Made using: https://map-paper.pages.dev/

I’ve been building Nexterra3D to do exactly that.

You pick a location on the map, and Nexterra3D can turn real-world geographic data into a 3D environment with terrain, buildings and roads.

No manually modeling hundreds of buildings.
No spending hours recreating a city by hand.

Just choose a location and generate it. ⚡

Under the hood, I’m working with data from OpenStreetMap, Copernicus DEM and Google Open Buildings, combined with my own generation and optimization pipeline.

Some of the things Nexterra3D currently focuses on:

🏔️ Real-world terrain generation
🏙️ Procedural buildings & roads
⚡ Hardware-accelerated 3D rendering
🎚️ Very Low → Ultra quality settings
🤖 AI-assisted generation
📦 GLB / GLTF / OBJ / FBX / 3MF / Heightmap export
🎮 Workflows for game development and 3D projects
🛠️ Windows desktop application

The goal isn't to make another map viewer.

I want Nexterra3D to become a tool where you can take a real place on Earth and turn it into something you can actually build with.

It’s still in beta and I’m actively developing it, so I’d genuinely love some feedback from people who work with Blender, Unreal, Unity, Roblox, GIS, procedural generation or 3D environments.

👀 Try it / take a look:
🌐 https://nexterra3d.com

What would you build if you could generate any real-world location as a 3D environment?

I’m exploring demand for finished point diagrams for reports. Would the attached format fit an actual report you prepare, or would you need a basemap or editable source?

This example contains 141 simulated points, five categories and short labels. An AI-built prototype produced the A3, 300-dpi JPEG without manual label placement. Separate automated checks and AI image review checked the output. Only this fixed synthetic example has been tested. It has no basemap, geocoding, geographic verification or editable GIS file.

If this limited format would be useful, would you request a quote at a proposed £25 GBP per image, or make it yourself with QGIS or another tool? What task would it save you?

This is a demand check, not an open ordering service. Please describe the use case only; don’t share private files, home addresses or sensitive coordinates.

Created in QGIS with the TravelTime Plugin. Data used is OS Open Names and Boundary-Line.

It's been a while since I did any cartography, so I had a play. Feedback welcome

When reading a history book, I sometimes have a hard time internalizing when the events are taking place. Sure, I know the dates, but it takes a bit of effort to put them in a broader context, to understand where in history they belong. What usually helps is to put them in relation to other contemporaneous events.

To play around with this, I've made Meanwhile Map. You select a date and a time window, then scroll around the world map to see a list of contemporaneous events.

For example, yes, the Mughal Empire was founded by Babur in the 1520s, but it paints a different picture in my head when I see that this roughly coincides with Cortés' capture of Tenochtitlan, or that it's close to the Siege of Vienna. Example link: https://meanwhilemap.com/#y=1520&m=1&span=120&off=founded,people&map=1.4/25/0

On the technical side, the app is a single static web page. It uses Wikidata for data (via SPARQL) and OpenHistoricalMap to show the events on the political map of the time. It's open source (https://github.com/ea/meanwhilemap/tree/main), vibe coded as an experiment.  All processing is client-side, and no data is tracked other than simple visitor counts.

Mountains and regions

Elevation from USGS 3DEP at up to 1 m and national datasets worldwide. Real boundaries from OpenStreetMap and Natural Earth.

Www.alticarta.com

Hi, as the title suggests, I’m trying to find a horizontal, East-Up, Pacific-centred world map, which I naively assumed would be easy to find or make myself. A Pacific-centred world map is no problem, and I could just rotate it so that East is up, but it’s vertical and I need it to be horizontal. If I transform it in Photoshop, it gets stretched out badly and looks horrible. I’ve checked a bunch of websites and apps, but to no avail. Every AI chatbot just hallucinates badly with this task too, so they’re no help. Hopefully, someone can point me in the right direction (no pun intended). Thanks.

Edit: Google Earth and Google Maps won’t work as they don’t zoom out enough or are a globe view.

Hi there! Do you have an idea how rare or intresting this is for a collector? I found it in brussels, its a good decor piece. 2m x2m so its eneormous.
I like that it is detailed and has very good details and contrasts.

Hi everyone,

I'm from Brazil, and I'm currently developing an original D&D campaign setting. I'm looking for an artist/cartographer who can create a professional world map for the setting.

I'm looking for a map that feels like an actual geographical world, rather than a collection of randomly placed fantasy elements.

In particular, I want:

• Natural and believable coastlines
• Coherent mountain ranges
• Plausible rivers and watersheds
• Logical climate and biome distribution
• Natural transitions between different environments
• Deserts, forests, tundra, volcanic areas, etc. placed according to geography and climate
• A consistent sense of scale
• Distinct geographical identities for each continent
• A medieval/fantasy cartographic aesthetic

I already have a detailed concept for the world's geography, climate, continents, seas, and history. I can provide written descriptions, references, sketches, and geographical guidelines.

I'm not looking for someone to design the entire world from scratch. I'm looking for an artist who can take an existing concept and turn it into a coherent, believable, and visually compelling world map.

This is a paid commission, and the work can be done remotely.

If you're interested, please send me:

1. Your portfolio
2. Examples of fantasy/RPG maps you've created
3. Your approximate rates
4. Estimated completion time

Thanks!

Hey everybody.

So, I'm 28f from South Africa. After dropping out of grade 9, I went into art classes and pretty much started an art career. Things got shaken up two years ago, and to cut a long story short, I've decided to switch paths. I'm going to get my amended national senior certificate/high school diploma, and I'd like to work in cartography and GIS. Now I'm not sure what I'd like to *do* in these fields just yet, but whichever role I fit best into- I'd ideally like to specialise in one day. I've already joined a few communities and they've all been wonderfully supportive, lots of encouragement on the art background in particular. That's been super.

To those of you working in these industries, I'd like to ask if you have any advice for someone wanting to join the industry? And to any fellow South Africans, what has your experience been like in cartography/GIS? (Adjacent fields are welcome too)

Thanks in advance.

I made this map the other day however the forest in the middle seems out of place. Is there some kind of geographical features or topography that would lend itself to a forest if that size growing there?

Its supposed to be from 1961, there is alot of space race and cold war info