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Spatio-temporal data visualization example codes and tutorials from scratch.

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glmaps is a project full of bunch of earth and map visualization examples based on Three.js and Deck.gl, as well as some tutorials for visualization beginners. Easy to learn and use.

Watch online demo video atYouTube orTencent Video.

A brief introduction of thie project is now available atMeidum,Zhihu and myblog.

1. Overview - Check all visualization types thatglmaps contains.
2. ZERO - Some thoughts from me that you may pay attention before have future reading.
3. Demo - Open browser and enterhttps://localhost:8080 to check the demo locally.
4. Tutorials - A series of tutorials that guide you how to code these visualization examples step by step. TBD.
5. Install - Installation guide for developers. Just have a try,glmaps has not get ready for industry applications.
6. Usage - Usage for how to includeglmaps in your application.
7. Documents - API document forglmaps. TBD.
8. Stories - Stories behind this repositry.
9. Resources - Resources for further learning in Spatio-temporal Data Visualization, WebGL, etc.

Check all visualization types thatglmaps contains,2.5D means you can draw 3D geometries on a 2D map,3D means a total 3D data visualization approach.

Type	Description	Demo	Animation	Cluster
3D / Curve	THREE.BufferGeometry()		Yes	No
3D / Mover	THREE.SphereGeometry()		Yes	No
3D / Cube	THREE.BoxGeometry()		No	No
2.5D / Icon	No modification from deck		No	Yes
2.5D / Brush	Support OD Arc Animation		Yes	No
2.5D / Scatter	Support Fade-out Animation		Yes	No
2.5D / Hexagon	Support Coverage Filter Conditions		Yes	Yes
2.5D / Grid	Support Coverage Filter Conditions		No	Yes
2.5D / Trip	No modification from deck		Yes	No
2.5D / Cube	No modification from deck		No	No
Other / Segment	The same as curve animation		No	No
Other / Moon	Earth-Moon System		No	No

Thanks for your attention in this project, there are some thoughts from me that you may pay attention before have future reading.

Q: What frameworks are used inglmaps?

React Hooks is ready in 16.8.0, andglmaps get benefits from it at once, if you are not familiar with it, please checkIntroducing Hooks first; On the other hand, deck.gl isWebGL2 powered geospatial visualization layers, so please make sure your browser support WebGL2. To find out if WebGL(2) is enabled in your browser, go tohttp://get.webgl.org/ orhttps://get.webgl.org/webgl2/.

Besides, if you meet any errors when depoly it locally, you can describe your problem withissues, because that's most likely a problem ofglmaps rather than yourself, sinceglmaps organizes local development environment from scratch, such as webpack, babel, etc.

Q: Guidance for visualization beginners?

I highly recommend you follows these steps in usingglmaps:

• Learn how to install three.js and deck.gl from scratch, and code your first "Hello World" with them;
• Run official demos and get familiar with their API;
• Follow the tutorials step by step to make your visualization examples more powerful, or checkglmaps codes insrc folder directly;
• (Optional) Useglmaps in your demo application, start withnpm install glmaps --save;
• Rewriteglmaps example with your own codes;
• Congratulations on mastering basics of spatio-temporal visualization, you can usethree.js anddeck.gl to draw a more fantastic world with spatio-temporal data!

Q: How to participate inglmaps project?

glmaps is still at the very beginning period of my thoughts, you are welcome to oepn ISSUE, PR or email me, if you have any ideas on how to makeglmaps better for visualization beginners:

• Participate in implementing tutorials together;
• Contribute codes toglmaps withPR (such as imporvemover animation inGlobe);
• Speak out your doubts in learning data visualization withissues;
• Tell me your advice on how to makeglmaps better withissues;
• Other aspects not included yet.

Open browser and enterhttps://localhost:8080 to check the demo locally. Please enjoy the power ofthree.js anddeck.gl.

git clone git@github.com:hijiangtao/glmaps.gitcd glmapsnpm installtouch devconfigs.js

To use any of Mapbox's APIs, you'll need a Mapbox access token. Mapbox uses access tokens to associate requests to API resources with your account. Since TOKEN is a private key, glmaps doesn't provide it in codes, you need to specify it in filedevconfigs.js.

