAD 2012 Family Now Available

Month in, month out, the Google Earth Extension for AutoCAD is a popular download.

Google Earth Extension on Autodesk Labs

The Google Earth extension supports version of AutoCAD as far back as 2007. For this update, only the 2012 compatible technology preview was updated. This is even different from the 2012 update the team made in June of this year. In fact, this update is a complete rewrite that interfaces to Google Earth using a new Java Application Program Interface (API). The former version used the Microsoft COM API (// more), so we'd really like your feedback on this new version at [email protected] or the AutoCAD 2012 discussion forum.

As part of the rewrite, the extension now supports additional flavors of AutoCAD:

• AutoCAD 2012
• AutoCAD Architecture 2012
• AutoCAD Map 3D 2012
• AutoCAD MEP 2012
• AutoCAD Mechanical 2012
• AutoCAD Plant 3D 2012

As before the list of capabilities includes:

• Import a Google Earth image into AutoCAD
• Publish your 3D model to Google Earth
• Drape a Google Earth image onto a 3D mesh in AutoCAD
• Attach time span information to your model

but color is now supported. The former version was black and white. Color was the number 1 request on the survey feedback. The user interface has also been updated to let you work with Google Earth while remaining in AutoCAD.

The read me for this update notes

• The Google Earth Extension has not been tested with AutoCAD Civil 3D 2012. As such the installer does not support it.
• The Google Earth Extension may encounter problems when used with a proxy-server that requires authentication (i.e., user name and password).

You can get more detail on all of this from the getting started page on the Autodesk Labs site.

Working with Google Earth is alive in the lab.