PlaceMaker

PlaceMaker builds your site context for you: pick a location and it imports streets, paths, buildings, water and terrain into SketchUp in a single click - the neighbourhood model that used to take days of tracing.

Imagery and data come from multiple sources - OpenStreetMap, Mapbox, Nearmap, Hexagon and Microsoft - with high-resolution aerials where coverage exists. Nearmap's coverage includes New Zealand's major urban centres; for sites outside it, Mapbox and the other sources still deliver. Ask us what to expect for your specific site.

It's an annual subscription that includes a yearly credit allowance - imagery and data imports consume credits, and v4 lets you plug in your own Nearmap API key to stretch them. For NZ practices, it's the fastest route to context models that read true.

A city block in one click

Streets, buildings, water and paths arrive as SketchUp geometry, georeferenced and ready to model against - drop your proposal into its real surroundings immediately.

Aerials and terrain that hold up

High-resolution aerial imagery drapes over real terrain data, so the context model reads true in plan and in perspective - good enough for massing, shading and streetscape visuals from day one.

Parametric streets and walkways

Roads and paths import as parametric objects you can adjust - widths, kerbs, crossings - rather than flat textures you fight with.

3D buildings where they exist

Where 3D building data is available - OpenStreetMap and other sources - PlaceMaker brings in massed neighbours automatically, so shading studies and streetscape views sit against real volumes.