What this is

CHARTED is the real world as a real-time 3D game drawn entirely in characters. Spin the globe, pick a spot on the map, dive in from three kilometres up, then walk, run or fly. Buildings stand at their mapped heights with windows by storey, streets carry their names, parks their trees, rivers and harbours move, and mountains rise from real elevation data, all lit by the sun where it is right now.

It runs in your browser with no sign-up and no tracking: the map is static files from open data (Overture Maps, OpenStreetMap, Mapterhorn, Protomaps, Natural Earth), streamed as you move.

How to play

Look

click the scene, then move the mouse · on a phone, drag on the right

Move

W A S D or the arrows, Shift to sprint · on a phone, the left thumb

Jump, fly

Space jumps (or climbs in the air) · F switches walking and flying · Q or C descends

Go there

double-tap the scene to walk or fly to that spot

Speed

mouse wheel · pinch with two fingers

Map, search

M opens the map · / or Ctrl K searches places and commands

Time, theme

[ and ] move the sun half an hour · T changes the theme · P is photo mode

Places to start

• Lower Manhattan New York, United States
  Fly over Lower Manhattan drawn in characters: One World Trade Center, the Financial District and both rivers, with real building heights and the sun where it is right now.
• One World Trade Center New York, United States
  One World Trade Center in characters: the 417 m tower and its 541 m spire as mapped, seen from the Hudson. Walk to its base or fly to the top in your browser.
• Brooklyn Bridge New York, United States
  The Brooklyn Bridge over the East River, drawn in characters, with the Lower Manhattan skyline behind it. Walk across the deck or fly under it.
• Wall Street New York, United States
  Walk the street canyons of the Financial District, drawn in characters: Broadway, Wall Street and Trinity Church at their real heights and widths.
• Battery Park New York, United States
  Battery Park at the tip of Manhattan in characters: Castle Clinton, the mapped trees, the seawall and New York Harbor, with the Financial District beyond.
• Kitchener-Waterloo Ontario, Canada
  Kitchener and Waterloo, Ontario, drawn in characters: 150,000 buildings, the street grid, parks and mapped trees. Walk a suburb or fly over downtown.
• Matterhorn Pennine Alps, Switzerland
  Fly around the Matterhorn (4,478 m) drawn in characters from real elevation data: its faces as hachures, snow above the snowline, the Pennine Alps to the horizon.
• Yosemite Valley California, United States
  Yosemite Valley from Tunnel View in characters, from real elevation data: El Capitan, the valley floor and the walls of Cathedral Rocks. Fly down the valley in your browser.
• Grand Canyon Arizona, United States
  The Grand Canyon from the South Rim in characters, from real elevation data: a kilometre and a half of cliffs and terraces down to the Colorado River.
• Mount Fuji Honshu, Japan
  Mount Fuji (3,776 m) in characters, from real elevation data: the cone, its snow cap and the slopes around it. Fly up to the crater rim in your browser.

Credits

Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · © Overture Maps Foundation · terrain © Mapterhorn and its sources · basemap Protomaps · Natural Earth. Typeface Iosevka (SIL OFL). Full attribution and data versions.