Is there any way to import GPX routes as splines to 3DS Max? I tried this one Max script (http://genesis.blogs.casa.ucl.ac.uk/2009/10/20/importing-gps-tracks-into-3ds-max/) but it gives error in every turn. Might be because I have Max 9, but sure there must be some alternative script or converter?
Did you check what quality your GPX data have? Tools like Josm help to visualize how good the data is. My experience from OSM-Tracking is, that even at the best resolution and on a clear day the coordinates will jump to much to get a clear and straight path. On OpenStreetMap-tracking you just use it as an overlay and retrace it manually. Maybe this is what you want to to, but then I'm not sure if a spline is the right tool.
yeah in my experience GPS data is not really that useful, for much more than trying to verify the amount of elevation changes between certain points. You then have to redo the elevations yourself with the GPS data as a very rough guide.
If it still makes a difference, my experience with gps traces is that they're only useful for elevation data which is hard to quantify from photos or guess from videos otherwise. When I first played with GPS I was amazed by how inaccurate it was in practice. Naively I was expected a more constant error term but at one point it can have an error of -5m while at the next it has +3 which can quickly produce erratic traces. It's better than nothing, but more for checking your elevations than anything else.
Attaining how accurate the data you have is key. If you think something is accurate and it isn't then you have a problem! Sometimes its easier to just use common sense and judge it based on your own eye sight in videos etc.
But Real data is better that trace a background image . no? And always manipulate the data before importing...
There's real data of good quality and real data of bad quality. The GPS traces I've seen so far were far on the bad side.
A correctly mapped split up image from google earth is the most accurate x-y co-ordinates you'll get save for some expensive high quality data.
Easy enough, take a measurement from Google Earth and make sure it matches the scale in 3DS/other app.
I haven't tried from Google Earth myself. I have used Google Maps, though. The nice things about Maps is that know that North is going to be up, you get a scale along with each image you screen capture, and I don't think you'll get any perspective distortions due to terrain. Plus, I think both Earth and Maps use the same image data, so you're not losing any resolution. It's super easy to stitch together--in Photoshop, just make your top layer blending mode as 'difference' and line it up 'till the overlapping pixels all go black, then change back to 'normal' blend mode.
Know, that the flat images itself MAY have terrain distortions! They are hard to detect and barely recognisable on the images. The images taken are mostly from aereal photography from planes. On high towers and buildings you can see the pictures are taken from an angle and so high differences may account for distortions on the image. Another tip is to checkout Bing Maps. They have different map material which could serve for validation and they even got isometric maps.
True...but the same holds true for the textures Google Earth images as well (since they're one-in-the-same). With Google Maps or Bing, you at least don't get the distortions from the terrain itself, and the perspective of the 3D camera. With GMaps or Bing, you're only getting the distortion from the original photographs, with Google Earth, you're potentially getting three types of distortion. Although, it's arguable whether or not those distortions are significant.
you can disable the terrain mapping in GE, and your can render an image at a far higher resolution... if you have the right version.
I find one way to import KML files to MAX I go to this page www.zonums.com upload kml and export to DXF file. Then in MAX import DXF file. Of course the kml altitudes are gone :-( but is a start to me.
