Show HN: ViziCities 0.3 – Framework for geospatial visualisation in the browser
1–10 of 21 posts
Re: Show HN: ViziCities 0.3 – Framework for geospatial visualisation in the browser
#2I'm Robin, the creator of ViziCities. Feel free to ask me any questions about the 3D geospatial framework, UrbanSim or anything else :)
Re: Show HN: ViziCities 0.3 – Framework for geospatial visualisation in the browser
#3I'm Robin, the creator of ViziCities. Feel free to ask me any questions about the 3D geospatial framework, UrbanSim or anything else :)
can you point it at anywhere in the world and get a decent map?
How well does it render countryside?
There is new lidar data being released by various countries - can it load and use any of that?
I ask as i have been planning to make a browser based height map of the local countryside for my archeology hobby.
Re: Show HN: ViziCities 0.3 – Framework for geospatial visualisation in the browser
#4I'm Robin, the creator of ViziCities. Feel free to ask me any questions about the 3D geospatial framework, UrbanSim or anything else :)
can you point it at anywhere in the world and get a decent map? How well does it render countryside? There is new lidar data being released by various countries - can it load and use any of that? I ask as i have been planning to make a browser based height map of the local countryside for my archeology hobby.
The examples on the GitHub repo (like this basic one: http://vizicities.com/demos/basic/) use an OpenStreetMap tile endpoint provided by Mapzen and so will work anywhere in the world. The caveat being that the OpenStreetMap data varies in quality around the world. However, in that case you could use a better quality GeoJSON-based dataset for the area you're interested in if it exists.
Countryside rendering depends on what you want to see. You may not see many buildings but you'll see the underlying map on the 2D basemap and you can always decide to output (or ignore) specific things like roads or fields or trees. This obviously depends on whether that data exists and exactly how you want to output it.
By default ViziCities can't do anything with LIDAR data yet but it's on the list of things to add in the future.
Re: Show HN: ViziCities 0.3 – Framework for geospatial visualisation in the browser
#5So, how does this compares to Cesium.js and Worldwind?
Re: Show HN: ViziCities 0.3 – Framework for geospatial visualisation in the browser
#6As someone recently new to Geo visualization (and data viz in general), I have to say this project looks awesome! Kudos for all the hard work put into this
Re: Show HN: ViziCities 0.3 – Framework for geospatial visualisation in the browser
#7As someone recently new to Geo visualization (and data viz in general), I have to say this project looks awesome! Kudos for all the hard work put into this
Thank you, glad you like it! :)
Re: Show HN: ViziCities 0.3 – Framework for geospatial visualisation in the browser
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
can you point it at anywhere in the world and get a decent map? How well does it render countryside? There is new lidar data being released by various countries - can it load and use any of that? I ask as i have been planning to make a browser based height map of the local countryside for my archeology hobby.
The examples on the GitHub repo (like this basic one: http://vizicities.com/demos/basic/ ) use an OpenStreetMap tile endpoint provided by Mapzen and so will work anywhere in the world. The caveat being that the OpenStreetMap data varies in quality around the world. However, in that case you could use a better quality GeoJSON-based dataset for the area you're interested in if it exists. Countryside rendering depends o…
The software looks neat. But for the above user, is there an option to vertically exaggerate the topography?
Re: Show HN: ViziCities 0.3 – Framework for geospatial visualisation in the browser
#9So, how does this compares to Cesium.js and Worldwind?
I've no experience of Worldwind but Cesium and ViziCities both use WebGL and both display the same kind of data. Cesium is built around the concept of a round, globe-like representation of the world whereas ViziCities is a flat representation of the world. ViziCities is arguably simpler to use and simpler in functionality, whereas Cesium is built with scientific and incredibly accurate scientific data visualisation in mind (eg. satellite positioning).
Re: Show HN: ViziCities 0.3 – Framework for geospatial visualisation in the browser
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
The examples on the GitHub repo (like this basic one: http://vizicities.com/demos/basic/ ) use an OpenStreetMap tile endpoint provided by Mapzen and so will work anywhere in the world. The caveat being that the OpenStreetMap data varies in quality around the world. However, in that case you could use a better quality GeoJSON-based dataset for the area you're interested in if it exists. Countryside rendering depends o…
The software looks neat. But for the above user, is there an option to vertically exaggerate the topography?
There will be soon, yes. Right now the ground is flat in ViziCities but there are plans to add 3D terrain, though it's not a simple feat. It's possible to extend ViziCities to do this yourself.