Thursday, August 17, 2023

Cinematic Mapping

Steve Attewell has created a fun Akira Kurosawa inspired interactive map. His Akira map allows you to explore a 3D map of the world through the lens of the most famous Japanese film-maker.

I don't know enough about Kurosawa's films to judge if Steve's map is an accurate simulation of the great director's style and aesthetic. I do know (by peaking at the HTML) that Steve's map works by applying a number of effects to a Mapbox map. These effects seem to include a blur, a tilt-shift effect, a lens reflection and a 'lens grime' effect. From what I can tell these effects are all created using SVG Filters.

Steve's Akira map is just the latest of his experiments to view the map of the world through rose tinted 3D glasses. Some of Steve's other map experiments include the Manga Map,  the Camera Lens Effect, the 3D Stereoscopic Anaglyph and Crossview Map, the Stippler Art Effect and the Terrain Elevation Viewer.

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