For those not familiar with WebGL community. Cesium guys are the key contributors to the whole WebGL ecosystem. They for example are main authors of the glTF standard for delivering 3D assets optimized for the browser (adopted by many engines). Also the main reference book that gathers community knowledge 'WebGL Insights' is edited by the Cesium founder.
Don't mean to hijack, but if you're interested in 3D globes (and 2D projections), NASA has been working on porting World Wind to Web:<p><a href="https://github.com/NASAWorldWind/WebWorldWind" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/NASAWorldWind/WebWorldWind</a><p>and<p><a href="http://webworldwind.org" rel="nofollow">http://webworldwind.org</a><p>The power of WebGL is awesome!
This is from the same people that make Systems Toolkit (STK), which is well-known and used a lot in the space industry. They know what they're doing.
I used Cesium.js for a visualization project for one of my clients a few months back and was pleased at how well the engine was designed. As someone interested in globe-based graphics rendering, I found a lot of interesting insights in the book the Cesium developers wrote, "3D Engine Design for Virtual Globes":<p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/3D-Engine-Design-Virtual-Globes/dp/1568817118" rel="nofollow">https://www.amazon.com/3D-Engine-Design-Virtual-Globes/dp/15...</a>
Note for anyone using HTTPS Everywhere: The demo currently doesn't work over HTTPS, due to '<a href="http://cesiumjs.org/Cesium/Build/Apps/CesiumViewer/index.html'" rel="nofollow">http://cesiumjs.org/Cesium/Build/Apps/CesiumViewer/index.htm...</a> being served over HTTP.
A related effort is Terria which uses both Cesium and Leaflet for 3D and 2D mapping. Kevin Ring contributes to both Cesium and Terria.<p><a href="https://github.com/TerriaJS/terriajs" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/TerriaJS/terriajs</a><p><a href="http://nationalmap.gov.au/" rel="nofollow">http://nationalmap.gov.au/</a>
This seems like it would work really well to transition users from Google Earth and other closed-source globes to more open data sources. Specifically, this would be hugely valuable for developers in the military, disaster response, and intelligence communities and opens up the possibility for more quickly prototyping geospatial "Common operating pictures"<p>That said, as a day-to-day developer short of star mapping or orbits I'm not sure I prefer the globe format to a flat earth projection. Cool to see this open source and I'll definitely keep it in mind.
Very cool! Couldn't find a way to generate a link to a direct spot on the map, but if you go to Kennedy Space Center you can see the shuttle external fuel tank and booster rockets on the pad (no shuttle though).
Does anyone know of published data indicating the rate of support for advanced(ish) WebGL like this among everyday consumers?<p>I realize it's a bit of a vague question but would be grateful if anyone had some insight.