Pixelate the World
Back in January, software engineer and artist Andy Coenen released his interactive, isometric pixel-art map of New York City: Isometric NYC. Since then, other developers have jumped on the bandwagon, and we now have:
- Isopolis - isometric San Francisco
- London, drawn - isometric London
- earthtoPixels - isometric João Pessoa, Brasil
One notable limitation shared by most of these pixelated maps is their single, fixed perspective. This is not really an oversight on the developer’s part, but rather a reflection of the sheer effort involved. To offer full 360-degree rotation, a creator would need to repeat the entire laborious pipeline - sourcing aerial map tiles, rendering them, applying pixel styling, and stitching the output into a deep-zoom map - four separate times, once for each compass direction (North, East, South, and West).
Perhaps that "laborious pipeline" could be shared.
London now boasts two interactive, isometric pixel-art maps. Tiny London is the second pixelated view of the capital I’ve seen, and it takes a completely different angle from London, drawn. Where London, drawn unexpectedly placed West at the top, Tiny London goes with the traditional North-facing orientation.
If the developers behind Tiny London and London, drawn were to collaborate, they would already be halfway toward creating a fully interactive, 360-degree isometric pixel-art map of London.
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