# Voxel Earth<\/p>\n
> Real places, in Minecraft.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Voxel Earth is a full pipeline for turning photogrammetry and 3D Tiles into block-based worlds.
\nIt streams Google Photorealistic 3D Tiles (and other sources) into Minecraft as voxelized chunks, so you can walk through real cities, mountains, and landmarks \u2014 block by block.<\/p>\n
– \ud83c\udf0d Stream real-world 3D Tiles into Minecraft
\n– \ud83e\uddf1 CPU voxelization, no GPU required on the server
\n– \u26a1 Designed to work hand-in-hand with FastAsyncWorldEdit (FAWE)
\n– \ud83c\udf10 Web client for browser-side experiments and previews
\n– \ud83e\uddea Separate CLIs for each pipeline stage (download \u2192 decode \u2192 voxelize)<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
## Links & Community<\/p>\n
– **Website:** https:\/\/voxelearth.org
\n– **Play server:** `play.voxelearth.org`
\n– **Web client demo:** https:\/\/beta.voxelearth.org (browser viewer)
\n– **Discord:** https:\/\/discord.gg\/8MK8J9EQGe
\n– **Monorepo (reference):** https:\/\/github.com\/ryanhlewis\/VoxelEarth <\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
**What is Voxel Earth and why should I use it?**<\/p>\n
Voxel Earth is a Minecraft + web ecosystem for exploring real-world geometry as voxels:<\/p>\n
– **3D Tiles to blocks**
\n Fetches photogrammetry tiles (e.g. Google Photorealistic 3D Tiles), normalizes them, and converts them into Minecraft block palettes.<\/p>\n
– **On-demand streaming**
\n Tiles are pulled and voxelized as players move around, so you can \u201cwalk into\u201d a real city and watch it appear around you.<\/p>\n
– **Flexible pipeline**
\n Each major step (download, Draco decode, voxelization) exists as a separate CLI tool and as embedded code in the plugin. You can test each stage locally before wiring everything together.<\/p>\n
– **Server-friendly**
\n The Minecraft plugin is built as a single shaded JAR, with CPU voxelization and async integration with FAWE for high-throughput placement.<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
## Downloads<\/p>\n
> **Note:** Links below are placeholders \/ targets; some may not exist yet.<\/p>\n
– **Minecraft plugin (core Voxel Earth JAR)**
\n – GitHub Releases: https:\/\/github.com\/ryanhlewis\/VoxelEarth\/releases
\n – Modrinth: https:\/\/modrinth.com\/plugin\/voxelearth
\n – SpigotMC: https:\/\/www.spigotmc.org\/resources\/voxel-earth.130155\/<\/p>\n
– **Web client**
\n – GitHub: https:\/\/github.com\/voxelearth\/web-client <\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
## Minecraft Plugin<\/p>\n
### Requirements<\/p>\n
– **Server:** Paper or Spigot **1.20+** with **FastAsyncWorldEdit (FAWE) installed**
\n– **Java:** **Java 21+**<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
## Commands<\/p>\n
VoxelEarth\u2019s plugin adds commands for geocoding, tile loading, and per-player preferences:<\/p>\n
“`yml \/visitradius \/moveradius \/movethreshold \/moveload \/visitother \/visitradiusother \/voxelapikey Permissions are namespaced under `voxelearth.*` and default to `true` or `op` as appropriate (see `plugin.yml` for full details).<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n ## Web Client<\/p>\n If you just want to experiment with tiles and voxelization **in your browser**, use the web client:<\/p>\n * **Repo:** https:\/\/github.com\/voxelearth\/web-client The web client:<\/p>\n * Fetches Google Photorealistic 3D Tiles in the browser —<\/p>\n ## License<\/p>\n Voxel Earth and its companion CLIs are released under the **MIT License**, unless otherwise noted in sub-projects. \u201cMinecraft\u201d is a trademark of Mojang AB. Voxel Earth is a pipeline for converting 3D Tiles to voxels, showcased in converting Google Earth to Minecraft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":167761,"template":"","meta":{"_minecraft_slug":"voxelearth","_minecraft_project_id":"YfVhslVt","_minecraft_author":"ryanhlewis","_minecraft_license":"MIT","_minecraft_downloads":212,"_minecraft_follows":2,"_minecraft_client_side":"unsupported","_minecraft_server_side":"required","_minecraft_storage_type":"zip","_minecraft_archive_name":"voxelearth.zip","_minecraft_size_bytes":24471911,"_minecraft_version_count":1,"_minecraft_updated_at":"2026-05-16T12:35:45.697921Z","_minecraft_date_created":"2025-11-18T00:17:43.906077Z","_minecraft_date_modified":"2025-11-13T17:05:34.208354Z","_minecraft_project_url":"https:\/\/modrinth.com\/mod\/voxelearth","_minecraft_icon_attachment_id":167761,"_minecraft_imported_at":"2026-06-09T19:16:06+00:00","_minecraft_import_hash":"d6b4c0ced180798061f338fbd8ae0888","_minecraft_versions":"","_minecraft_links":"","_minecraft_gallery":"","_minecraft_api_metadata":""},"mod_category":[87,124,156,122,127,128,867,129,123,869,92,159],"mod_loader":[130,132,133,134],"minecraft_version":[59,36,60,93,94,101,102,62,37,73,74,38,78,79,80,81,82],"class_list":["post-167760","mod","type-mod","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","mod_category-adventure","mod_category-bukkit","mod_category-decoration","mod_category-magic","mod_category-paper","mod_category-purpur","mod_category-social","mod_category-spigot","mod_category-technology","mod_category-transportation","mod_category-utility","mod_category-worldgen","mod_loader-bukkit","mod_loader-paper","mod_loader-purpur","mod_loader-spigot","minecraft_version-1-20","minecraft_version-1-20-1","minecraft_version-1-20-2","minecraft_version-1-20-3","minecraft_version-1-20-4","minecraft_version-1-20-5","minecraft_version-1-20-6","minecraft_version-1-21","minecraft_version-1-21-1","minecraft_version-1-21-2","minecraft_version-1-21-3","minecraft_version-1-21-4","minecraft_version-1-21-5","minecraft_version-1-21-6","minecraft_version-1-21-7","minecraft_version-1-21-8","minecraft_version-1-21-9"],"yoast_head":"\n
\n\/visit
\n Teleport to a geocoded location (city, landmark, etc.) and stream tiles around it.<\/p>\n
\n Configure how many tiles \/visit loads around the target area.<\/p>\n
\n Set how many tiles are loaded as the player moves.<\/p>\n
\n Movement distance (in blocks) required before triggering new loads.<\/p>\n
\n Enable\/disable movement-based loading for yourself.<\/p>\n
\n Teleport another player to a geocoded location and stream tiles.<\/p>\n
\n\/moveradiusother
\n\/movethresholdother
\n Admin variants that adjust settings and notify other players.<\/p>\n
\n Store a Google API key for geocoding and tile access (per server).
\n“`<\/p>\n
\n* **Live demo:** https:\/\/beta.voxelearth.org<\/p>\n
\n* Normalizes\/rotates them into a viewable frame
\n* Can hand off data to the Voxel Earth voxelization pipeline
\n* Is ideal for exploring regions, testing zoom\/SSE parameters, and visually inspecting tilesets before you spin up a Minecraft server<\/p>\n
\nSee the `LICENSE` file in this repository for full terms.<\/p>\n
\nVoxel Earth is not affiliated with or endorsed by Mojang AB, Microsoft, or Google.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"