

Visualized user base using Three.js and WebGL - rauar
https://leansync.com/status

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dsowers
Anyone interested in building something based on this should think twice. I
just started building my own version of the globe and it has crashed my
computer twice already. (brand new macbook pro retina using chrome). Something
related to chrome and this webgl isn't playing nice together. Force quit
doesn't even save it. Needs a hard reboot.

~~~
rauar
Macbook Pro 2012 here. I only experienced one issue which is somehow similar
and caused by resuming from sleep when the webgl tab is still the active one.
Then Chrome and everything else from MacOS will hang for 1 minute until Chrome
figures out that WebGL crashed. But I do not have to hard reset for recovery.
Just wait a minute....

I always close the tab before closing the lid.

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dsowers
For me it happened when I have it in a background tab. If I switch away for a
while and then click back on the tab it will freeze.

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rauar
Just happened to me as well a few seconds ago (I actually had even 3 instances
open in the background and no sleep/hibernation involved). But again just
waiting for about 1 min finally led to a responsive system again.

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yogti
Is there a possibility of interaction with the provided data on the globe?

Also I would really like to see the "address network", e.g. lines between the
dots.

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todi
It all happens inside the DOM, whit all interaction the browser provides.

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mcdee
So how much of this is open source and available? I can see lots of uses for
something that looks this good and to which you can overlay your own
information.

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rauar
To be fair: I took one of the Google Chrome Experiments (can't find the exact
demo right now but here's where they are hosted:
<http://www.chromeexperiments.com/webgl/>), stripped it down, customized it
(using particles instead of animated lines) and pump the geo data into the
globe.

So I'd say with Three.js, Google's code for the Globe it's in the end just a
couple of Javascript lines for the page and the customization of the globe.
I'd say 98% is open source from a technical perspective.

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gotrythis
This one I imagine: <http://workshop.chromeexperiments.com/cloudglobe/>

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rauar
It's a similar one but not exactly the one I started off. I used the one which
shows the world population for 3 predefined years.

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gotrythis
<http://www.chromeexperiments.com/globe>

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rauar
Yes, that's it.

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davydka
Adding touch events would be nice. Using Chrome beta for android and I can see
the globe, but can't interact easily.

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rauar
Absolutely. I had the same thought when checking with my Nexus S. Not sure how
easy/difficult it is to implement though as touch events are always a bit
different than mouse controls.

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rauar
Position data is based on user-provided addresses (city and country only).

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avodonosov
Hm, lot of users are in the ocean (after I rotated the globe?)

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rauar
Seriously ? Let's hope they can swim :)

It happened to me one or two times that I thought the same because the dark
color of the sea looks somehow more solid than the continents.

If it's really a rendering bug could you share a screenshot ?

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flexie
It is beautiful. I really like this :-)

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rauar
Thank you. Appreciated ;)

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mrdoob2
_cough_ _cough_

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rauar
Anything I did wrong ? I think I gave your library all the credits it deserves
by naming it in the title and providing details where the used parts came from
in the comments below.

Or is it that I used the most trivial particle rendering ? :)

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mrdoob2
I did the original WebGL Globe (texture, atmosphere shader, interaction, ...).
Just sounded like you were taking credit for the overall aesthetics. As far as
I can see, aesthetic-wise the difference is that you didn't pass the height
for the cubes.

I don't really mind though, the whole point was to get people to use the
platform. Just found it funny :)

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rauar
I see. Well quite some work went into upgrading the globe.js to Three.js rev
56 (API changes and debugging related errors) and the integration stuff
(creating the geo data) under the hood. Plus using particles instead of the
cubes (which was rather easy). So although it still has definitely a lot from
your version (globe and three.js) it's definitely not just a cheap and quick
copy for ripping off credits ;) That's why I appreciated the comment. Consider
a big part of the credit as yours :)

Just a side-node: the API docs were the biggest obstacle in the whole process.
W.r.t to platform usage I think this would be one of the top prio things to
get even more people using Three.js.

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mrdoob2
Yup. Working on that... also need to update WebGL Globe so you don't have to
:)

