How to include an Aerial Image in Layout

This guide has been prepared to define an aerial image in the layout obtained by pvDesign.

We need the following software to include a satellite image in the layout:

• Google Earth Pro
• AutoCAD

It is possible to use Google Earth to download an aerial image and then includes that image in the layout CAD file. To do this, the procedure followed is:

1. Open Google Earth, go to Tools → Options → 3D View. In Show Lat/Long select Universal Transverse Mercator and in Units of Measurement select Meters, Kilometers.

2. Open the site to consider in Google Earth and add two placeholders, one in the upper left and one in the lower right that encompass the entire location. In addition, save the coordinates of these points since later they will serve to adjust the image to the CAD file (keep in mind that Google Earth saves the coordinates without decimals).

 

3. Go to Views → Sidebar to hide the left toolbar. Click View → Reset → Tilt and Compass so that the view is oriented North-South and perpendicular to the surface. 

4. Go to File → Save → Save Image. A new toolbar will appear, click Map Options and deselect all the options that appear. In Resolution select Maximum and click Save Image…

5. Open the corresponding CAD in AutoCAD and select Insert → Attach to select the image obtained from Google Earth. We leave the options as they appear and click OK, locating the first image in a place near the layout.

 

6. Once we have in the CAD file the aerial image and the layout, we must align them. To do this, we will define two circles in the coordinates where we have located the placeholders in Google Earth and go to Home → Modify → Align.

 

7. We will manually select the points related to the placeholders in the aerial image and align them with the circles that we have defined, indicating that we want to modify the scale of the image. Finally, right-click on the image and select Draw order → Send to back, so that the layout appears in the front.

 

With this procedure, the framing of the image with the layout may not be 100% accurate since the selection of the placeholder in AutoCAD is done manually.

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