3D driving directions
3D driving directions your guests watch before they arrive.
A 3D turn-by-turn drive preview is a short, watchable version of the last stretch of road to your gate, embedded on your own website with no app to install. It runs on Mapbox, with real satellite imagery and 3D terrain, or fully self-hosted from public map data with no keys and no third-party requests. SkyerWorks quotes each preview to scope; interactive property maps start at $500. The demo drives the last 1.2 miles to a villa on St. Thomas and stops at every real roadside sign on the way.
By Wayne ScireUpdated
- 1.2 milesThe demo drive: from the Cabrita Point sign to Villa Serenita, St. Thomas, about 5 minutes.
- Satellite + 3D terrainReal satellite imagery and terrain from Mapbox, with a self-hosted fallback.
- Any phoneIt opens in the phone's browser; without 3D support, the same overhead map and turn list.
- Quoted to scopePriced per property after a short call. Interactive property maps from $500.
What a 3D drive preview is
It is a page on your website that opens as a flat overhead map, draws the route, rises into real relief and then drives the route with turn cards, pausing for a five-second "Right here" stop at each real roadside sign guests should look for.
Guests watch it once, on the wedding site or from the booking confirmation, and arrive knowing the shape of the drive: which fork to take, which sign marks the turn, what the gate looks like. It is a road preview, not live navigation; a one-tap hand-off to Google Maps covers the live part, and the turn list sits beside the map in plain text.
Why GPS pins fail guests on islands and in rural areas
A pin marks a roof, not a gate. On an island or a country road, the last mile between the two is where guests get lost.
- Unnamed roads. The app says "turn right" onto a road with no sign and no name, so the instruction cannot be checked against anything.
- No house numbers. The address resolves to an area or a road rather than a drive, and the app announces arrival early or at the wrong place.
- Forks and private drives. Two drives leave the same bend; the pin sits between them; the app picks one and the guest ends up at a stranger's gate.
- The side of the road. In the U.S. Virgin Islands cars drive on the left, which turns a "sharp right" into something worth seeing before you do it.
Neither written directions nor a pin shows the guest what the turn looks like. The preview does, before the trip.
The St. Thomas demo: Island Journey
Island Journey is a client proof of concept for a villa on St. Thomas: the last 1.2 miles to Villa Serenita on Cabrita Point, from the Cabrita Point sign on Route 322, about five minutes of driving.
| In the demo | |
|---|---|
| Route | 1.2 miles from the Cabrita Point sign on Route 322 to Villa Serenita, Cabrita Point, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; about 5 minutes. Guests can choose High Point instead, 1.4 miles and about 6 minutes, from a menu on the map or at the fork. |
| Sequence | A flat overhead map; the route draws; the island rises into real relief; the drive, with a turn card for each maneuver. |
| Stops | A five-second "Right here" stop at each real roadside sign: the Cabrita Loop sign, the fork (where guests pick Villa Serenita or High Point) and the parrot sign at the villa drive. |
| Map data | Satellite imagery, 3D terrain, roads, place labels and 3D trees from Mapbox; the route from the Mapbox Directions API; buildings near the route from OpenStreetMap. |
| Rendering | In the browser with Mapbox GL JS v3 and the Mapbox Standard style; the houses (hipped roofs, windows, shutters) and the car, an open-top island Jeep, are drawn with three.js. If Mapbox cannot load, the page switches automatically to a self-hosted version built from OpenStreetMap data and public elevation tiles, with no API keys and no third-party requests. |
| Phones | Opens in the phone's browser; phones without 3D support get the same overhead map and turn list. |
| Accuracy | Buildings near the villa checked against aerial imagery; heights gently exaggerated. |
Watch it at Island Journey. Villa Serenita is where the founder was married on October 7, 2026; his own wedding website, ido2026.com, gave every guest an island map with directions.
How it is built
A preview is built one of two ways: on Mapbox, with real satellite imagery and 3D terrain, or fully self-hosted from public map data. The demo runs on Mapbox and switches to its self-hosted version automatically if Mapbox cannot load.
- On Mapbox, the map uses a Mapbox token we manage for your map, restricted to your site, and Mapbox counts map loads; your proposal sets out who pays for any usage above the monthly free allowance. Self-hosted, everything is generated ahead of time and served as static files from your own site, with no keys, no third-party requests and nothing to meter.
- A generator turns a config file for the property into the map data and the overhead map, so a new property is a new config file, not a new build from scratch.
