Add 3D objects and lighting to your MapTiler SDK JS maps
With this MapTiler SDK plugin, you can add 3D objects to your basemap with plenty of customizations from glTF/glb files! Those can be meshes, groups of meshes, point clouds and a mix of all these.
Here are some examples:
Sellers Mansion, captured by Katie Wolfe, License CC Attribution
Flatiron building, mesh created by Mohamed Hussien, License CC Attribution
Plane a380, mesh created by Mamont Nikita, License CC Attribution
Duck and lamp post meshes from the glTF sample asset repository
Building, mesh created by ibukilego, License CC Attribution (coupled with map.transform.fov = 0 to create an orthographic view)
Scotland: Dundee, The McManus, point cloud (5M) created by Daniel Muirhead, License CC Attribution
Scotland: Dundee, The McManus, point cloud (5M) created by Daniel Muirhead, License CC Attribution
From NPM and using the ES module, in a terminal, in your project:
npm install @maptiler/3dThen to import:
import { Layer3D } from "@maptiler/3d";
// or
import * as maptiler3d from "@maptiler/3d";From CDN and using the UMD bundle, in the <head></head> section of your HTML file:
<script src="https://cdn.maptiler.com/maptiler-3d/v1.0.0/maptiler-3d.umd.js"></script>With the UMD bundle (on CDN), the namespace for this project is maptiler3d. So the layer3D class is available at maptiler3d.Layer3D.
An instance of Layer3D is a custom type of layer that contain a 3D scene, where multiple 3D meshes and lights can be added. Like any other layer in MapTiler SDK/Maplibre GL JS, it must have an ID and then be added to a Map instance:
// Create a map;
const map = new Map({
container: "map",
// ...
});
// Waiting that the map is ready. You can also wait for the "load" event.
map.on("ready", () => {
// Create a Layer3D and add it
const layer3D = new maptiler3d.Layer3D("custom-3D-layer");
map.addLayer(layer3D);
})Once created and added, a mesh can be added. In this version any glTF and their binary counterpart glb files can be added.
To add a mesh:
// The call can be awaited for the whole download of the mesh to complete
await layer3D.addMeshFromURL(
// ID to give to this mesh, unique within this Layer3D instance
"flatiron",
// The URL of the mesh
"https://example.com/meshes/flatiron_building.glb",
// A set of options, these can be modified later
{
lngLat: {lat: 40.74072950731568, lng: -73.98918779556983}, // can also be an array [lng, lat]
heading: 91.1,
scale: 39.5,
visible: true,
altitude: 74.38,
altitudeReference: maptiler3d.AltitudeReference.GROUND,
}
);Here are all the options for meshes:
lngLatlocation of the center of the 3D object, as longitude and latitudealtitudethe altitude in meters above the reference point (to the origin of the mesh, that is not always the bottom)altitudeReferencereference point of altitude (ground or mean sea level)visiblewhether the mesh is visiblesourceOrientationapplies a correction from the original orientation of the meshscalescaling factor applied to the meshheadingorientation in degrees (0-360), where 0 and 360 are true north and 90 is eastopacityopacity of the mesh. If the mesh is a group of meshes, this is applied to all the child nodes that can deal with transparencypointSizeapplicable only to point clouds, set the size of the pointswireframeapplicable only to non-point cloud, applies a wireframe rendering to all the child nodes of the mesh that are compatible with the option
The constructor of the Layer3D class takes two arguments:
- a layer ID (as in the example above)
- an option object, with TypeScript, this object is of type
Layer3DOptions
Here are more details about the Layer3DOptions type:
type Layer3DOptions = {
/**
* Bellow this zoom level, the meshes are not visible
* Default: 0
*/
minZoom?: number;
/**
* Beyond this zoom level, the meshes are not visible.
* Default: 22
*/
maxZoom?: number;
/**
* Default: true
*/
antialias?: boolean;
/**
* Ambient light color.
* Default: `0xffffff` (white)
*/
ambientLightColor?: ColorRepresentation,
/**
* Ambient light intensity.
* Default: `1`
*/
ambientLightIntensity?: number,
};Other important types that are exported:
- About the reference for altitude:
enum AltitudeReference {
/**
* Use the ground as a reference point to compute the altitude
*/
GROUND = 1,
/**
* Uses mean sea level as a reference point to compute the altitude
*/
MEAN_SEA_LEVEL = 2
};Example: A mesh that is add with the option altitudeReference being AltitudeReference.GROUND and an altitude of 10 will always "fly" 10 meters above the ground, regardless the terrain or the terrain exaggeration. If the provided altitude were to be a negative number, then it would always be beneath the ground surface by this amount (in meters). This mode is convenient for any item that needs to be positions relatively to the ground: cars, buildings, lap post, etc.
On the other hand, mesh that is add with the option altitudeReference being AltitudeReference.MEAN_SEA_LEVEL and the altitude of 1000 means the item will be at an absolute altitude of 1000 meters (3280 feet) above the mean sea level. If located in a place where the terrain shows mountains higher than 1000 meters, then the mesh will be underneath the ground surface and as such not visible. This mode is more convenient for flying objects such as planes, paraglydings, etc. as those thend to measure altitude with an absolute reference.
