World Explorer 3D is a browser-based world sandbox built around real places. Choose a location, step into the world, and explore by land, water, air, or space.
Play World Explorer 3D · Controls · What’s new · Roadmap
Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, with the mapped USS Constellation identified as a sloop-of-war museum ship.
Select a city, landmark, airport, harbor, or coordinates and enter a bounded 3D world shaped by available terrain, roads, buildings, water, land cover, and places. Walk the streets, cross bridges and rooftops, enter mapped or eligible generated interiors, drive, fly, sail, fish, survey habitats, build, or meet other players in a room tied to that location.
The same Explorer connects your Backpack, quick slots, Journal, Field Guide, activities, Expeditions, specialties, companions, and seasonal surveys. The World Editor holds both reviewed overlays and persistent Blocks, so creating a place remains part of the world instead of a separate building game.
| Water and shore | Flight |
|---|---|
 |
 |
| Fish from shore, pilot boats, dive, and explore ports | Use a personal aircraft or board aircraft at mapped airports |
| Deep space | Explorer progression |
|---|---|
 |
 |
| Fly manually or use optional Wayfinder assistance | Choose an activity and carry the result into one Explorer record |
A playable cargo ship underway near Rotterdam, with the shoreline kept in the active world.
- Explore on foot, by car, drone, plane, helicopter, boat, ship, rover, astronaut, or spacecraft, or use optional Live GPS play while walking.
- Visit supported mapped airports to board aircraft, choose pilot or passenger travel, search for destinations, or take a local sightseeing flight.
- Search for places by familiar names, including cities, landmarks, airports, and other expected location searches.
- Use configurable Backpack quick slots for field tools, fishing gear, equipment, and ranged actions.
- Photograph, inspect, survey, identify, fish, follow tracks and signs, and record finds in the Journal and Field Guide.
- Care for companions, build trust and levels, and travel with eligible domestic, bird, and livestock companions.
- Enter persistent multiplayer rooms with presence, chat, activities, shared Blocks, and room vehicles.
- Build with Blocks inside the World Editor and return to supported local or shared creations later.
- Leave Earth for the Moon, planets, the solar system, and selected deep-space destinations, with manual flight always available.
Version 5.1 brings the Explorer systems into one clearer experience and expands the sandbox across Earth, oceans, airports, and space. It includes distinct vehicle handling, visible damage, enterable responder vehicles, aviation and skydiving, playable maritime fleets, regional field guides, companion growth, configurable quick slots, improved place search, a redesigned First Journey, rooftop traversal, and a more capable Wayfinder.
Eleven regional Field Guide packs provide 180 attainable entries across the built-in Earth destinations. Field leads are game opportunities: they do not claim that a real animal is physically present at the player’s location.
Read the full 5.1 release notes and the current known issues.
Multiplayer uses bounded rooms rather than one continuous MMO world. A room shares one location, player presence, chat, activities, persistent vehicles, and player-built Blocks. Private rooms use invite codes; public rooms can be found by city.
Blocks are part of the World Editor. Existing supported local and room Blocks remain on that shared persistence path, with one owner for placement, permissions, saving, and recovery.
Earth scenes use OpenStreetMap-derived geometry and other attributed public or licensed sources. Coverage, freshness, height information, and provider availability vary by location. Mapped, observed, modeled, reference, and game-created content stay visibly distinct.
World Explorer 3D is a game. It is not a navigation, appraisal, surveying, wildlife-presence, or safety service.
Required map attribution: © OpenStreetMap contributors
Requirements: Node.js 22+, Java 21, and a browser with WebGL support.
git clone https://github.com/RRG314/WorldExplorer3D.git
cd WorldExplorer3D
npm install
npm run build:hosting -- --firebase-env staging
python3 -m http.server --directory dist 4173Open http://127.0.0.1:4173/app/.
Keyboard and touch controls support browser zoom, visible focus, higher contrast, larger text, and reduced motion.
Core exploration can run without production credentials. Accounts, multiplayer, moderation, and other online features require an authorized environment. Secrets are not included in the repository.
Copyright © 2026 Steven Reid / World Explorer 3D. All Rights Reserved.
This repository is publicly viewable under the custom source-available terms in LICENSE. It is not licensed as OSI open-source software, and attribution alone does not grant permission to copy, redistribute, publish, host, or create derivative works. Third-party data, software, and assets remain subject to their respective terms in ATTRIBUTION.md and ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.md.