Downtown Milford, Inc. Selected as a 2010 "Main Streets in 3D" Community

Volunteers and Staff to Receive Free Training

By Google Sketchup and Earth Experts

Milford, Delaware, July 21, 2010 - The National Trust Main Street Center in collaboration with Google and Igloo Studios has chosen Downtown Milford, Incorporated (DMI) as one of five Main Street Programs nationwide to receive free training in the use of 3D technology to empower the organization's revitalization efforts in the downtown historic commercial district of Milford, Delaware.

More than 1,200 accredited Main Street programs nationwide were given the opportunity to compete for the “Main Streets in 3D" Project. The National Trust Main Street Center and representatives from Google and Igloo Studios, creators of Google Earth and Sketchup, chose the top five Main Street programs with the most innovative and creative ideas for using the Google Sketchup and Google Earth 3D technology in their communities. These communities will receive a free "all day", on-site training session and modeling from the Google and Igloo Studios experts.

“Downtown Milford, Inc. is honored to be chosen as one of the five "Main Streets in 3D" communities and plans to use this training and 3D technology to show business owners facade enhancement options, improve our planning process for our streetscape projects, develop a historic 3D timeline of the downtown area, and to create interactive fly through 3D videos of our downtown area to promote cultural and heritage tourism," stated DMI Executive Director Lorraine J. Dion. “By recruiting recent graduates and high school students to work on this project we hope to engage more youth in our historic downtown.”

Within the next few months, experts from Google and Igloo Studios will come to Milford to train our volunteers and staff members on the use of Google Earth and Sketchup as well as the use of photography to enhance the 3D models. While the Google and Igloo Studios representatives are in Milford, they will also be modeling some of the most complicated historic buildings in downtown Milford. The National Trust Main Street Center commended DMI for its strong community partnerships, engaging the area youth and incorporating Milford's heritage and historic architecture in its proposed projects.

DMI 3D modeling project community partners, to date, include: City of Milford, Delaware Architects, Wagamon Technology Group, LLC, Leafo Photo, Dave Kenton, and photographer Bob Connelly. DMI is actively recruiting volunteers for the project from Delaware Technical & Community College and the University of Delaware.

If you are interested in volunteering for the 3D Modeling project, please contact the DMI office at (302) 839-1180.