Resort
Orientation inside a lift-served area.
- Pistes
- Lifts
- Vertical overview
- Resort orientation
- Access and connections
Independent project · In development
Understand the mountain before you enter it.
TOPOCREST is a terrain-first planning concept for winter mountain sport. It combines expressive 3D terrain with slope, aspect and exposure layers so the shape of a line is readable before you commit to it — not just where it goes on a flat map.
Built for
- Ski
- Snowboard
- Freeride
- Touring
topocrest / concept-01
3D Terrain
Preview
Build status
Prototype 0.2
Vision
A winter map should explain the mountain, not just draw a line across it.
Most winter maps answer where a route goes. The harder and more useful question is what the terrain is doing along the way — how steep the entrance is, which way the face is turned, where the ground funnels. TOPOCREST is an attempt to put that context first.
- 01
Terrain first
Shape comes before styling. Slope, aspect and the form of a face determine what a route actually asks of you, so the terrain model is the primary object rather than a backdrop.
- 02
Purpose over noise
Every layer answers a specific planning question. If a data overlay does not change a decision, it does not belong on the map.
- 03
Honest by design
Generated and simulated values are labelled as such, everywhere. Confidence should be visible, and a prototype should never imply authority it has not earned.
- 04
Built for winter
Snow cover, exposure and aspect change a mountain completely between seasons. The interface is designed around winter conditions rather than adapted from summer hiking maps.
Product
Three ways of reading the same mountain.
A resort skier, a freerider and a ski tourer need different things from identical terrain. Rather than one crowded map, the interface reorganises around the discipline in use.
Freeride
Reading steep terrain before dropping in.
- Steep lines
- Couloirs
- Entrances
- Slope and aspect
- Terrain traps
- Alternative descents
Touring
Planning an ascent and its transitions.
- Ascent planning
- Elevation
- Transitions
- Ridges
- Exposure
- Route alternatives
Terrain intelligence
The proposed core system.
What exists today versus what is still an intention. Everything below is labelled by maturity — demo functions work in Concept 01, planned and long-term items do not exist yet.
Demo — works in Concept 01Planned — designed, not builtLong term — direction only
- Demo
Expressive 3D terrain
Deterministic procedural alpine surface with snow, rock and valley shading, contour overlay and orbit control.
- Demo
Slope-angle layer
Per-vertex gradient shaded with a professional palette from gentle green through the critical 30–45° bands.
- Demo
Aspect layer
Compass-based circular palette showing which direction each part of the surface faces.
- Demo
Simulated snow-depth layer
Demonstration depth field derived from altitude, aspect and noise. Not measured data.
- Demo
Terrain-exposure layer
An explicitly simulated model of steepness, aspect and terrain shape. This is not an avalanche-risk product.
- Demo
Route intelligence
Routes sampled onto the terrain surface with distance, vertical, maximum slope and aspect derived from the geometry.
- Demo
Elevation profiles
Responsive profile graph generated from the selected route and updated on every change.
- Demo
Route comparison
Side-by-side comparison of distance, vertical, slope, aspect, exposure and route character.
- Planned
Real elevation data
Replace the procedural surface with a digital elevation model for a focused alpine test region, plus OpenStreetMap context.
- Planned
GPX import and drawing
Bring in your own tracks or draw a line directly onto the terrain, then read the same slope and aspect analysis against it.
- Long term
Offline and mobile use
Cached regional terrain and route data for use without signal in the field, on a native mobile client.
Concept 01
Concept 01 — Alpine Terrain Intelligence
A working browser prototype, not a mockup. The terrain is generated in the client with React Three Fiber, and every layer, mode, route and camera action below is functional.
Open Concept 01Simulated data- Version
- 0.2
- Platform
- Browser
- Terrain
- Procedural
- Data
- Simulated
What works today
- Interactive 3D terrain
- Resort, Freeride and Touring modes
- Five terrain layers
- Route selection
- Elevation profiles
- Route comparison
- Animated route flyover
- Terrain inspection on hover
All terrain, route, weather and safety information in this build is simulated demonstration data. The terrain is procedurally generated rather than surveyed, and conditions are example values. Nothing here may be used for navigation or avalanche-safety decisions.
Roadmap
Where this is now, and where it could go.
Stage 01 is what you can use today. Everything after it is an intention rather than a commitment, and is marked accordingly.
- Stage 01In progress
Current build
Interaction and product language
- Interface system
- Generated 3D terrain
- Route demonstration
- Winter-sport modes
- Stage 02Planned
Next experiment
Real terrain and map data
- Focused alpine test region
- Digital elevation model
- OpenStreetMap context
- MapLibre or Cesium evaluation
- Stage 03Planned
Product proof
Planning workflow
- GPX import
- Route drawing
- Elevation profile
- Layer comparison
- PostGIS
- Export
- Stage 04Long term
Long-term direction
Field-ready product
- Mobile application
- Offline maps
- GPS
- Verified regional data
- Partnerships
- Field testing