Why this dev ditched satellite imagery for generated textures in his 3D maps app
tomjohndesign · x · 2026-11-03
After a week of trying to make satellite imagery work in his 3D maps app, developer tomjohndesign switched to a generated texture world. His reasons: (A) Performance — batch image downloads are heavy and high-res endpoints pricey; kept only as fallback. (B) Flat images on contoured terrain cause bizarre artifacts around bridges and rivers. (C) Consistency — full stylistic control, which users already accept from in-car nav. (D) POI/accuracy — satellite imagery often disagrees with lidar/gov data, and aligning it costs money. (E) Total control over the world's look and feel, easing a future CarPlay version. Conclusion: generated textures beat real satellite imagery for this use case.
Related event: Indie Dev Ditches Satellite Data for Generative Textures in 3D Map World(2 posts)→
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