# Sketchup! or How I mapped the Maptime Bear's Home

Vectoria, the Maptime Bear needs a home, so let's build one, and map it out!

• [Checkout the presentation] (http://cityhubla.github.io/SketchupToMapboxJS/index_slide.html#0)
• Checkout the map!

Here is the scope of what we are gonna do

• Use Sketchup to build a 3d environment of the Bear's home
• Create a high resolutiion rendering using Kerkythea
• Create a series of highlighted areas of the Bear's home to make custom marker icons using Inkscape
• Create a non-georeferenced geotiff using QGIS's Georeferencer Plugin
• Create a map of the Bear's home using, Mapbox's Tilemill, to be uploaded to a Mapbox Account
• Create a simple map with markers using Mapbox.js

Once you get the hang of these methods, you can probably map out a galaxy from NASA's images, or your minecraft creation.

Programs used:

• Sketchup MAKE for 3D modeling, its free and widely accessible. For WIN/OSX
• Kerkythea for rendering 3D models, it's freeware. You must also install the Sketchup Plugin. For WIN/OSX
• QGIS for GDAL projecting a non-georeferenced image into a geotiff, it's free and open source! For WIN/OSX
• inkscape for graphics editing, it's free and open source! For WIN/OSX
• Mapbox Tilemill for making map tiles, uploaded to Mapbox Server or download mbtile format, did I say free too?! For WIN/OSX

Examples of non-georeferenced maps

• Birds eye view of Business District of Chicago
• Rapid Transit Routes of Boston
• Game of Thrones Interactive Map
• Japan Registry Services
• NYU School of Medicine Virtual Microscope
• GoogleMapsMania blog post on creating games with Mapbox
• Grand Theft Auto 5 Map