WebGL Earth 2 beta released!

[Petr Pridal]

Dear all,

with a pleasure I can announce the pre-release of the version 2.0 of WebGL Earth project.

The live demo is at:

http://www.webglearth.com/

and complete source code available on GitHub:

https://github.com/webglearth/

we are updating documentation at:

http://www.webglearth.org/

Chrome App as at:

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/webgl-earth/kfgafkkfnmkbdeejdgefkpcmimbommna

It is a complete reimplementation of the original globe project. Our target is still the same: an easy to use open-source project with public API, allowing easy embedding of a modern 3D globe in websites, with out-of-the box user friendly interaction and support for mobile devices whenever possible.

In version 2.0 we have decided to switch to emulate the popular Leaflet JS JavaScript API enriched with three dimensional functions for altitude, tilting and heading of the view, and flying animations on globe. The core functions are implemented and we hope to improve the compatibility of API with the help of community in the future (GitHub pull requests are very welcome).

The project also preserves the WebGL Earth JavaScript API 1.0 when possible. Our original JavaScript rendering core has been replaced with the open-source Cesium project to maximally gain from the open-source principles and sharing of efforts.

The project can be easily used with popular maps such as OpenStreetMap, MapBox, etc. Custom geodata (GeoTIFF, ECW, MrSID, ...) can be easily preprocessed with MapTiler (http://www.maptiler.com) to create attractive globes, which can be hosted on any webserver without additional software, PHP hosting with TileServer.PHP or on Amazon S3 and other cloud storage services. See: http://tileserver.maptiler.com/#cassini-terrestrial/webglearth 

The code of WebGL Earth is compiled with Closure Compiler, and uses the Library and Advanced compilation.

This practically means the project could be in future easily compiled with OpenLayers V3 (ol3js.org) to create the direct binding to the OL3JS APIs as well. We would love to work on such open-source integration if we find a client who supports the work.

Best regards,

Petr

[Todd]

Really nice work! I have been playing around with it all evening. I love the simplicity. Keep up the good work!