Interactive 3D maps in Unity

Alex Barth
Tue, 30 Aug 2016 00:00:00 -0400

Mantle, the game engine plugin for designing 3D maps in Unity, just leaked screenshots of its new 3D terrain and maps. Developers are no longer constrained to a limited geographic area, they can now import the entire world into the game.

The environments generated with Mantle are based on real-time map data from every city and place in the world. From 3D terrain and buildings, to land use like parks and beaches, to showing the streets and bridges - every detail in a city can now be loaded into Unity and styled there using Mantle.

The new plugin uses soon to be released Mapbox tilesets specifically designed for gaming. These new tilesets contain compressed elevation data and building heights. Just like the the vector tiles that power Mapbox Streets they are super light for fast loading and updated minutely. As a city changes, levels can be updated from fresh data, letting developers model their own game environment based on the latest maps.

If you want early access to the new plugin, email Sean Heffernan at heffernan@mapbox.com.