FollowISS

Real-time 3D ISS tracker built with Three.js. Displays a rotating Earth globe with the International Space Station model and its orbital trail, updated every 5 seconds from the Open Notify API.

Features

• 3D Earth globe with equirectangular texture
• ISS model (GLB) positioned at real-time coordinates
• Smooth interpolation between API updates
• Green orbital trail (last 200 positions)
• Interactive camera (drag, zoom, auto-rotate)
• Loading progress bar for the 43 MB model
• Info panel with latitude, longitude and connection status
• Netlify proxy redirect for HTTPS deployments (no third-party CORS proxy)

Quick Start

Serve the VisualISS/ folder with any HTTP server:

# Python
python -m http.server 8080 --directory VisualISS

# Node
npx serve VisualISS

# PHP
php -S localhost:8080 -t VisualISS

Then open http://localhost:8080.

The page won't work via file:// — ES modules require an HTTP server.

Deploy on Netlify

This is a fully static site, so it works on Netlify with zero configuration:

1. Push the repo to GitHub
2. Go to app.netlify.com and click Add new site > Import an existing project
3. Select the repository
4. Set Publish directory to VisualISS
5. Click Deploy site

Alternatively, deploy via CLI:

npx netlify-cli deploy --dir=VisualISS --prod

The ISS API is HTTP-only. On Netlify, the _redirects file proxies /api/* requests to http://api.open-notify.org server-side, avoiding mixed-content blocks without any third-party proxy.

Project Structure

VisualISS/
  index.html              # Entry point with Three.js import map
  script.js               # Scene, globe, ISS model, API polling, animation
  style.css               # Space theme, loading overlay, info panel
  _redirects              # Netlify proxy rule for the ISS API
  assets/
    ISS_stationary.glb    # ISS 3D model (43 MB)
    earth_daymap.jpg      # Earth texture (2K)

Tech Stack

• Three.js v0.170.0 (CDN, no build step)
• Open Notify API for ISS position
• Netlify Redirects as API proxy on HTTPS

License

ISS 3D model from NASA. Earth texture from Solar System Scope (CC BY 4.0).