Getting height information

[mrnyc]

question -- how is the official building height determined?

is by the size of the building itself, or by height from sea level?

because the local neighborhood ground level contour can really affect the height.

or maybe there is no official standard?

anyhow, thx if you can explain.

[Anders Franzén]

The official height would be counted from the ground level. At the lowest lying entrance to the building if you ask CTBUH.
When doing a drawing for SSP, it can be more interesting to include the lowest point, which in rare cases can be on a lower level than the entrance.

It's common to mark the height above sea level (or other datum levels) on elevation drawings. In those cases it's important look at the whole drawing and substract the ground level from the top level.
I've seen many cases when the official height turned out to be the height above sea level.

[Anders Franzén]

Originally Posted by Modao Zushi

Google Earth doesn't seem to work in Mainland China.

You mean it doesn't work at all or just that there's no 3D view coverage?