- Going from the original 3D space the mesh was created in, to the map 3D space:
enum SourceOrientation {
/**
* The mesh was originaly created in a 3D space that uses the x axis as the up direction
*/
X_UP = 1,
/**
* The mesh was originaly created in a 3D space that uses the Y axis as the up direction
*/
Y_UP = 2,
/**
* The mesh was originaly created in a 3D space that uses the Z axis as the up direction
*/
Z_UP = 3,
};Note that regardless of the original up axis, this plugin as well as MapTiler SDK/Maplibre GL JS only deal with 3D spaces that follow the right-hand rule.
- Generic options that apply to both point lights and meshes:
type GenericObject3DOptions = {
/**
* Position.
* Default: `[0, 0]` (Null Island)
*/
lngLat?: LngLatLike,
/**
* Altitude above the reference (in meters).
* Default: `0` for meshes, or `2000000` for point lights.
*/
altitude?: number,
/**
* Reference to compute and adjust the altitude.
* Default: `AltitudeReference.GROUND` for meshes and `AltitudeReference.MEAN_SEA_LEVEL` for point lights.
*/
altitudeReference?: AltitudeReference,
/**
* Make the object visible or not.
* Default: `true`
*/
visible?: boolean;
};- Options for adding meshes specifically:
type MeshOptions = GenericObject3DOptions & {
/**
* Rotation to apply to the model to add, as a Quaternion.
* Default: a rotation of PI/2 around the x axis, to adjust from the default ThreeJS space (right-hand, Y up) to the Maplibre space (right-hand, Z up)
*/
sourceOrientation?: SourceOrientation,
/**
* Scale the mesh by a factor.
* Default: no scaling added
*/
scale?: number,
/**
* Heading measured in degrees clockwise from true north.
*/
heading?: number,
/**
* Opacity of the mesh
*/
opacity?: number;
/**
* Point size, applicable only to point clouds.
* Default: 1
*/
pointSize?: number;
/**
* Displays a mesh as wireframe if true (does not apply to point cloud)
* Default: `false`
*/
wireframe?: boolean;
};- Options for adding a point light specifically:
type PointLightOptions = GenericObject3DOptions & {
/**
* Light color.
* Default: `0xffffff` (white)
*/
color?: ColorRepresentation,
/**
* Intensity of the light.
* Default: `75`
*/
intensity?: number,
/**
* Decay of the light relative to the distance to the subject.
* Default: `0.5`
*/
decay?: number,
};Here is the list of instance methods:
-
.setAmbientLight(options: {color?: ColorRepresentation, intensity?: number} = {})To adjust the settings of the ambient light. The typeColorRepresentationmeans the color can be anumber(such as a hex notation0xff0000, for red), a hex string (such as"#FF0000", for red), or a ThreeJS color (read more about these here). ℹ️ By default, the ambiant light is white (0xffffff) with an intensity of0.5. -
.addMeshFromURL(id: string, meshURL: string, options: MeshOptions = {})async Adds a mesh from a URL to a glTF of glb file, given a mesh ID (will throw if not unique) and a set of options. -
.addMesh(id: string, mesh: Mesh | Group | Object3D, options: MeshOptions = {})Adds a ThreeJS mesh/Group/Object3D, given a mesh ID (will throw if not unique) and a set of options. ℹ️ By default, the mesh will have some settings (if not overwritten by the options):- sourceOrientation:
SourceOrientation.Y_UP - altitude:
0 - lngLat:
[0, 0] - heading:
0 - visible:
true
- sourceOrientation:
-
.modifyMesh(id: string, options: MeshOptions)Modify the settings of a mesh (scale, lntLat, etc.) ℹ️ Only the settings provided in the option object will be updated, the others will be left as they already are. -
.cloneMesh(sourceId: string, id: string, options: MeshOptions)Clones a mesh that has a given ID (sourceId) and create another one with a new ID (id). The provided options will overwrite the settings of the source mesh. -
.addPointLight(id: string, options: PointLightOptions = {})Adds a point light with a unique ID (will throw if not unique) and some options. ℹ️ By default, the light will have some settings (if not overwritten by the options):- lngLat:
[0, 0](null island) - altitude:
2_000_000meters - altitudeReference:
AltitudeReference.MEAN_SEA_LEVEL - color:
0xffffff(white) - intensity:
75 - decay:
0.2
- lngLat:
-
.modifyPointLight(id: string, options: PointLightOptions)Modify a point light given its ID. ℹ️ Only the settings provided in the option object will be updated, the others will be left as they already are. -
.removeMesh(id: string)Remove a mesh or point light from the scene and frees the GPU memory associated to it -
.clear()Removes all the meshes and point lights from the scene and frees the GPU memory associated with them
MapTiler JS Module
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For the license terms, please reference MapTiler JavaScript Module Terms and Conditions.
This license allows users with an active MapTiler account to modify and integrate authorized portions of the Software for use with the relevant MapTiler service(s) in accordance with the MapTiler Terms. This license terminates automatically if a user no longer maintains a MapTiler account or their usage breaches MapTiler Terms.
