I’m working on an app to visualize GPS Tracks projected on 3D Terrain. I was always a bit disappointed on how common apps only use a 2D map, especially for hiking and mountaineering tracks where the topography matters. (I know that Strava offers some kind of 3D view by now, but I still wanted to build my own thing)
Naturally, it’s based on Babylon, with a lot of datasources and number crunching on the backend.
It’s still very experimental, but I wanted to get feedback from the community and see whether you guys like where this is headed.
As an example, here’s the Bishorn, a 4000 m peak in Switzerland: Bishorn - CubeTrek
Since I have your attention: what do you think about the mouse and gesture interaction for rotation, panning, zooming? I’m pretty much using the standard settings, but I’m not entirely convinced it’s completely intuitive.
That’s a very cool idea! I’m not a big hiker but this looks very useful The camera controls feel intuitive to me, but it might be good to add some “help” section explaining them to people less familiar. I also really like how you can select a place in the graph and have it reflected in the map, through I agree with John that the particle effects feel a bit distracting. Maybe instead of them, put a sphere on the selected place? Or maybe even tiny 3D hikers
Ok this is a KILLER cool idea! I absolutely LOVE it! I 100% agree that top down 2D representations of hikes and what not are just boring and don’t tell the story of the complexity of the actual experience.
This is a super compelling use case for where 3D is FAR superior to 2D!
Thanks for your feedback. Yes, I’m getting mixed respondes regarding the particle effect, some think it’s anything, others think it’s cool.
I initially tried a static marker (sphere or similar), but the problem was that it wasn’t conspicuous enough on very mountainous terrain. I need to go back and try some other ideas.
The camera controls feel intuitive to me, but it might be good to add some “help” section explaining them to people less familiar. I also really like how you can select a place in the graph and have it reflected in the map, through I agree with John that the particle effects feel a bit distracting. Maybe instead of them, put a sphere on the selected place? Or maybe even tiny 3D hikers 