3D Web hits the big time: Google Maps on WebGL

#1

Post by stevefink » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 5:14 PM UTC

3D Web hits the big time: Google Maps on WebGL
news.cnet.com

Re: 3D Web hits the big time: Google Maps on WebGL

#2

Post by Florin_Andrei » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 6:50 PM UTC

It looks like WebGL maps have their own GPU exclusion list, or something. I launched Chrome with --ignore-gpu-blacklist and WebGL maps still refuses to run.

Chrome 14, Intel Mobile 4, Ubuntu 11.04

Re: 3D Web hits the big time: Google Maps on WebGL

#3

Post by azakai » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 7:04 PM UTC

> At present, the Firefox beta and Chrome support WebGL

Um, Firefox has supported WebGL in release builds for quite a long time now.

Re: 3D Web hits the big time: Google Maps on WebGL

#4

Post by kamechan » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 7:09 PM UTC

Florin_Andrei wrote: post #2

It looks like WebGL maps have their own GPU exclusion list, or something. I launched Chrome with --ignore-gpu-blacklist and WebGL maps still refuses to run. Chrome 14, Intel Mobile 4, Ubuntu 11.04

sadly, didn't work on my 2011 MBA with chrome 15 beta.

Re: 3D Web hits the big time: Google Maps on WebGL

#5

Post by suivix » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 8:03 PM UTC

Does this have IE6 - IE8 support?

Re: 3D Web hits the big time: Google Maps on WebGL

#6

Post by LPCRoy » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 8:04 PM UTC

Florin_Andrei wrote: post #2

It looks like WebGL maps have their own GPU exclusion list, or something. I launched Chrome with --ignore-gpu-blacklist and WebGL maps still refuses to run. Chrome 14, Intel Mobile 4, Ubuntu 11.04

We do not have an exclusion list, but we do run a micro-benchmark on your machine to ensure your GPU will be powerful enough to handle MapsGL. You can try upgrading your drivers as well, which sometimes improves performance (looks like intel put out new device drivers for that chip about a year ago)

Re: 3D Web hits the big time: Google Maps on WebGL

#7

Post by LPCRoy » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 8:14 PM UTC

suivix wrote: post #5

Does this have IE6 - IE8 support?

Sorry, this will only work in browsers that support WebGL, so Chrome and FF7+ for now.

Re: 3D Web hits the big time: Google Maps on WebGL

#8

Post by keeperofdakeys » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 8:41 PM UTC

Florin_Andrei wrote: post #2

It looks like WebGL maps have their own GPU exclusion list, or something. I launched Chrome with --ignore-gpu-blacklist and WebGL maps still refuses to run. Chrome 14, Intel Mobile 4, Ubuntu 11.04

You could try enabling the "Override software rendering list" option in about:flags, although that is probably the same as the --ignore-gpu-blacklist option.

Re: 3D Web hits the big time: Google Maps on WebGL

#9

Post by mildweed » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 9:05 PM UTC

azakai wrote: post #3

> At present, the Firefox beta and Chrome support WebGL Um, Firefox has supported WebGL in release builds for quite a long time now.

Yes, but it seems Google doesn't let Firefox access MapsGL yet. Your guess as to why...

Re: 3D Web hits the big time: Google Maps on WebGL

#10

Post by rorrr » Thu, Oct 13, 2011, 9:07 PM UTC

Works very well on my weak laptop GPU.

It actually seems smoother than the regular canvas implementation. Plus there are nice transition effects.

Not sure how practical it is though, but I do like the idea of shifting graphics intensive work to the GPU.