Google Maps 3D photogrammetry is now possible in AnyLogic

Does this look beautiful or what? Go try it yourself, it even works in the AnyLogic Cloud (you can download the model source files to see how I did things in AnyLogic, but try the steps below first):

However, it is not straightforward. So lets explore when to use it and how to actually achieve this feast :). None of my blog posts required this much work but I had to share it with you.

Before you embark on this journey, check out some examples to see if this is worth your time. In my opinion, models look fantastic with this approach, especially if you model something in a big city. The AnyLogic 3D rendering engine even allows for proper lighting (except real shadows, but hey). You have already seen Paris above. How about New York City? These are from a recent client study, showing how agents and a map work really well with our photogrammetry:

Ok, this does look quite amazing. And as you may notice in the cloud demo, the 3D performance is also surprisingly good. It does not reduce runtime performance of your model at all.

However, there is a substantial cost to loading the model up. Even small 3D scenes cost seconds to be loaded. Large scenes can take even longer. However, it never seems to break, it just takes a while.

Please be aware that Google has rules about how to use its data. You must make your own decision if you are eligible to follow this approach for your models under their “fair use” guidelines. I cannot help you there :). Obviously, I cannot accept any liability resulting from you using Google Maps data.

So you want to learn and apply this yourself? Let’s get kicking.

These steps are only necessary the very first time you try this. Note the tool versions applied. I cannot guarantee it works with newer versions so maybe try with the versions I specify first:

• Download MapsModelImporter. Store the zip file anywhere you like. I tested it with release v0.4.0
• Download and install Blender. I tested it with version 2.93.4
• Activate MapsModelImporter within Blender (refer to the original video for visuals):
• Open Blender, go to “Edit”, “Preferences”
• In the “Addons” tab, click the “Install” buttonSelect the MapsModelImporter zip file you downloaded previously
• Ensure to tick the box as below:

Great, you finished the trickiest bit now. All tools are installed and ready for use. Let’s try to get it to work.

These are the steps you need to follow every time you want to extract a 3D file.

Before you start, make sure that normal Google Chrome is closed, i.e. do not read this blog post in Chrome itself, use a different browser :)

• Double-click your Google Chrome shortcut on the desktop. (Do not try it with normal Chrome, it will not work)
• 2 windows will open. A normal Chrome tab and a special small window telling you about a “pid” code as below. Take note (it is different every time) but do not yet close this small popup

Alright, we have the raw file. Now, we need to convert it into something that AnyLogic can read, a “.dae” file. Blender will help with that:

• Open Blender and open a new normal project
• delete the default cube that is provided (click and click “delete” on your keyboard)
• Go to “File” -> “Import” -> “Google Maps capture (.rdc)”
• Select and load your “.rdc” file and wait a few seconds
• Hopefully, you see some gray glory as below

If you click on the “Viewport shading” button in the top-right corner, you will even get it in full color with textures:

• Lastly, in Blender click “File” -> “Export” -> “Collada (default) .dae”
• Export into a separate new folder of your choice (it will create many files in there)
• Close Blender

Congrats, another difficult piece of the work done. The last step will be trivial in comparison…

Finally, we can see the fruit of our hard work. Load up AnyLogic, create a new model and drag in a “3D-window” element from the “Presentation” palette. Change its “Far clipping distance” to a higher value, typically 20000-50000 works (it depends on the scale of your photogrammetry).

Next, create a subfolder named “3d” (exactly that name!). Paste all files that you created with Blender above, i.e. 1 file ending on “.dae” and a lot of “.png” images.

Next, drag in a “3D-object” element and select the “.dae” file for it (from the “3d” subfolder). You may get a popup saying something like “Files have absolute path”. You can ignore that.

Play with settings for the 3D-object, your camera setup, the orientation and scale of your 3D-object until it displays correct (see section below). Eventually, you should have a beautiful photogrammetry loaded:

You may not immediately see what you are expecting, so play with these settings to get things right:

• Clipping distance: Ensure to set it to a high-enough value for your 3D-window object. Default values are often too low for this.
• Wait: depending on the size of your scenery (and your machine capability), it make take several seconds to load anything into the 3D window
• Position: use a “Camera” object to ensure you actually view the scenery (Check the help how to use cameras well)
• Orientation: In the properties of your 3D-object, choose the correct orientation so it displays “levelled”
• Scale: Often, the sceneries are very small upon loading. Play with the 3D-object setting on scale

In order to use your photogrammetry in the AnyLogic cloud, there are two additional steps required, to ensure the image files are also uploaded and applied in the cloud:

• In your Projects view under “Resources” -> “Images”, you see a list of all the “.png” files used. Select all and tick the property “Resource is referenced from user code”

Now, you can upload your model to the AnyLogic cloud as usual. It will take some time on the first upload as all image files are transferred. But you will be rewarded with an awesome model as below. If you open the Cloud model, you will also get access to the model files, if you want to see how I did set things up locally in AnyLogic.