WebGL-only (no plugins!) 3D map
January 5, 2012 10:06 AM   Subscribe

 
"Unfortunately, there's a Web-GL compatibility problem. You may want to check your system settings."

So um... yay?
posted by Blue_Villain at 10:13 AM on January 5, 2012


Found my house! I win!
posted by The Power Nap at 10:14 AM on January 5, 2012 [3 favorites]


This 3D experience requires the latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox.

And I'm running that, so let's start the show?
posted by DU at 10:14 AM on January 5, 2012


"Unfortunately, there's a Web-GL compatibility problem. You may want to check your system settings."

So um... yay?


Try the latest Chrome or Firefox.
posted by spitefulcrow at 10:15 AM on January 5, 2012


Doesn't work in Firefox 9.0.1
posted by rocket88 at 10:17 AM on January 5, 2012


Oh whoops, I was on Firefox ∞-1. After upgrading, I now get a compatibility problem!

This sure makes me want to buy a Nokia device.
posted by DU at 10:17 AM on January 5, 2012


Running in Chrome on my 2 year old MacBook very smoothly. Activity monitor says CPU usage steady at about 25%. Impressive.

Google has been offering a WebGL version of Maps for a few months, but I've found it to be a little buggy.
posted by gwint at 10:18 AM on January 5, 2012


spitefulcrow: Try the latest Chrome or Firefox.

Chrome: "Google Chrome is up to date (16.0.912.63)"

So um... double yay?
posted by Blue_Villain at 10:25 AM on January 5, 2012


Yeah, it is kind of hard to be impressed by Nokia's showing when Google Maps beat them to it with their entire feature set (labels, terrain, street view, traffic, etc.) several months ago.
posted by nmiell at 10:25 AM on January 5, 2012


WebGL-only (no plugins!) 3D map

Oh?
You are almost there!
Install the Nokia Maps plug-in to see the world in 3D

posted by Thorzdad at 10:26 AM on January 5, 2012


Works for me, unlike Google's thing, which was unbearably slow last I tried it. I'm on the Aurora update channel, so I'm on what will be Fx10. (I'm a bit behind on updating)
posted by wierdo at 10:33 AM on January 5, 2012


Found my house! I win!

Hah, me too - first thing I did!
posted by Old'n'Busted at 10:39 AM on January 5, 2012


It worked for me in my Mac/Chrome setup but when I went to look for my house it was in stunning 2D.

The Google WebGL version of Maps does work in glorious 3D for my house.
posted by birdherder at 11:05 AM on January 5, 2012


This sure makes me want to buy a Nokia device.

You mean because you can't seem to sort out hardware or software?
posted by yerfatma at 11:10 AM on January 5, 2012


Neat. My apartment building is in 3D.
posted by brundlefly at 11:46 AM on January 5, 2012


I have both Firefox and Chrome, both running up-to-date versions and it works in neither of them. The suggestion to check my settings would, perhaps, be more helpful if they indicated which setting was likely to be a problem.
posted by jacquilynne at 11:54 AM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]


This is very cool. [Working well on Chrome 16.0.912.63 on Ubuntu 11.04]
posted by vac2003 at 12:02 PM on January 5, 2012


The trees are eating everything!
posted by Kabanos at 12:04 PM on January 5, 2012


The thing about WebGL is that you not only have to have the right browser, you also have to have the right video card. Wikipedia says you have to have a card that supports shader rendering. There are various types of shader models, but I assume that a card that supports OpenGL (most modern cards?) will also do WebGL. This is all such new technology that there are going to be growing pains, but it is so cool to be able to do all that whizzy 3-d right in the browser that I suspect that everyone is going to have this soon enough.
posted by bitslayer at 12:19 PM on January 5, 2012


Oh, and those of you who can't get this to work need to update your graphics drivers. And not via Windows Update or your hardware manufacturers update program, you need to go to Intel/NVIDIA/AMD's web site and download them yourself.
posted by nmiell at 12:20 PM on January 5, 2012


I still see a hot tub on the roof instead of my vegetable garden. This data is at least 2–3 years old.
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 12:26 PM on January 5, 2012


Strange. Google's 45 degree view shows my car in my driveway, in a house that we have not lived in for a full year yet at this point. The street view shows the house as it was when the prior owners lived there, and as far as I know they moved out at least a full year (maybe two) before we moved in. Just find it funny that they updated the 45 degree but not the street shot.

(And yep, I was impressed by the Nokia thing until I saw the link to enable WebGL in Google Maps.)
posted by caution live frogs at 1:33 PM on January 5, 2012


The imagery used at different levels comes from a bunch of different sources -- street view is the little car that they send around to drive up and down streets, of course, but the overhead shots are from planes or satellites and come from different imaging providers, some government, some private. All of that stuff is updated on different schedules that vary from 'fairly regularly' to 'randomly whimsical'. It would be more strange if they did update the various views of your house on the same schedule.
posted by jacquilynne at 1:51 PM on January 5, 2012 [1 favorite]


I love Google Maps and Google Earth and I'm actually still pretty impressed by this.

Google maps still definitely wins in overall quality(I love the 3D transparent wireframe buildings that are on by default in maps mode now), usability, and worldwide coverage (Google Earth even has a few 3D buildings in my dinky Iowa town now). However, as a toy, this Nokia thing is pretty rad. While the number of big cities it actually has coverage for is small, the 3D detail in them is astounding. It renders INDIVIDUAL TREES in my old neighborhood on the outskirts of Chicago. It wasn't even in Chicago and it was still getting every single building and tree. The building textures also look way nicer than Google Earth.

I love how all of the web mapping tools keep constantly improving. Even Bing Maps has a few merits over Google Maps now, like the way it has really thorough coverage of close aerial photos from slight angles. I was able to see my parents house out in the middle of nowhere at full zoom in it, which is something satellite view in Google has yet to accomplish.

If these maps keep improving at this rate we'll have a 3D model of the globe that is basically the Matrix in about 6 months.
posted by cirrostratus at 2:16 PM on January 5, 2012


Yeah, I have both up to date browsers and this works in neither of them. My iMac is four years old and has a pretty ancient video card by this point, so maybe that's the culprit? The fact that I don't know shows this project isn't ready for primetime.
posted by zardoz at 3:03 PM on January 5, 2012


jacquilynne - to be more clear, it surprised me because I have seen the Street View car in my general neighborhood around October or so. Just surprised that they skipped my street, I guess.
posted by caution live frogs at 8:48 PM on January 5, 2012


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