Inspiration
I've always found Google Earth fascinating. The idea of exploring any place in the world with just a few clicks feels like unlocking a digital passport to the globe. But what truly captures my imagination is the Street View feature. It’s remarkable to virtually stroll through neighborhoods, landmarks, or bustling city streets, immersing yourself in the sights as if you were actually there.
This sparked an intriguing thought: what if there were more ways to virtually travel? Imagine additional modes of transportation—perhaps biking through scenic trails, sailing across turquoise waters. Which of these would make exploring the world even more dynamic and exciting?
Eventually, I decided on planes.
What it does
The app lets you fly around a fully detailed 3D world, giving you the chance to explore places you've never been before.
How it was built
The app was built entirely in JavaScript, utilizing the UltraGlobe library which enables seamless globe creation by incorporating various customizable layer components. As a learning expereience I decided host the app through a web server built with ExpressJS.
Challenges
The main challenge was time. I joined the Hackathon late, leaving me with very limited development time. As a result, I couldn’t implement many of the ideas I had envisioned. The biggest missed opportunities was creating a feature where place markers would fade in as you flew around. If you got close enough to a marker, it would highlight, and pressing a key would make your plane orbit around it while displaying the location's description.
Accomplishments
One accomplishment I’m particularly proud of is the flight controller. While it’s not perfect—I’ll admit that—it turned out to be a feature I genuinely enjoy. The fluidity of the motion gives it a natural, smooth feel. Paired with the stunning animated model by AntijnvanderGun, the flying experience feels therapeutic.
What I learned
Before this project, I didn’t have much experience building web apps, so it was a significant learning experience for me. I gained valuable insights into how servers deliver resources to clients, how large datasets like map data are streamed efficiently, and explored additional concepts in computer graphics, such as quad-tree and octree Level of Detail (LOD) techniques.
What's next for Google Maps Flight Simulator
I plan to continue development and implement the features that I originally wanted to add. In the future, I may move away from using UltraGlobe and work on creating my own custom solution, offering greater flexibility and customization.
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