Importing USGS data to get topological map of my lot?

[shedletsky]

Hi. I'm totally new to Chief Architect.

 

I'm trying to find a public source of topologic data and then import that into Chief Architect to get a piece of terrain that looks like my lot. I think the USGS and possibly other online sources (like google maps) make this information available for free. 

 

If I load my home address up in Google Earth, there's a surprisingly high res model of my neighborhood. I want to import the whole thing into Chief Architect so I can trace my rough floor plan and do renders with the surrounding environment in view.

 

Has anyone gone down this route before and where did they source the data in a format that Chief Architect can import?

[Chopsaw]

9 minutes ago, shedletsky said:

I'm trying to find a public source of topologic data and then import that into Chief Architect to get a piece of terrain that looks like my lot. I think the USGS and possibly other online sources (like google maps) make this information available for free. I've noticed playing the newest Flight Simulator that at least Microsoft was able to pull this data from somewhere and has a pretty nice model of the hill I live on.

 

Has anyone gone down this route before and where did they source the data in a format that Chief Architect can import?

 

Yes it can be done that way but available data is not particularly accurate.  It can give you a general idea for a preliminary concept but going beyond that is not a good idea with the currently available public data sources.  Also unless it is a fairly lucrative large scale project the time required does not make sense financially.

 

If you still want to give it a try I can help you out with some hotlinks and custom software.

[shedletsky]

Yeah I am not an architect. I am just a guy who is going to bulldoze his house and build a new one and I want to sketch out some ideas for our architect and play with some 3D models of what things could look like.

 

The default starting place in Chief Architect seems to be a flat terrain or no terrain. Would be cool if they had a feature where I could just type in my home address and get a rough site map, sourced from public data.

[Chopsaw]

1 minute ago, shedletsky said:

Yeah I am not an architect. I am just a guy who is going to bulldoze his house and build a new one and I want to sketch out some ideas for our architect and play with some 3D models of what things could look like.

 

So does that mean you want to mess with some unreliable free data or would it be much more worthwhile to rent or borrow a builders level and a measuring stick and take some of your own measurements that can be accurate to within an inch or two rather than be off by a couple of yards potentially ?  You just need to establish a benchmark and assign an elevation to it....  either 0 or some people use 100' so most measurements are positive numbers and then plot out a grid and measure the elevation at the intersecting points as well as any fixed objects and high and low points.  Or pay a surveyor who has a total station to do it if you want really good accuracy.

[shedletsky]

I'm just trying to import some terrain that looks roughly like the hill that I live on from public data sources with as little effort as possible.

 

For example, this is how it works in Sketch Up.

 

 

 

[Chopsaw]

I sent you a PM.  See notification at top right.

[MoeGia]

Follow the import to Sketchup in the video and then you can import that into CA as a symbol.  You could use the imported symbol as your terrain, or trace over it with the terrain tools.  Not as easy but it will work. I almost always use elevation regions to approximate the terrain.  It's quick and good for a general site.