I prepared the Google Sketchup 3D model of the Austin Street project that Julia introduced in an early post. I did so because I shared concerns expressed by Jerry Reilly and Marti about the difficulty of visualizing the impact of the proposed project without a 3D model.

I took building footprints from the proposal and the assessor’s online maps. For the height of the proposed building, I used 54 feet — the height mentioned by the developers in their recent TAB op-ed. I estimated the heights of existing buildings using Google Streetview.

I’ve updated the model a few times in response to some of the points raised in the earlier thread, but I have to say that I’m not up to adding in buildings on the other side of the Pike or trees and landscaping. Here are three views from the latest version.

Looking northwest:

Austin9 | Newton MA News and Politics Blog

Looking northeast:

Austin8 | Newton MA News and Politics Blog

Looking west:

Austin7 | Newton MA News and Politics Blog

[Update: for the adventuresome, try this link -Adam]

If anyone wants to look at the model and mess around with it, you can download it here and run it in the free, non-commercial-use-only version of Google Sketchup.