- Building footprints near the destination are checked against aerial imagery and corrected by hand where the public data is off.
- The turn cards, the sign stops and the place labels are written for each property: which names to show, which to hide, which to shorten.
What you supply
Four things: the destination, the start point your guests actually use, photos of the signs they should look for, and anything that must be shown or hidden.
- The destination. A pin or a maps link to the gate itself, not just the address.
- The start point. The landmark where the preview begins: the last main-road junction, the ferry, the airport road. The demo starts at the Cabrita Point sign on Route 322.
- The signs. A phone photo of each real roadside sign on the route, so the preview can show guests what to look for and stop at it.
- What to show or hide. A neighbor's house name that should not appear, a turning guests must not take, the side of the road cars drive on.
No plans or drawings are needed; the roads and hills come from Mapbox or from public map data. Mapping the property itself, once guests are through the gate, is an interactive property map, from $500.
What the guest gets
A link on the wedding or booking site that opens the preview, the same turn list in plain text for anyone who skips the 3D, and a one-tap hand-off to Google Maps for the live drive.
Nothing to install and nothing to sign in to. The page credits its map sources and says plainly that it is a road preview, not live navigation.
Written directions, a pin, a map or a 3D preview
Most properties should give guests more than one of these.
| Method | What it shows | Where it breaks | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Written directions | The sequence of turns in words, with landmarks if you write them in. | Unnamed roads and forks with nothing to name; guests reading while driving. | Your time |
| A shared pin | The destination and a live route from wherever the guest is. | The last mile: no house numbers, private drives, the wrong gate. | Free |
| An illustrated map | The property and its surroundings in one picture, with the route as a line. | It cannot show what a turn looks like from the road. | From $250 |
| A 3D route preview | The drive itself, with the real signs and forks, watched before the trip. | It is a preview, not navigation; pair it with a pin for the live drive. | Quoted |
The guide How to give guests directions to a villa or venue goes through all of these, with a checklist for island and rural properties.
What it costs
A 3D drive preview is quoted to scope after a short call, because route length, the number of sign stops and where the page will live vary by property. Interactive property maps start at $500.
The free mockup applies here as it does to every SkyerWorks project: after the call confirms scope and budget, you see a first pass free before any deposit. The full build starts after the proposal is approved and the 50% deposit is paid; the balance is due before launch. After launch, a care plan from $79 a month covers hosting, monitoring and backups, and the $149 and $299 plans add update hours for when a sign changes. Every starting price is on the pricing page; the process page covers the steps between the call and launch.
Questions about 3D driving directions
What is a 3D driving directions preview?
A page on your website that shows guests the drive to your gate before they make it: an overhead map that draws the route, rises into real relief and then drives the route turn by turn, stopping at each real roadside sign. It runs in the browser with no app to install, either on Mapbox satellite imagery and 3D terrain or fully self-hosted from public map data.
How much does a 3D drive preview cost?
It is quoted to scope after a short call, because route length, the number of sign stops and where the page will live differ for every property. Interactive property maps start at $500. You see a first pass free before paying a deposit.
Does it work on phones?
Yes. It opens in the phone's browser, and phones without 3D support, or with JavaScript off, get the same overhead map, the turn-by-turn list and the Google Maps hand-off.
Does the guest need an app or an account?
No. It is a link on your wedding or booking site that opens in any browser; nothing is installed or signed in to. On the Mapbox version the map uses a Mapbox token we manage for your map, restricted to your site, so the guest needs no account, and a fully self-hosted version makes no third-party requests.
Is it live navigation?
No. It is a preview of the road, watched before the trip. For the live drive the page hands off to Google Maps with one tap, with the destination already set.
Where does the map data come from?
In the demo, the satellite imagery, 3D terrain, roads, place labels and 3D trees come from Mapbox and the route from the Mapbox Directions API; buildings near the route are OpenStreetMap footprints checked by hand against aerial imagery. If Mapbox cannot load, the page switches to a self-hosted version built from OpenStreetMap data and public elevation tiles, with no API keys. The sources are credited on the page.
Has it been built for a resort?
Not yet. Island Journey is a client proof of concept for one villa on St. Thomas. Because every preview is generated from a config file, a resort, a hotel or a venue would be a new config with its own route, signs and labels.
Start here
See the drive before you pay a thing.
A fifteen-minute call, then a first pass of the map. No deposit until you approve the proposal.