fix(geo-layers): TerrainLayer GlobeView support#10250
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Add a grid tesselator option to TerrainLayer and route the rendered mesh
through the correct coordinate system for each projection. Three pieces:
1. `tesselator: 'grid'` emits a fixed-resolution lng/lat/elev mesh in-process
(no worker), keeping the same cached mesh valid on both MapView and
GlobeView. The default `'auto'` path continues to use Martini/Delatin via
`@loaders.gl/terrain`. Grid rows are uniform in Mercator-y so they line
up with heightmap rows at any latitude (no polar sampling warp).
Two quality touches on the grid path:
- Elevation samples are clamped to [-500, 9000]m. Terrain-RGB encodes into
24 bits across three channels, so one corrupt pixel decodes to millions
of meters and renders as a specular star.
- Edge-vertex skirts are clamped to ≤1% of the in-tile grid step so the
seam slope stays imperceptible at any zoom (default 8m skirt over a
~0.6m grid step at z=21 was a visible cliff).
2. renderSubLayers picks the coordinate system per path: LNGLAT for the grid
tesselator (vertices are lng/lat) and on GlobeView for the legacy path
(GlobeViewport.projectFlat is identity so bounds land in lng/lat degrees),
CARTESIAN on MapView for the legacy path (bounds in Mercator world units).
Fixes the MapView→GlobeView case where legacy cartesian meshes landed
inside the sphere and were invisible.
3. Default material changes from `true` (PBR with specular) to a matte
configuration. Specular on terrain meshes catches as star-shaped glints
on skirt edges and elevation discontinuities — a matte surface reads as
a fluid landscape.
Also adds horizon culling in the tile-2d traversal used by the internal
TileLayer. The frustum test accepts tiles on the far hemisphere of the
globe; without a horizon check, low-zoom traversal fans out across the
entire globe. A point on the sphere is visible from camera C iff
dot(P, C) > |P|² — apply to the tile-vs-camera closest point (with lng
wrap so the clamp is angular, not Euclidean).
Docs updated for the new `tesselator` and `gridSize` props.
This was referenced Apr 19, 2026
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This PR is doing 2 separate things: fixing TerrainLayer in GlobeView and adding a tesselator. Could you just restrict it to the first fix? I think we should consider tesselation in general (see my other comment)
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Updated the example to default to |
This was referenced Apr 23, 2026
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coverage: 83.438% (+0.02%) from 83.416% — cr/feat/terrain-layer-globe-grid into master |
# Conflicts: # modules/geo-layers/src/terrain-layer/terrain-layer.ts
This was referenced May 12, 2026
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Summary
Makes tiled
TerrainLayermeshes render correctly inGlobeViewby usingCOORDINATE_SYSTEM.LNGLATwhen the active viewport is globe-backed.This keeps the existing
@loaders.gl/terrainmesh generation path intact. The only layer behavior change is coordinate-system selection at render time plus a projection-mode update trigger so cached terrain tiles are rebuilt when switching betweenMapViewandGlobeView.Also defaults the existing terrain website example to
GlobeView, keeps the current pitch/bearing values in place, increases the default zoom from11.5to12.5, and enables Deck-level back-face culling withparameters={{cull: true}}.Why
GlobeViewport.projectFlatis identity, so terrain tile bounds are already in lng/lat degrees underGlobeView. Rendering those meshes asCARTESIANputs them in the wrong coordinate frame.LNGLATmatches the generated vertex positions and makes the terrain visible on the globe.Test plan
yarn vitest run --project headless test/modules/geo-layers/terrain-layer.spec.ts test/modules/geo-layers/terrain-layer-loading.spec.tsexamples/website/terrainrenders by default inGlobeViewat zoom12.5Companion PRs