Here’s an example of how we used Unity and the Mapbox Unity SDK to integrate real-world points of interest into your game world. Read along to learn how we used select real shops and parks as locations for players to interact with and placed labels for orientation on the map.
First, I set up the base map. The Mapbox Unity SDK provides library functions to access our map APIs with global layers of street, building, landuse, point of interest, satellite, elevation, and more. Once these layers are extracted, I created meshes and applied textures.
I then pulled out all place labels identified as city or neighborhood and rendered them on the map using Unity world space UI components.
For this example, I wanted to create a set of locations where players score points. These locations would be at interesting real-world places and for simplicity’s sake, a player would score by visiting as many of them as possible.
I filtered various points of interest in Mabox Streets and decorated them with particles to really make them pop. The icons for specific types of interest use Maki and they give players an idea where they’re heading:
This is just one example of how to use points of interest. We have designed the Mapbox Unity SDK to make it really easy for you to access geospatial data fast from anywhere in the world and give you full flexibility for how you’d like to use it. For instance, you could use train stations an airports for trips in your games, or use parks and coffee shops as destinations players to chat or compete with each other. If you’d like to bring your own points of interests, you can use the Uploads API to layer them seamlessly into the map.
Download the Mapbox Unity SDK and show us what you’re building on Twitter by using the hashtag #BuiltWithMapbox.
