Saturday, November 30, 2019

First Person Mapping



Gewimmel am Himmel is a very impressive interactive map which provides a first person view of flight traffic for any location in Switzerland. As well as providing a unique first person view the map also provides you with a detailed assessment of the major airline routes flying over Switzerland and where all these planes are flying to and from.

Once you select a location in Switzerland the major flight routes which fly over that location are shown using a normal top down map view. However as you continue scrolling the map perspective changes to show you a first person view, from the ground looking up. In this first person view the terrain around you is shown in 3D and above you, you can now see the major flight routes as they appear in the sky.

If you continue scrolling you can learn more about each of the flight routes which are shown in the sky above you. Information panels on the map provide details on where planes using these routes are flying from and where they are flying to. As you scroll further you can even watch a whole day's worth of flight traffic animated on the map. Not only can you watch this animation of flight traffic at your chosen location (in fast-forward) you can also discover details on the number of flights, the most popular destinations and the number of passengers at the nearest three international airports to your selected location.

Gewimmel am Himmel truly is an impressive map. Under the hood the mapping is handled by Mapbox GL but the heavy lifting of the first person perspective and 3D terrain is carried out by three.js.

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