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Cesium Version b30 Released

Patrick Cozzi

Cesium version b30 is now available for download.

Highlights include:

  • Support for Internet Explorer 11.0.9 on desktops. For the best results, use the new IE Developer Channel for development.
  • Improved support for CZML reference properties to reduce file size by better sharing data among objects. In extreme cases, we’ve seen CZML files shrink by 80%. See below for an example.
  • Added PerformanceWatchdog widget to monitor the frame rate and display a message if poor performance is detected. This was contributed by NICTA.
  • Several breaking changes towards a more stable and concise API. See the change log.

Cesium b30 in Internet Explorer 11.

CZML reference properties

To see the benefits of improved support for CZML reference properties, consider the CZML below for two billboards that are always shown or hidden at the same time.

[
  {
    "id" : "obj1",
    "billboard" : { "show": [...] }
    }
  },
  {
    "id" : "obj2",
    "billboard" : { "show": [...] }
    }
  }
]

Previously, the contents of the show property would be duplicated for every object that shared the same time intervals, bloating the CZML and using extra client-side memory. Now we can link these two properties using a reference:

[
  {
    "id":"obj1",
    "billboard":{ "show": [...] }
    }
  },
  {
    "id":"obj2",
    "billboard":{
      "show":  { "reference" : "obj1#billboard.show"  }
      }
    }
  }
]