I’m proud to announce that my friend Simon Mulser and me released https://app.shadowmap.org today
Without Three.js it would probably not exist. It was in the works for two years and there is a big accompanying post over at Product Hunt Shadowmap - Interactive 3D maps app to visualize solar shadows worldwide | Product Hunt
Technically it works but there is much to improve – I’m aware of quite some issues But it’s been a big step to release it and work on from there.
I remember seeing this on StackOverflow several months ago. Congrats on launching the site! I love the scrolling functionality. Sad that the Stonehenge doesn’t cast any shadows, though!
How are you calculating the brightness of the scene? Is it a linear brightness ramp up to noon? 8am, 9am, & 10am all feel pretty dim, even though the sun’s out. The sunrise looks great, but it would feel more natural if the brightness remained constant once the sun was out.
Great job! Love seeing the sun come up behind the mountains in my hometown.
Great that you mention Stonehenge: For winter solstice I actually integrated a 3D model of it (not perfectly accurate though ) https://twitter.com/shadowmap_org/status/1341108281046122503
We didn’t release it since the camera/terrain interaction was still too buggy. Stonehenge will celebrate its comeback though!
What do you mean by “scrolling functionality”?
Really good points in regards to the scene’s brightness. Right now it’s really only a rough estimate to provide a “realistic” look and feel. I kinda like the moody lighting at sunrise/sunset, but it should be a little brighter. However, I agree, it’s getting too dark too fast. We are linearly interpolating light brightness as well as fog color (this is super hacky) depending on daytime.
Thank you again I’ll keep you posted once the lighting got better!
It looks great ! What is the target customer of such a service ? Is it for real estate ?
Anyway the shadow is super fluid, looks good.
I was curious and went to see some cities I lived in. Paris is accurate. In Hong Kong though I noticed the smaller buildings are not present and the height map is awkward in some places. It’s a pity because real estate in Hong Kong would benefit a lot from this service ( more than Paris ).
Thank you Felix! For now we focus on creatives (photographers, cinematographers, directors) with the SaaS “Shadowmap Pro” – to give them a tool to better integrate sunlight/shadows in their work. There are no other global maps app considering terrain and buildings right now. And as you say, real estate!
You’re right, Hongkong looks pretty crazy right now The terrain model should be an elevation model but seems like it’s just a surface model in the region. In regards to buildings quality, we aim to reach a level like we have it currently in Vienna, Austria – directly using their LOD2 model, where we used Draco to compress it from almost 2 GB down to 48 MB (!).
Just wanted to give you a little update: we made the ambient light now adaptive, so it’s much better than before. Might still need a little finetuning in the future though
But it’s been a big step to release it and work on from there.
) 
I’ll keep you posted once the lighting got better!
Look at it for yourself: