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Voxel Earth

Voxel Earth

Voxel Earth is a pipeline for converting 3D Tiles to voxels, showcased in converting Google Earth to Minecraft.

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Compatibility

Minecraft: Java Edition

1.21–1.21.9
1.20.x

Platforms

Links

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Sponsor on GitHub

Creators

ryanhlewis
ryanhlewisMember

Details

Licensed MIT
Published 6 days ago
Updated last week

Voxel Earth

Real places, in Minecraft.

Join us on Discord

Voxel Earth is a full pipeline for turning photogrammetry and 3D Tiles into block-based worlds.
It streams Google Photorealistic 3D Tiles (and other sources) into Minecraft as voxelized chunks, so you can walk through real cities, mountains, and landmarks — block by block.

  • 🌍 Stream real-world 3D Tiles into Minecraft
  • 🧱 CPU voxelization, no GPU required on the server
  • ⚡ Designed to work hand-in-hand with FastAsyncWorldEdit (FAWE)
  • 🌐 Web client for browser-side experiments and previews
  • 🧪 Separate CLIs for each pipeline stage (download → decode → voxelize)

Links & Community

What is Voxel Earth and why should I use it?

Voxel Earth is a Minecraft + web ecosystem for exploring real-world geometry as voxels:

  • 3D Tiles to blocks
    Fetches photogrammetry tiles (e.g. Google Photorealistic 3D Tiles), normalizes them, and converts them into Minecraft block palettes.

  • On-demand streaming
    Tiles are pulled and voxelized as players move around, so you can “walk into” a real city and watch it appear around you.

  • Flexible pipeline
    Each major step (download, Draco decode, voxelization) exists as a separate CLI tool and as embedded code in the plugin. You can test each stage locally before wiring everything together.

  • Server-friendly
    The Minecraft plugin is built as a single shaded JAR, with CPU voxelization and async integration with FAWE for high-throughput placement.

Downloads

Note: Links below are placeholders / targets; some may not exist yet.

Minecraft Plugin

Requirements

  • Server: Paper or Spigot 1.20+ with FastAsyncWorldEdit (FAWE) installed
  • Java: Java 21+

Commands

VoxelEarth’s plugin adds commands for geocoding, tile loading, and per-player preferences:

/visit <location>
  Teleport to a geocoded location (city, landmark, etc.) and stream tiles around it.

/visitradius <tiles>
  Configure how many tiles /visit loads around the target area.

/moveradius <tiles>
  Set how many tiles are loaded as the player moves.

/movethreshold <blocks>
  Movement distance (in blocks) required before triggering new loads.

/moveload <on|off|toggle|status>
  Enable/disable movement-based loading for yourself.

/visitother <player> <location>
  Teleport another player to a geocoded location and stream tiles.

/visitradiusother <player> <tiles>
/moveradiusother <player> <tiles>
/movethresholdother <player> <blocks>
  Admin variants that adjust settings and notify other players.
  
/voxelapikey <google-api-key>
  Store a Google API key for geocoding and tile access (per server).

Permissions are namespaced under voxelearth.* and default to true or op as appropriate (see plugin.yml for full details).

Web Client

If you just want to experiment with tiles and voxelization in your browser, use the web client:

The web client:

  • Fetches Google Photorealistic 3D Tiles in the browser
  • Normalizes/rotates them into a viewable frame
  • Can hand off data to the Voxel Earth voxelization pipeline
  • Is ideal for exploring regions, testing zoom/SSE parameters, and visually inspecting tilesets before you spin up a Minecraft server

License

Voxel Earth and its companion CLIs are released under the MIT License, unless otherwise noted in sub-projects. See the LICENSE file in this repository for full terms.

“Minecraft” is a trademark of Mojang AB. Voxel Earth is not affiliated with or endorsed by Mojang AB, Microsoft, or Google.