How To Export Autocad Drawing To Google Earth Today

One last trick: color and thickness. Elena wanted the bridge to pop in Google Earth.

She emailed the client: “Bridge overlay ready for Google Earth. See attached KMZ. Open in Google Earth Pro. Please review the visual impact on the surrounding landscape.” how to export autocad drawing to google earth

Elena needed to tell AutoCAD the real height of her bridge deck above the river. She learned two tricks: One last trick: color and thickness

Elena opened her main drawing: Bridge_Design_Final.dwg . She clicked > Google Earth (KMZ) . A dialog box popped up, and she accepted all the defaults. Five seconds later, she had a file called Bridge_Design_Final.kmz . See attached KMZ

She zoomed out. She zoomed in. She panned across the entire planet. Then, near the coast of Africa, she saw a tiny, microscopic dot. She zoomed in. It was her bridge – but it was floating in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, 4,000 miles from the actual river site.

“Ah,” Marco said. “The Z-axis. Your AutoCAD drawing is flat – everything is at elevation 0. But Google Earth has hills, valleys, and a river that is 15 feet above sea level.”