Kugelblitz is a Mac-native 3D globe and atlas app that lets you fly over the Earth and its neighbors like a pilot, even on an M1 Mac. It overlays imagery, road maps, and topographic maps on real terrain, using open geodata from OpenStreet Map and thousands of other sources via its built-in Library. No account is needed, and cached data is shared across devices on the same network. The app supports German and English, with customizable units and full source licensing displayed in 'Sources and Licenses'.
Maps are rendered directly on the globe’s terrain, including 3D buildings, and you can switch between globe and atlas views with five projections. The Library (⇧⌘B) lets you browse and add global map services—satellite imagery, elevation models, and more—with one click to 'My Places'. OpenStreet Map is streamed from Kugelblitz’s own tile server, delivering only the tiles needed for your current view, with no regional downloads.
Control is intuitive: use a 3Dconnexion Space Mouse as a virtual joystick, or keyboard, trackpad, and mouse simultaneously. Performance is smooth even on an M1 Mac with 16 GB RAM. You can also stream the globe to Apple Vision Pro via ⇥⌘V, tested on macOS 27.2. The app includes historical events like eclipses, earthquakes, and tsunamis, computed over 5,000 years, with a time shuttle feature to visualize them.
Source: Hacker News · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing