Gaming buffs can now integrate real world maps in their games as well. The possibility has been opened up by mapping platform, Mapbox, which will allow Unity and Mantle users to integrate real world terrain in the virtual world. Without any prior experience, you can recreate and explore any place in the world in virtual 3D.
For example, in the video below, Mapbox shows, how in the real world, we can cruise over to San Francisco’s Russian Hill and can transform real world terrain into a video game with just one click on your computer.
With this, gamers can create a 3D model of their neighbourhood and can play in their own vicinity. Or they can choose any other place of their own choice and can see it in detail, though virtually of course.
To integrate real world maps within a game you can use OpenStreetMap, or Natural Earth Data as a source of public domain cultural and physical GIS data with global coverage. The 3D geometries are created by pulling data from Mapbox’s web tiles directly into the Unity engine.
A decoder then uses building footprints, heights, and road data from Mapbox Streets product and elevation data from the Terrain product to create fully interactive Unity GameObjects that are styleable and scriptable.
This demo shows how the Mapbox data-driven 3D terrain can be dropped it into the game environment.
