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feat(core): Add bearing/rotation and pitch support to GlobeView and GlobeController#4

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Copilot wants to merge 4 commits intomasterfrom
copilot/triage-globeview-bug-reports
Draft

feat(core): Add bearing/rotation and pitch support to GlobeView and GlobeController#4
Copilot wants to merge 4 commits intomasterfrom
copilot/triage-globeview-bug-reports

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Copilot AI commented Jan 28, 2026

Background

GlobeController explicitly disabled rotation (dragRotate = false, touchRotate = false) and GlobeViewport lacked bearing and pitch support in its view matrix. This prevented Google Maps/Earth-like navigation on the globe.

Addresses the "Support rotation (bearing) in GlobeController" item in the GlobeView graduation tracker (visgl#9199).

Change List

GlobeViewport

  • Add bearing option and instance property
  • Add pitch option and instance property (0-85 degrees)
  • Update view matrix to apply pitch and bearing rotation
  • Export DEFAULT_MIN_PITCH and DEFAULT_MAX_PITCH constants

GlobeState

  • Implement rotate(), rotateStart(), rotateEnd() for drag/touch rotation (bearing and pitch)
  • Implement rotateLeft(), rotateRight() for keyboard bearing rotation
  • Implement rotateUp(), rotateDown() for keyboard pitch rotation
  • Add shortestPathFrom() for smooth bearing transitions
  • Normalize bearing in applyConstraints()
  • Clamp pitch to valid range in applyConstraints()
  • Fix rotate() to handle deltaAngleX from pinch gestures without requiring rotateStart() first
  • Fix zoom() to follow cursor position (Google Earth-like zoom behavior)

GlobeController

  • Remove explicit dragRotate = false and touchRotate = false overrides
  • Add bearing and pitch to transition interpolator

GlobeViewState

  • Add pitch, minPitch, maxPitch to view state type

Usage

new Deck({
  views: new GlobeView(),
  initialViewState: {
    longitude: 0,
    latitude: 20,
    zoom: 0,
    bearing: 45,  // compass rotation in degrees
    pitch: 30     // camera tilt in degrees (0-85)
  },
  controller: {
    dragRotate: true,   // drag with function key to rotate bearing/pitch
    touchRotate: true   // two-finger rotate gesture
  }
});

Interactions

  • Pan: Drag to rotate the globe (change longitude/latitude)
  • Rotate: Shift+drag (or right-click drag) to change bearing and pitch
  • Zoom: Scroll wheel or pinch gesture - zooms toward cursor position
  • Keyboard: Arrow keys for panning, +/- for zoom, Shift+left/right for bearing, Shift+up/down for pitch
Original prompt

Look DILIGENTLY into DeckGL GlobeView and GlobeController as well as ALL the bug reports about them on deck.gl and luma.gl and lets do a comprehensive triage of WTFFFFFFF is up with it - especially on mobile. I want to have navigation like Google Maps or Earth on this map and I am willing to spend as much time with you as it takes to make it so


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Copilot AI added 2 commits January 28, 2026 08:12
…ller

- Add bearing property to GlobeViewport (camera rotation around view axis)
- Add bearing to GlobeViewState type
- Implement rotate(), rotateStart(), rotateEnd(), rotateLeft(), rotateRight() methods in GlobeState
- Enable dragRotate and touchRotate in GlobeController (previously disabled)
- Add bearing to transition interpolator
- Add shortestPathFrom() method for smooth bearing transitions
- Update documentation for GlobeView and GlobeController
- Update tests to reflect new rotation capability
Copilot AI changed the title [WIP] Investigate issues with DeckGL GlobeView and GlobeController feat(core): Add bearing/rotation support to GlobeView and GlobeController Jan 28, 2026
Copilot AI requested a review from charlieforward9 January 28, 2026 08:20
@charlieforward9 charlieforward9 deleted the copilot/triage-globeview-bug-reports branch January 28, 2026 08:40
@charlieforward9 charlieforward9 restored the copilot/triage-globeview-bug-reports branch January 28, 2026 08:41
@charlieforward9
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Status: Draft - Not Working Yet

Tested integrating this branch with New Heat but rotation gestures aren't triggering properly.

What was done:

  • Built deck.gl with these changes
  • Linked to New Heat via yarn link
  • Updated instantiateLayers.ts to pass controller options (touchRotate: true, dragRotate: true, etc.)
  • Verified the controller config is being passed correctly (confirmed via console logs)

What's not working:

  • Two-finger twist gesture doesn't rotate the globe
  • Right-click drag doesn't rotate either
  • The rotation methods in GlobeController exist and the bearing is wired up in GlobeViewport, but the gestures aren't triggering the rotation state machine

Next steps needed:

  • Debug the gesture event handling in deck.gl's Controller base class
  • Check if _onPinch and _onPan are actually calling the rotate methods
  • May need to trace through mjolnir.js event handling

Leaving as draft until I have more time to investigate the gesture handling layer.

@charlieforward9
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@copilot be highly intelligent with the intention of this PR - see a functional prototype of the MapController update with the new option type visgl#9938 as inspiration. We were focusing on a GlobeController that was able to give the user freedom of interaction like Google Earth Studio - namely - zooming in where the mouse is rather then the center of the screen as it currently works on GlobeController, also adding pitch and bearing support, add the updated viewstate interactions wihtout mistakes.

- Fix rotate() method to properly handle deltaAngleX from pinch gestures
- Fix zoom() to follow cursor position (Google Earth-like behavior)
- Add pitch support (0-85 degrees) to GlobeViewport and GlobeController
- Add rotateUp/rotateDown methods for keyboard pitch control
- Export DEFAULT_MIN_PITCH/DEFAULT_MAX_PITCH constants
- Update documentation to reflect new capabilities
- Add pitch tests
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Copilot AI commented Feb 20, 2026

@copilot be highly intelligent with the intention of this PR - see a functional prototype of the MapController update with the new option type visgl#9938 as inspiration...

I've implemented the Google Earth-like interactions for GlobeController in commit e242d1d:

Fixed:

  1. Rotation gestures now work - Fixed rotate() method bug where it returned early when startBearing wasn't set
  2. Zoom follows cursor - zoom() now pans the view to follow cursor position like MapController

Added:

  1. Pitch support (0-85 degrees) - Camera can now tilt
  2. Full rotation - Both bearing and pitch change via Shift+drag, right-click drag, or pinch
  3. Keyboard controls - Shift+up/down for pitch

Usage:

initialViewState: {
  longitude: 0,
  latitude: 20,
  zoom: 0,
  bearing: 0,
  pitch: 30  // NEW
}

Ready for testing with New Heat.

Status: Draft - Not Working Yet

Tested integrating this branch with New Heat but rotation gestures aren't triggering properly....

Fixed in e242d1d. The bug was in rotate() - it was returning early when startBearing was undefined because the pinch gesture path needed to handle deltaAngleX even without rotateStart() being called first.

The fix ensures rotation works via:

  • Shift+drag or right-click drag (uses rotateStartrotaterotateEnd)
  • Two-finger pinch rotation (uses deltaAngleX directly)
  • Three-finger swipe (uses multipan events)

Also added full pitch support and fixed zoom to follow cursor position.

Copilot AI changed the title feat(core): Add bearing/rotation support to GlobeView and GlobeController feat(core): Add bearing/rotation and pitch support to GlobeView and GlobeController Feb 20, 2026
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2 participants