Geneva via prompt: Developer has the entire canton recreated as a 3D live map
With the support of 15 AI agents, Swiss developer Arnaud Ricci has brought the Canton of Geneva to life in a 3D browser environment – including real-time weather, live traffic, and historical detailed views.
Sometimes small hobby projects get a bit out of hand and unintentionally become increasingly extensive. And suddenly, you have created a three-dimensional representation of the Swiss canton of Geneva, including live weather, public transport, and ongoing events. This is roughly how the project Geneva 3D by developer Arnaud Ricci came to be. You can access the three-dimensional live view of Geneva in your browser.
Ricci originally only wanted to map the Geneva public transport network, but after starting in July 2026, more and more was added. For the integrated live data, he uses publicly available information from more than 15 institutions, including MeteoSwiss, other federal authorities, and NASA. The processed data can be displayed in the map view. Features include vegetation, streetlights, a real-time day-night cycle, a weather layer with raindrops when it rains, and current temperature values from measuring stations.
The visible vehicle positions are not entirely based on GPS data but are partly calculated from timetable data and real-time information. The representation of road traffic works similarly: Ricci uses data from official counting stations, based on which the software simulates fictitious vehicles. This also takes into account that fewer trucks are on the road at night and on public holidays.
Source: Arnaud Ricci
Rapid implementation with the help of AI
The fact that such a project can be realized by a single person in their spare time within such a short period is only possible thanks to AI. Ricci did not program Geneva 3D by hand; instead, he tasked up to 15 agents, mainly based on Anthropic's Claude models, with the work. He communicated with a main agent, who delegated the tasks to the other agents.
More about the creation of Geneva 3D can be read in the «ICTJournal». Ricci estimates that the project would have taken two to three years to complete without agentic help.
The agents took on the bulk of the tedious work, while Ricci focused on architecture, coordination, and quality control. He reports that the agents reached their limits, especially when developing the visual representation. Since they cannot judge it directly, Ricci had them take and analyze screenshots. However, this sometimes led to problems with real-time animations. Manual rework was necessary, for example, for shadows cast by three-dimensional objects.
The 3D display in the browser is based on the JavaScript library Three.js. This allows Geneva 3D to be displayed on many devices without the need to install special software. The rendering of the graphical data takes place on your device, not on the server. As with Google Maps and other map providers, different databases can be toggled on and off to avoid overloading the view.
While working on Geneva 3D, Ricci continued to develop the project with additional features and views. This required several code restructurings. In addition to the live view, a three-dimensional reconstruction of Geneva from around 1850 can also be enabled. Ricci states that the costs for the AI agents remained «modest» despite their intensive use. Geneva 3D is intended to remain free for the public.
Feels just as comfortable in front of a gaming PC as she does in a hammock in the garden. Likes the Roman Empire, container ships and science fiction books. Focuses mostly on unearthing news stories about IT and smart products.
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