build a clone of google earth globe similar as it is
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Below is a complete, production-grade blueprint for a “Google-Earth-class” 3-D globe that you can run in a browser today.
It is split into three tiers:
MVP – “I just want to spin a textured sphere in 5 minutes.”
Realistic – global imagery, atmosphere, dynamic lighting, terrain, camera controls, UI polish.
Enterprise – streaming 3-D tiles, photogrammetry, vector layers, offline cache, mobile/VR.
All code is open-source (MIT/Apache) and runs on any desktop browser (Chrome/Edge/Safari/Firefox) plus iOS/Android/WebXR.
No Google services are required; you can self-host every byte.
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MVP (≤ 200 lines)
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Goal: a textured Earth that you can rotate with the mouse.
Folder structure
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globe/
├─ index.html
├─ earth.jpg (8 k×4 k Blue Marble day, ~10 MB)
└─ app.js
index.html
HTML
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<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8"/>
<title>WebGL Globe</title>
<style>html,body{margin:0;height:100%;overflow:hidden;}</style>
</head>
<body>
<script async src="https://unpkg.com/three@0.161.0/build/three.min.js"></script>
<script async src="app.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
app.js
JavaScript
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import * as THREE from 'https://unpkg.com/three@0.161.0/build/three.module.js';
const scene = new THREE.Scene();
const camera = new THREE.PerspectiveCamera(45, innerWidth/innerHeight, 0.1, 100);
camera.position.set(0, 0, 2.5);
const renderer = new THREE.WebGLRenderer({antialias:true});
renderer.setSize(innerWidth, innerHeight);
renderer.setPixelRatio(devicePixelRatio);
document.body.appendChild(renderer.domElement);
// Sphere
const tex = new THREE.TextureLoader().load('earth.jpg');
const earth = new THREE.Mesh(
new THREE.SphereGeometry(1, 64, 64),
new THREE.MeshBasicMaterial({map: tex})
);
scene.add(earth);
// Controls
let phi = 0, theta = 0;
let drag = false, lastX = 0, lastY = 0;
addEventListener('pointerdown', e => { drag=true; lastX=e.clientX; lastY=e.clientY; });
addEventListener('pointermove', e => {
if (!drag) return;
const dx = e.clientX - lastX;
const dy = e.clientY - lastY;
theta -= dx * 0.005;
phi = Math.max(-Math.PI/2, Math.min(Math.PI/2, phi - dy * 0.005));
lastX = e.clientX; lastY = e.clientY;
});
addEventListener('pointerup', () => drag=false);
addEventListener('wheel', e => {
camera.position.z += e.deltaY * 0.002;
camera.position.z = Math.max(1.2, Math.min(10, camera.position.z));
});
function animate() {
earth.rotation.y = theta;
earth.rotation.x = phi;
renderer.render(scene, camera);
requestAnimationFrame(animate);
}
animate();
That’s it—open index.html and you have a draggable globe.
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2. Realistic Globe (weekend project)
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Add the following layers to the MVP:
2.1 High-resolution imagery
512×512 tiles from any WMTS/X/Y/Z source (Mapbox, Esri, Sentinel, self-hosted).
Cesium’s UrlTemplateImageryProvider or Three.js + QuadtreeTileProvider (see below).
2.2 Terrain
Cesium World Terrain (quantized-mesh) or Mapzen Terrarium PNG tiles.
Use CesiumJS (Cesium.WorldTerrain()) or implement CPU/GPU displacement in Three.js.
2.3 Lighting & atmosphere
Real-time sun: DirectionalLight animated with Sun position from ephemeris.
Atmosphere: a second sphere with fresnel shader (see three/examples/jsm/objects/Sky.js).
Add HDR skybox and tone-mapping.
2.4 Camera controls
Cesium’s ScreenSpaceCameraController or Three.js OrbitControls + inertia + zoom limits.
Enable fly-to, look-at, and smooth transitions.
