Urban Planning
Planners and urban designers use SketchUp Pro because it's fast and intuitive to use. From simple massing studies to fully-articulated buildings and outdoor spaces, SketchUp Pro is a simple but powerful tool for exploring and presenting your ideas in 3D.
Visualize complex sets of information in 3D
Not everyone (especially members of the community) has an easy time understanding 2D representations of the world. SketchUp Pro can help you communicate difficult spacial concepts by creating and presenting compelling 3D models. Planners and urban designers even use SketchUp as a live charrette tool; being able to make modifications and explore possibilities in a community meeting builds trust, saves time and ultimately results in better design.
You can start using SketchUp right away
SketchUp's extremely shallow learning curve, numerous video tutorials, extensive Help Center and active user community all combine to ensure that anyone who wants to make models, can. You don't have to be an artist or a CAD expert to learn SketchUp - all you need are a couple of hours and a project to start working on.
Work seamlessly with Google Earth
Google Earth provides everyone with the ability to better understand their community by seeing it in a way that wasn't possible even a few years ago. By combining the details of your SketchUp 3D models and the visual context provided by Google Earth, you can communicate your projects to any audience - no matter who they are.
SketchUp Pro speaks ArcGIS
SketchUp Pro allows you to leverage GIS data that you already have, bringing it into SketchUp to help you design your 3D project quickly and accurately. You can then add complexity, map photographs and otherwise create 3D models at whatever level of detail you need. If you want, you can then use these 3D models in your ArcGIS project: Export them as ESRI multipatch data or use them as 3D symbology, ready to be explored, analyzed and presented.
Check out how SketchUp can be used in Urban Planning
Some more things you can do with SketchUp Pro:
- collaborate with clients and community members
- create multiple massing study variations
- represent your ideas quickly, accurately and attractively
- make quick animations
- take a 3D walk-through of your project
- carry out live, accurate shadow studies
- save pre-set views to show during presentations
- get instant land area take-offs
- build models of existing structures from photographs
- create professional, multi-page presentation documents with LayOut
- import shape files, feature classes, orthophotos and TINS
- import CAD data in DXF and DWG formats
- import 3DS model files, digital elevation models in DEM and SDTS formats
- import raster data in JPG, TIFF and PNG formats
- export to ArcGIS as multipatch or 3D symbology
- export to CAD packages in DXF and DWG formats