Lightpath

An interactive 3D visualization showing how flight paths intersect with Earth's day-night cycle.

Lightpath calculates the flight trajectory between any two airports and visualizes how the route moves through different light conditions—from full daylight through twilight to darkness. The app uses accurate astronomical calculations to determine the sun's position and render precise twilight gradients along the path.

lightpath.cc

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What it does

• Great circle routing — Plots the shortest path between airports on a 3D globe
• Solar illumination mapping — Color-codes flight segments by daylight, twilight (civil/nautical/astronomical), and darkness
• Time animation — Watch flights move through changing light as Earth rotates
• Astronomical accuracy — Uses NOAA equations for solar declination and Jean Meeus algorithms for solar position

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Tech stack

• React 19 + Three.js for 3D rendering
• Vite for build tooling
• solar-calculator (NOAA) + suncalc (Jean Meeus) for astronomical calculations
• Custom GLSL shaders for twilight visualization

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Key features

• Real-time solar position calculation
• Latitude-dependent twilight width modeling
• Animated flight playback with sun position sync
• Color and black-and-white visualization modes
• Shareable flight URLs

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Project structure

src/
├── App.jsx              # Main component 
├── App.css              # All styles
└── utils/
    ├── geoUtils.js      # Coordinate conversion
    ├── solarUtils.js    # Solar position calculations
    ├── sceneUtils.js    # Label texture generation
    └── animationUtils.js # Fade animations

public/
├── earth-texture.png    # Custom Earth texture
├── graticule-10.geojson # Latitude/longitude grid
├── timezones.geojson    # Timezone boundaries
└── icons/               # SVG icons

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Development

npm install
npm run dev

Build for production:

npm run build

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Credits

Airport data: OpenFlights
Astronomical calculations: solar-calculator (NOAA) and suncalc (Jean Meeus)

Designed and developed by Studio Folder

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