Paris Vue

What it is

A living model of the city inside the Périphérique, plus La Défense and the two great woods. The clock follows Paris time and season, so the sun sets where it actually sets tonight; the sky, clouds, rain and snow come from the current Paris forecast. Take the slider and you can move the day by hand, or let Cinema fly you around.

Boats run on the Seine, trams on the Maréchaux, métro trains cross the viaducts, cars stop at the lights, and at dusk the street lamps and the tower come on.

Where the data comes from

• OpenStreetMap — building outlines, streets, water, parks, tram and métro lines.
• APUR — measured heights and roof materials for ~128,000 Paris buildings.
• IGN RGE ALTI — the terrain: Montmartre, Belleville, Chaillot, the Montagne Sainte-Geneviève.
• Ville de Paris tree register — every one of its ~200,000 trees stands where it really grows, inside the Périphérique.
• Vélib’ Métropole — the real bike stations. Open-Meteo — live weather. The sun follows the NOAA solar formulas.

How it’s made

Nothing here is photographed or photogrammetry. The whole city is generated in your browser from open data: façades, mansard roofs, chimneys, windows that light up at night, water, trees and traffic. The big landmarks — the tower, the Louvre, the Arc, Notre-Dame’s neighbours, the bridges — are modelled by hand in code, piece by piece.

How to fly

Drag to rotate, right-drag to pan, scroll to zoom. WASD to fly, Q/E down and up, Shift to hurry. On a phone, hold the arrow buttons. The line under the title tells you where you are and what you’re looking at — tap it to copy the coordinates.