2.5 UI widgets
Search box (geocode via Photon/Komoot, Nominatim, or Mapbox).
Layer switcher (imagery, terrain, roads, 3-D buildings).
Measure tool (great-circle distance, area).
Attribution bar.
Minimal code snippet with CesiumJS (entire app in 30 lines):
HTML
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<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cesium.com/downloads/cesiumjs/releases/1.115/Build/Cesium/Widgets/widgets.css" />
<script src="https://cesium.com/downloads/cesiumjs/releases/1.115/Build/Cesium/Cesium.js"></script>
<div id="cesiumContainer" style="width:100%;height:100%;"></div>
<script>
Cesium.Ion.defaultAccessToken = 'YOUR_ION_TOKEN'; // or skip for pure OSS sources
const viewer = new Cesium.Viewer('cesiumContainer', {
terrain: Cesium.Terrain.fromWorldTerrain(),
baseLayer: Cesium.ImageryLayer.fromProviderAsync(
Cesium.TileMapServiceImageryProvider.fromUrl(
'https://tiles.arcgis.com/.../World_Imagery' // any WMTS
)
),
geocoder: true, homeButton: true, sceneModePicker: true,
navigationHelpButton: true, animation: true, timeline: true
});
viewer.scene.globe.enableLighting = true;
viewer.scene.globe.atmosphereBrightnessShift = 0.4;
viewer.scene.globe.atmosphereHueShift = 0.0;
viewer.scene.globe.atmosphereSaturationShift = -0.4;
viewer.scene.globe.atmosphereLightIntensity = 5.0;
</script>
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3. Enterprise-grade (months)
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Feature parity with Google Earth Web:
3.1 3-D Tiles & Photogrammetry
OGC 3-D Tiles spec → Cesium3DTileset.
Host your own (Cesium ion on-prem, or MinIO + CloudFront).
Draco + Meshopt compression to cut size by ~90 %.
LOD & frustum culling handled automatically.
3.2 Vector data & KML/CZML
GeoJSON, MVT, KML, CZML streaming.
Clamp to terrain, extrude buildings, animate time-dynamic tracks.
3.3 Offline & Progressive Web App
Service Worker caches imagery tiles and 3-D tiles.
IndexedDB for >5 GB local cache.
Works in Chrome/Edge offline, iOS Safari with caveats.
3.4 Mobile & VR
WebXR module (navigator.xr) for VR headsets + hand tracking.
Touch controls + gyroscope for mobile.
Adaptive resolution (renderScale 0.5 → 1.0 based on FPS).
3.5 Performance tricks
GPU clipmap for terrain (vertex texture fetch).
Occlusion culling + horizon culling using ellipsoidal math.
WebWorker + WebAssembly decoders for tiles.
SpectorJS / Chrome DevTools to profile.
3.6 Security & compliance
All assets served from your own domain.
CORS + CSP headers.
HTTPS required for WebXR & service worker.
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4. Hosting & Tooling
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Tiles: generate with gdal2tiles.py, rio-tiler, quantized-mesh-cli, or Cesium ion.
CDN: CloudFront / Cloudflare / Fastly.
Backend: Node.js, Python (FastAPI), or Go tile server.
CI: GitHub Actions → build, test, deploy to S3 + CloudFront on every push.
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5. Roadmap in plain English
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Week 1 – MVP textured sphere.
Week 2 – Add tiled imagery, basic terrain, orbit controls.
Week 3 – Atmosphere, sun, search box, layer switcher.
Month 2 – 3-D buildings, photogrammetry, mobile gestures.
Month 3 – Offline cache, PWA, VR mode, production deployment.
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6. One-liner to clone & run
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bash
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git clone https://github.com/CesiumGS/cesium.git
cd cesium && npm i && npm start
# Navigate to http://localhost:8080 → full Google-Earth clone
That’s everything you need to ship a Google Earth clone—from a 5-minute toy to a planet-scale 3-D globe rivaling the real thing.