Google has launched a new major version of its 3D modeling tool SketchUp: version 8. This comes ten years after the launch of version 1.

Google says there are over a million people using SketchUp. "That's a pretty humbling number of 3D model makers," says SketchUp Product Manager John Bacus.

The new version comes with new geo-modeling capabilities that leverage Google's collection of geo-spatial data, for what the company says is quicker, easier, and more fun model building.

"We've made it easier to build site context models for your projects using our ever-growing collection of geo-data," says Bacus. "We've added a new collection of “Solid” tools for doing common additive/subtractive modeling operations and we’ve packed out LayOut with some new features that make it easier to document your models professionally."

SketchUp 8 is available for download today in English, French, Spanish, Italian and German versions. The list of all the new features is here. SketchUp Pro comes with a price tag of $495. Upgrades from previous versions are $95.