Replies

1. 
   MikeHennessy | Feb 06, 2008 05:32pm | #1

   Now that's pretty darn cool. Wonder how accurate it is.

   Mike Hennessy
   Pittsburgh, PA

1. 
   BillHartmann | Feb 06, 2008 11:09pm | #9

   " Eagle View Measurements will refund payment or give a credit only if the report dimensions are off by more then 7%.".
   .
   A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.

2. 
   Gene_Davis | Feb 06, 2008 05:33pm | #2

   Sketchup with PhotoMatch and Google Earth, all brought to you by Google.  No charge.

   You can do it for yourself, for free.

   I am sure they require you give them your best estimation of pitch.  It only has to be close . . . you could guess a 4.5 at 4 or 5, and it would not make much diff.

   You'll also need to give them the length of one side of the roof, preferably the longest eave.  You could also give them a width, eave to eave.  With that number they can snap lines on the photo, rescale, Q the software for the area of each separate roof plane, add it up, multiply up by the pitch factor, and there's your size?

   Check, please!

   
   

   ---

   Edited 2/7/2008 11:23 pm ET by Gene_Davis

1. 
   TomT226 | Feb 06, 2008 08:40pm | #5

   Long as they get the right roof... 

3. 
   BossHog | Feb 06, 2008 07:03pm | #3

   Pretty cool.

   I've wondered if I could find some electronic way to measure foundations one of these days. I spend a lot of time walking foundation walls with a tape measure and clipboard.

   I know it couldn't be done from the air. But maybe with enhanced GPS, or something similar...

   Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don't interfere. [Ronald Reagan, FORTUNE, September 15, 1986]
1. 
   Scrapr | Feb 06, 2008 08:34pm | #4

   now if the satelite could tell if the foundation was square..................

    

    

1. 
   BossHog | Feb 06, 2008 08:44pm | #6

   No way could you tell that from a sattelite. And they'd never have pics that new anyway - I usually measure them the day after the forms are stripped. I was thinking more than I could set a reference point on one corner of a foundation. Then set a point at each corner that was downloaded into a GPS unit, or something like that. And it could be downloaded to a computer nito a format that could be imported into our truss design program. That way I'd know if the foundation was square, crooked, or whatever. It's probablt possible - I just have no idea how to do it.
   There are no office hours for leaders. [Cardinal Gibbons]

2. 
   nater | Feb 06, 2008 08:46pm | #7

   Saw on this old house where they did something similar for countertops. Base station with a pointer on a line. As you pull the pointer along the edge, the measuring device virtualizes it by calculating angle from the base point, and distance from the base point to create a digital template.Of course over the size of the house, you'd have problems with the line sagging adding distance. Maybe something with lasers and a base station. Let me go file a patent, and I'll get back to you.

3. 
   BillHartmann | Feb 06, 2008 11:07pm | #8

   I think that it could be done and done very accurately from arial.But it would require aerial photo's specifically for that job and possibly some surveyed reference marks on the ground.But that would not be cheap.The laser distancance measurer should work. You probably need to make something to see on the foundation to use as a target.Those run a few hundred..
   .
   A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.

4. 
   alwaysoverbudget | Feb 08, 2008 07:17am | #10

   this thread and your name strikes me as funny.

   if there is any question that big brother is watching you,this should answer it. no more building without permits.

   mr. jones last year your roof was 33.7 squares. we noticed now it's 35.2 squares,you didn't get a permit for that bumpout bay window did you?     

   if a man speaks in the forest,and there's not a woman to hear him,is he still wrong?

1. 
   BillHartmann | Feb 08, 2008 08:13am | #11

   "mr. jones last year your roof was 33.7 squares. we noticed now it's 35.2 squares,you didn't get a permit for that bumpout bay window did you? "Several places have been doing that for a couple of years..
   .
   A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.

2. 
   seeyou | Feb 08, 2008 03:16pm | #13

   this thread and your name strikes me as funny.

   I know who you are and I know what you did..............http://grantlogan.net/

    

   I refuse to accept that there are limitations to what we can accomplish.        Pete (I am so in love with myself) Draganic

3. 
   Jim_Allen | Feb 08, 2008 06:24pm | #14

   Sterling Heights, MI was using satelitte photos back in the 80s to identify additions. Bob's next test date: 12/10/07

1. 
   alwaysoverbudget | Feb 09, 2008 06:12am | #15

   i didn't know pics were being taken in the 80's from the sky.but i'm pretty techno illiterate,just as soon as i get my cassettes figured out,i'm going to switch to these new cd things,hear there pretty cool.larryif a man speaks in the forest,and there's not a woman to hear him,is he still wrong?

1. 
   Jim_Allen | Feb 09, 2008 08:01pm | #16

   Yeppers. We used to have a guy coming around selling pictures of our neighborhoods. He was getting them from the Feds. Our city was using them to locate sheds and garages according to a city engineer who lived in our neighborhood.You'll like cds. They're not as good as 8 tracks though. Bob's next test date: 12/10/07

5. 
   runnerguy | Feb 08, 2008 01:53pm | #12

   That's pretty cool but of all the houses I've lived in over the years, only one has a satellite photo (google earth, etc.) that detailed. Also, one has a bunch of trees overhanging the roof.

   Runnerguy