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Whistler Blackcomb 3D Trail Map
Finally I am releasing something that a friend of mine, Mike St Eve, and I have been working on for a while. We have created a 3D Trail Map for Whistler Blackcomb. In order for it to work, you will need to download and install the Google Earth plug-in. It works best in Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome internet browsers, as they will allow you to use the mousewheel to zoom in and out.
We have spent many years skiing these mountains, watching people struggle to comprehend the traditional paper trail maps. They can be very confusing, especially here at Whistler where we have so much terrain (over 8000 acres). Therefore, when we discovered Google Earth, we knew it could become a useful tool. Now you are able to spend some time at home, before your visit, using the new 3D trail map to become familiar with the mountains, and thus be more effective in finding your way around once you are here.
You will be able to use the map to discover more areas to explore, and decide whether or not you are comfortable going to some regions. It will also be useful once you arrive in Whistler, as you can spend time studying where you have been, and where you plan to ski the next day.
So go ahead, and discover Whistler in 3D.
Be sure to zoom in close to items such as the Roundhouse Lodge on Whistler Mountain, the bottom of Creekside and Rendezvous on Blackcomb Mountain (to name a few) as Google have done a lot of excellent work in creating 3D models of them. Also, check out the Whistler Sliding Center (home of the Olympics Bobsled/Luge/Skeleton events) – it is located in the valley between the two mountains, on the Blackcomb side.
Base of Whistler.
It is certainly a work in progress, so we would love to hear from you regarding features you like/dislike or something you wish was there. We have a lot more ideas ourselves, but your input will be greatly appreciated.
We hope you enjoy using it, and encourage you to spread the word 
Update 11th Feb 2010: Added information regarding the location of various accommodations. Also added items of interest in the village and on the mountains.
Here are a few more examples.
Peak chair region on Whistler Mountain.
Colouir Extreme on Blackcomb Mountain
Whistler Mountain in 3D
This tool is amazing. Everyone in my house loves it. Great work!
Excellent idea and it’s very practical. Thanks so much!!
As far as improvements, perhaps allow for a larger window for the actual mountain and trail views – my screen is 19” and the Blackcomb/Whistler legends take too much space. Perhaps reduce the font sizes and icons or have them pop out from the sides (like a snow snake!).
Cheers!
Actually, the sidebars are re-sizeable and can even be ‘hidden’ altogether. All you need to do is click on the edge of the sidebar and drag to re-size it, or you can click on the very middle of it to toggle a ‘hide/close’.
I realize right now it is not very obvious, but I am working on a way that draws your attention to it, without being ‘over the top’ and attracting too much attention.
Great work – would love to see some of the “non official” areas and runs on there in a different color – million dollar, corona, etc
It’s in the pipeline.
This is very much a first impression after 2 minutes of use. I think it is very good, but I had a problem reading the names of the lifts and pistes – the font you used is very hard to read. It is no better as you zoom in as in most cases the font resizes to remain barely readable.
Unfortunately I am not able to change the font (as far as I know) – only the color. I agree it is hard to read, but I tried various shades of each color and chose the one I thought was the best.
I ended up making the font larger than I wanted to (it is good for up close, but a bit of a minefield when you zoom out).
It is something I will keep making minor adjustments to over time and see if I can find a better solution.
Thanks for the input.
Thanks! I like it, but would like even better a version for non-plugin Google Earth.
There isn’t any real reason to get the standalone version, as the web page will be getting updated on a regular basis (hopefully) and you would miss out on the new stuff.
Nice work! A suggestion for a future enhancement would be to allow users to be able to upload their own gps tracks like in Google earth. This would then allow you to see exactly where you’ve been
Thanks for the suggestion, it is something I will add to the ‘to do’ list.
I’d like a version for standalone Google Earth so that I can measure distances from hotels or street addresses to different lifts and trails, or a least see where they are in relation to lifts and trails. I don’t see a way to do that in the web version, and even if that was added one might not to divulge street addresses to the web site.
The standalone version will let you calculate distances, and I can probably add it to the webpage as well. I will look into that.
However, if you simply wish to calculate the distance to the lifts, than it is pretty easy to do that already, as the lift locations at the bottom of the mountains are fairly obvious.
I love the work – so much detail!
You are very fortunate to have hi-res, winter images from GE – We have to live with lo-res, summer pics of our (modest) restorts at Thredbo, Perisher and Falls Creek (Australia).
I would love to integrate your work with mine (StarTraX at gpsanimator.com) –
Do you have any GPS track records (GPX format) of actual runs that you could send me?
And the models of the lifts, terminals and the resort boundaries. If you could supply them then I could integrate with StarTraX to make the experience soooo real.
I would make all results available free of charge – I’m just a ski groupie!
Awesome tool. Bookmarked. Thank you so much. Just one comment – I assume the greyed out areas are permanently closed/cliff areas. Might be a good idea to specify that, I didn’t see that they are tagged that way.
Actually, if you click on the greyed out areas, it should pop up a ‘balloon’ which states it is a ‘Permanently Closed Region’. It does for me in IE, Firefox and Chrome.
D’OH – Just realized that the “models” are already there – courtesy of “LAYER_BUILDINGS”. It’ll be in the next version (2.1.1) shortly.
I would still love to have some GPX files of your runs – to info@gpsanimator.com – double balck if you have them!
An I’ll add an option for you to load your own scenery from local kmz files.
Hi Alan, thanks for your interest. I will check out your site and discuss our options with Mike.
Thanks for the fabulous work you’ve done to digitize the ski runs – I’m having so much fun exploring your fabulous resort. I did explore your js code to find the location of the kmz files – hope you don’t mind.
You might like to look at the video I’ve made of StraTraX skiing down your tracks. Check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AL0hrMZ-0o ( I haven’t yet released that version of StartraX – still testing).
I would like to know how you generated the KMZ files – obviously you had to digitize the courses – I guess from pencil points on a paper map? But did you use a tool to generate the kmz files?
Hi Alan,
I am glad you are enjoying the work Mike and I have done.
I think what you are working on is an excellent idea / tool. However, I do not give you permission to use our data in your application, especially since it looks like you intend to get people to download our data, while bypassing the website. Basically, that would cost me money in bandwidth usage, and the end user would never even know my website existed.