Life & fun · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to A raytracer to shade topographic maps in R
This R package implements raytracing to create shaded relief visualizations of topographic maps. It applies illumination techniques to elevation data to produce three-dimensional-looking map renderings. The tool is… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. A raytracer to shade topographic maps in R launched in 2018; newer entries below may have overtaken it.
- 1
I've been working on this project for about 4 years. It began as terrain only because world wide elevation data was publicly available. I then added buildings from OpenStreetMap (crowd sourced) and more recently from Overture Maps data. Some computer vision/machine learning advancements [1] in the past few years have made it possible to estimate tree canopy heights using satellite imagery alone making it possible to finally add trees to the map. The data isn't perfect, but it's within +/- 3 meters of so. Good enough to give a general idea for any location on Earth. Happy to answer…
2024 · shademap.app · its alternatives →
- 2
This is a GPU "software" raytracer (i.e. using manual ray-scene intersections and not RTX) written using the WebGPU API that renders glTF scenes. It supports many materials, textures, material & normal mapping, and heavily relies on multiple importance sampling to speed up convergence.
2024 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 3
I'm working on a GPS track visualizer for quite some time. It shines in hilly and mountaineous terrain (where a 3D view makes more sense), but it also offers quite a lot of Strava-like features (statistics etc.). You can upload your GPX and FIT files manually, or sync directly with Garmin, Coros and Polar. See https://cubetrek.com for the live app and check out some examples there. It's free and opens source. Also, anyone who likes to work with 3D visualizations (especially Babylon.js), let me know if you like to help polish this thing further.
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 4
Create beautiful moving gradients on Framer and Figma
2023 · shadergradient.co · its alternatives →
- 5VM
Topological visualizations for the masses
2020 · topovis.iambeef.com · its alternatives →
- 6
Flexible tool to build planet-scale vector tilesets from OpenStreetMap data fast - onthegomap/planetiler
2021 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 7G3
I made a web app to generate 3D models of real places on earth from land cover and elevation data. Click anywhere on the map to get a polygon, and then click "generate". It should work at most scales, but if your watershed or region selection is too large, the result can be less exciting because it's so flat. As a warning, the 3D models can sometimes be too much for my phone. It's nicer on desktop. I'm still working better on mobile support. The land cover data I'm using gives a cool effect, but at some point I'd like to add in global imagery and clouds. The backend is a Python thread…
2025 · topography.jessekv.com · its alternatives →
- 8MP
2020 · felixpalmer.github.io · its alternatives →
- 9
Shadowmap▲292Interactive 3D maps app to visualize solar shadows worldwide
2021 · app.shadowmap.org · its alternatives →
- 10
GPU Raytracer from scratch in C++/CUDA. Contribute to jan-van-bergen/GPU-Raytracer development by creating an account on GitHub.
2021 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 11
- 12
Data visualisation and ray tracing in Python based on OptiX 9.1 framework. - plotoptix/examples/3_projects/moon at master · rnd-team-dev/plotoptix
2019 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 13
We’re on a journey to advance and democratize artificial intelligence through open source and open science.
17d ago · huggingface.co · its alternatives →
- 14IE
2017 · mjmdavis.com · its alternatives →
- 15
RadianceKit▲95Turn photos into 3D Gaussian Splats on your Mac
Jun 2026 · radiancekit.de · its alternatives →
- 16
C++ Path Tracer from scratch with zero third-party libraries. - themartiano/luz
Jun 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 17
A framework for 3D geospatial visualization in the browser - UDST/vizicities
2016 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 18
How can you make affine transformations (the only ones SVGs are capable of) resemble perspective transformations?
2025 · seve.blog · its alternatives →
- 19
- 20
Shader Vision▲138Real-time GPU shader editor for spatial computing
2024 · shader.vision · its alternatives →
- 21
3D geographic visualization library. Contribute to w3reality/three-geo development by creating an account on GitHub.
2018 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 22
We built Maptoolkit.org - a free, production-grade vector maps service built on OpenStreetMap and MapLibre. Map rendering and tile hosting have historically been either expensive (Google, Mapbox) or complex to maintain yourself. (Plus: Their maps are car-focused.) Our maps feature max data zoom 15, global hill-shading, 3D terrain, contour lines, water depths, and specialized styles (like Hiking, Cycling, Winter). No sign up or API keys required. You can use it like this: ``` const map = new maplibregl.Map({ container: 'map', style: 'https://styles.maptoolkit.org/summer.json',…
Jul 2026 · maptoolkit.org · its alternatives →
- 23
A ray-tracer with a simple scene description language for easily generating beautiful images. - diegomacario/Super-Sunshine
2017 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 24MD
2023 · louisquissetlabs.com · its alternatives →
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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →