4. Where do I find image material about my build?

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Before you start building you should make sure that you have enough real life image material to start. In this section we collect some ideas on where to find image data and other material about the buildings you want to build.

4.1. Street level images

The most popular street level image database is Google Street View.

An alternative to Google Street View is mapillary which has street level coverage of some places that Google street view does not cover but it mostly restricted to large roads

4.2. Video material

Now that we live in the times of affordable drones you can find many YouTube videos showing aerial coverage of many cities (especially tourist attractions). Check out the streaming service of your choice for travel documentaries. With a bit of luck they show some scenic views of the city you are building in.

Find a movie that was filmed in the city of your choice maybe they show some nice overviews

4.3. 3D material

Some heritage sites in the world have been mapped using mapping lasers.

Check out Cyark for amazing 3D maps of many heritage sites around the world.

The Zamani Project is a great resource for African Heritage sites.

4.3.1. Where do I find building heights?

# Google Earth Pro (its free) measuring tool. How to measure with GoogleEarth Pro. # For heritage sites and many official building you can find sources on the internet (check e.g. Wikipedia and official webpages.) # Emporis is a database for house statistics that lists building heights for many houses worldwide. # Assume that the door is 2m and measure as well as possible from photos. # In rare cases the building height is registered in OSM. # There might be some information available in city planning offices or their webpage (depending on your country. This might be hard to get to though.) # Go out and measure it yourself (see picture)