Introducing Google Maps 2D Tiles in Cesium ion
Google Maps 2D Tiles are now available through your Cesium ion account. With the addition of Google Maps 2D Tiles, Cesium ion users now have access to another high-resolution, up-to-date global imagery option to pair with Cesium World Terrain for precise and visually compelling context for 3D geospatial applications.
This CesiumJS sandcastle shows how to include the Google Maps 2D Tiles and Bing Maps Imagery assets available through Cesium ion in a CesiumJS app.
Cesium ion includes a suite of preconfigured Google Maps 2D Tiles content assets:
- Google Maps 2D Satellite
- Google Maps 2D Satellite with Labels
- Google Maps 2D Labels Only
- Google Maps 2D Roadmap
- Google Maps 2D Contour
Cesium ion SaaS users will find the data in the Asset Depot, ready to stream. The next release of Cesium ion Self-Hosted will enable those users to link their installations to their SaaS accounts to access the data, or they can contact support to configure access.
Google Maps 2D Tiles assets available in Cesium ion.
These assets are easy to integrate into Cesium runtime engines. If you're building with Cesium for Unreal or Cesium for Unity, you can quickly add Google Maps 2D Tiles assets to your project via the Quick Add panel.
In the Unreal Engine Editor, the Cesium for Unreal plugin Quick Add panel lists commonly used combinations of global imagery and terrain available from Cesium ion. Cesium ion's Google Maps 2D Tiles assets are now included.
Using the APIs, developers can also customize these assets by including options for overlays or styling, allowing for tailored visualizations that suit application needs. For example, in the CesiumJS Sandcastle below, the satellite data has been adjusted to add roads and labels and to set the color of road markers.
Explore this CesiumJS Sandcastle to learn how to customize the styling of Google Maps 2D Tiles assets provided through Cesium ion.
Preparing for the future
As Microsoft retires the Bing Maps service, Cesium is taking proactive steps to ensure a smooth transition and a range of imagery choices for our users. Adding Google Maps 2D Tiles is just the beginning. In the coming months, we’ll share more updates about new imagery options and the timeline for Bing Maps data deprecation through Cesium ion. We’re committed to ensuring our users have ample time to transition.
The island of Kauai, Hawaii, visualized from above with Cesium World Terrain and the Google Maps 2D Contour asset from Cesium ion.
The stunning mountains of Kauai, Hawaii, visualized with Cesium World Terrain and the Google Maps 2D Satellite asset from Cesium ion.
Buildings surrounding Basílica de la Sagrada Família in Barcelona, Spain, visualized with Google Maps 2D Roadmaps and Cesium OSM Buildings assets from Cesium ion.
Google Maps 2D Satellite imagery of Boulder, Colorado, accessed from Cesium ion and with custom styling to add roadmaps with selected colors.
Get started
Ready to explore Google Maps 2D Tiles in your application? Check out this tutorial to get started. We’d love to hear your feedback and learn what other imagery datasets you’d like to see in Cesium ion.