How To Export Autocad Drawing To Google Earth Review

“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.”

Chapter 1: The Client’s Impossible Request how to export autocad drawing to google earth

Elena exported again. The bridge now sat perfectly at 45 feet elevation. But Google Earth was slow . Every time she moved the camera, the computer chugged. Why? “Ah,” Marco said

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 . But Google Earth has hills, valleys, and a

“AutoCAD draws the lines. Google Earth gives them a home. But you – you have to be the translator.” Note for the reader: This method works best with AutoCAD Civil 3D , AutoCAD Map 3D , or AutoCAD 2024 and newer with the Geo-location tools. If you have plain AutoCAD LT, you cannot geo-reference natively – you would need to manually move the drawing in Google Earth or use a third-party tool like Global Mapper or QGIS to do the conversion.

| Step | Action | Tool / Command | |------|--------|----------------| | 1 | Set real-world location | GEOGRAPHICLOCATION (Insert tab > Set Location) | | 2 | Assign coordinate system | Choose correct UTM or State Plane | | 3 | Set Z-elevation | Select objects > Properties > Elevation | | 4 | Simplify drawing | OVERKILL , turn off unneeded layers | | 5 | Export to KML/KMZ | GEOEXPORT or MAPEXPORT (choose KML) | | 6 | Open in Google Earth Pro | Drag & drop KMZ file | | 7 | Adjust styles | Inside Google Earth: Right-click feature > Properties > Style/Color |