geoholix / esri-gamepad

Easy 3d navigation in 3d web apps with Xbox Controller

Gamepad Sample

This is an experimental project to test the effectiveness of using a Microsoft Xbox controller to navigate in a 3d web application built using Esri's ArcGIS API for JavaScript.

Click here for the live application.

To date the app has only been tested on Windows desktops with Xbox game controllers such as this, this, this and this.

The application was built using the following technologies:

• ArcGIS API for JavaScript by Esri
• Bootstrap by Twitter Inc
• jQuery by the jQuery Foundation Inc.
• Open Iconic by Iconic
• Popper.js by Federico Zivolo.

By default, this web scene of San Francisco is used. To use an alternative scene, use a webscene query to specify the id of the alternative scene. For example: https://richiecarmichael.github.io/gamepad/index.html?webscene=5c2293d8f06448f9a05fa508b4f28b9e

Known Issues

• When the app starts, the camera may spontaneously creep without any controller interaction. Occasionally it may be an erratic spin. To correct this, after a few seconds press the start button. This will reset the controller.
• Occasionally when the app starts, scene layers (e.g. buildings) may no fully load. To correct this refresh the browser and wait 5-10 seconds before using the controller.

The Caveats

• The app is experimental. The app is based on draft implementations of the gamepad API in modern browsers.
• The app has not been tested with a Sony PlayStation controller.

Demonstration