Here's what an access token looks like (focus on the string starts withpk., replace it with your own token. You can create your mapbox Tokenhere) and thedevconfigs.js file format:

// devconfigs.jsconst MAPBOX_TOKEN = 'pk.eyJ1IjoiaGlqaWFuZ3RhbyIsImEiOiJjampxcjFnb3E2NTB5M3BvM253ZHV5YjhjIn0.WneUon5qFigfJRJ3oaZ3Ow';export {  MAPBOX_TOKEN,  }

Tips: You can utilize Search engine to get other's mapbox tokens if you don't want to create a new one, here's one token I got from GitHub Search: 'pk.eyJ1IjoiY3NuIiwiYSI6ImNpdnRvam1qeDAwMXgyenRlZjZiZWc1a2wifQ.Gr5pLJzG-1tucwY4h-rGdA', though it's not recommend to "steal" other's token…

Save changes indevconfigs.js and go on:

npm run start

Whenglmaps is ready, it will open browser automatically, and render demos for you.

A series of spatio-temporal data visualization tutorials that guide you how to code these visualization examples step by step. TBD.

• Visualization Tutorials from scratch (I) - Introduction of data visualization with three.js
• Visualization Tutorials from scratch (II) - Introduction of data visualization with deck.gl
• Visualization Tutorials from scratch (III) - Manage your three.js application with React
• Visualization Tutorials from scratch (IV) - Draw a earth-moon system with three.js from scratch
• Visualization Tutorials from scratch (V) - How to draw curve, mover and cube with three.js
• Visualization Tutorials from scratch (VI) - Animate your layers with props and transitions
• Visualization Tutorials from scratch (VII) - Animate your deck.gl with customized shaders
• Visualization Tutorials from scratch (VIII) - Some tips in data visualization with deck.gl and three.js

The installation is for developers who wants to useglmaps in their demos.

cd YOUR_REPOnpm install glmaps --save

This is a package mainly designed for visualization lovers in learning Three.js and Deck.gl, however, you can use them as a normal package as other packages in npm.

importReactfrom'react';import{Globe}from'glmaps';/** * Data format: * [ *   [ *      source.lat, *      source.lng, *      target.lat, *      target.lng, *   ], *   ... * ] */constDemo=(props)=>{return(<Globedata={props.data}id={YOUR_MOUNT_DOM_ID}animate={true}moon={true}visType={'curve'}/>)};

More examples and detailed usage guidances can be found in documents.

This part is still under constructing, however, you can access full codes insrc folder right now.

• Layers (2.5D Map)
  1. ArcLayer
  2. HexagonLayer
  3. IconLayer
  4. ScatterplotLayer
  5. ScreenGridLayer
  6. TripLayer
• Globe (3D Space)
  1. Curve
  2. Mover
  3. Cube
  4. Moon

src├── globe│   ├── CubeMesh.js│   ├── Curve.js│   ├── Mover.js│   ├── README.md│   ├── SceneManager.js│   ├── Tube.js│   ├── constants.js│   ├── index.js│   ├── index.less│   └── utils.js├── index.js└── layers    ├── AnimationLayer    │   └── index.js    ├── ArcLayer    │   ├── animate.js    │   └── index.js    ├── HexagonLayer    │   └── index.js    ├── IconLayer    │   ├── cluster.js    │   ├── icon-mapping.js    │   └── index.js    ├── README.md    ├── ScatterplotLayer    │   └── index.js    ├── ScreenGridLayer    │   └── index.js    └── TripLayer        └── index.js

You are welcome to raise PR to add more contents of this part, let's contribute together to make it more valuable.

• WebGL Fundamentals
• WebGL2 Fundamentals

TBD

Q: Why I create this repositry?

A: I am really impressed by many open source developers when I learning how to visualize data on Web. They had contributed a lof of codes and resources in guiding beginners. This year, I want to take visualization as a serious work to do in my spare time. I will keep on record what I learned in my blog, at the same time I want to share more and hope my notes and codes can raise your interests in data visualization, too. Keep Simple and Love Visualization.

@hijiangtao

MIT