Map Animation

Map Animation

Build editorial, "Vox-style" animated maps: a camera that zooms, orbits, and pans over a base map while location pins drop, routes draw on, regions highlight, and labels call out — all snapped to a deliberate 12fps stutter so motion reads as graphic, not photographic. Two production paths: photoreal base motion from Google Earth Studio composited in After Effects, and code-renderable vector maps (GeoJSON/SVG) driven from a coordinates array in Remotion or D3.

When to use

• A documentary/explainer beat that establishes place: zoom from globe to city, orbit a landmark, pan along a border.
• Show movement across geography: a route drawing between two points, a supply chain, a migration, a flight path.
• Highlight a country, state, or region and label it; build a step-by-step geographic walkthrough.
• Turn a list of coordinates/events into a repeatable, data-driven map sequence for video.

Pick the path

Most "Vox-style" pieces combine them: Earth Studio for the base camera move, vector overlays for the pins, routes, and labels on top.

The signature look: 12fps stutter

The single most recognizable trait of this style is animating the map graphics at 12fps inside a 24fps edit. The base footage and audio run at 24 (smooth); the graphic layer — camera-driven pins, route draw-on, label pops — steps at 12. The result reads as intentional, hand-built, "infographic" motion rather than soft video.

• Math: at 24fps, hold each graphic-layer value for 2 frames (update on even frames only). At 30fps, hold ~2–3 frames (≈12.5/10fps).
• After Effects: apply posterizeTime(12) to the layer/comp, OR nest the graphics in a 12fps precomp placed inside the 24fps master.
• Remotion / code: snap the frame before computing any animated value:

// Quantize the timeline to 12fps "steps" while the comp renders at 24fps.
const STEP = Math.round(fps / 12);              // 2 at 24fps
const f = Math.floor(frame / STEP) * STEP;       // use `f`, not `frame`, for graphic motion
const progress = interpolate(f, [0, 48], [0, 1], { extrapolateRight: "clamp" });

Keep the base footage/camera smooth (24fps) and stutter only the graphic overlay — stuttering everything looks like dropped frames, not style.

Path A — Google Earth Studio → After Effects

Earth Studio is a browser tool that keyframes a camera over Google's 3D globe and exports two things you import into AE: an image sequence (the rendered frames) and a camera-track .jsx script that rebuilds the exact 3D camera in After Effects.

1. Keyframe in Earth Studio (browser): set keyframes for camera position (lat/long/altitude), tilt, heading, and field of view. Use the auto-ease or set custom ease per keyframe. Keep moves slow and deliberate — establish, don't whip.
2. Export → render: choose the image sequence (JPG/PNG), set resolution and fps, and enable the "3D Camera Export" / After Effects checkbox so it ships the .jsx and track-point files alongside the frames.
3. In After Effects: import the image sequence as footage, then File → Scripts → Run Script File… and run the exported .jsx. It creates a comp with a 3D camera and null layers whose keyframes match the Earth Studio move frame-for-frame.
4. Parent overlays to the track: parent your pin/label null layers to the imported 3D camera/track nulls so they stick to the right map location as the camera moves (the .jsx includes track points for any coordinates you marked in Earth Studio).
5. Apply the stutter to the overlay precomp only (posterizeTime(12)), color-grade the base footage, then render.

See references/earth-studio-to-ae.md for the exact keyframe/export settings, the .jsx import step, and how track points map screen-space to lat/long.

Path B — Vector maps (GeoJSON / SVG)

For the clean editorial look, project GeoJSON to SVG paths and animate them. Use a real projection so coordinates land correctly.

import { geoMercator, geoPath } from "d3-geo";
const projection = geoMercator().fitSize([1920, 1080], geojson);  // fit map to frame
const toPath = geoPath(projection);
const [x, y] = projection([lng, lat]);          // any lat/long → screen pixel

Render geojson.features as <path d={toPath(f)} />. The same projection([lng,lat]) converts every pin coordinate to a screen position, so pins, routes, and labels all share one coordinate space as the camera (a scale/translate transform) moves.

Camera move in vector land is a CSS/transform zoom-and-pan toward a target lat/long:

const [tx, ty] = projection([targetLng, targetLat]);
const scale = interpolate(f, [0, 36], [1, 4], { extrapolateRight: "clamp" });
// transform-origin at the target so the zoom homes in on it
const transform = `translate(${960 - tx*scale}px, ${540 - ty*scale}px) scale(${scale})`;

Overlays: pins, routes, highlights, labels

Pin drop (drops in, settles, optional pulse) — stagger across a coordinates array:

const pins = [{ name:"Kyiv", lng:30.52, lat:50.45 }, { name:"Lviv", lng:24.03, lat:49.84 }];
pins.map((p, i) => {
  const local = f - i * STEP * 4;                 // stagger, quantized to the 12fps step
  const drop = spring({ frame: local, fps, config:{ damping: 12 } });   // overshoot = settle
  const [x, y] = projection([p.lng, p.lat]);
  return <Pin key={p.name} x={x} y={y - 40*(1-drop)} opacity={local > 0 ? 1 : 0} />;
});

Route draw-on — build the path with the projection, then stroke it on with stroke-dashoffset:

// route = [[lng,lat], ...]; project each point, join into an SVG path
const d = route.map((c,i) => (i ? "L" : "M") + projection(c).join(" ")).join(" ");
// in the component: pathLength=1, strokeDashoffset = 1 - drawProgress
const draw = interpolate(f, [12, 60], [0, 1], { extrapolateLeft:"clamp", extrapolateRight:"clamp" });

pathLength="1" normalizes any route length so one progress value (0→1) draws it. Add a traveling dot at offset-distance to lead the line. For a great-circle/curved flight path, sample intermediate points with d3.geoInterpolate(a, b).

Region highlight — fill/stroke the matched GeoJSON feature, dim the rest (focus + context):

const isTarget = (f) => f.properties.name === "France";
// target: fill accent, opacity 1, stroke up; others: opacity .35

Animate the highlight in by interpolating fill opacity, or wipe it with a clip-path mask. Keep color = meaning and never reassign it mid-piece.

Label callout — pin label or leader-line box; fade/slide in after its pin lands, anchored to projection([lng,lat]) so it tracks the camera. Keep labels horizontal and inside the safe area; never let them rotate with the map.

Data-driven sequencing

Drive the whole sequence from one ordered array so the map narrates itself and re-renders from data:

const beats = [
  { lng: 30.52, lat: 50.45, label: "Kyiv",  hold: 48 },
  { lng: 24.03, lat: 49.84, label: "Lviv",  hold: 36, route: true },
];
// Each beat = a Sequence: camera flies to (lng,lat), pin drops, label pops, route draws if set.
// Total duration = sum(holds); compute it in calculateMetadata, not by hand.

One array → camera targets, pin order, route segments, and labels stay in sync. Swap the data, get a new map sequence — no re-keyframing.

Output checklist

• Camera moves are slow and deliberate (establish, don't whip); eases on every keyframe.
• Graphic overlay stutters at 12fps; base footage/camera stays smooth (24fps).
• Pins/routes/labels stay locked to their lat/long as the camera moves (parented to track / shared projection).
• Routes draw on in reading order; highlights use focus + context (target lit, rest dimmed).
• Labels horizontal, legible, inside the safe area; color grammar consistent.
• Data-driven path: one coordinates/beats array is the single source of truth.

Deliver & verify (rendered stills → MP4)

Packaged helper (scripts/): tile your stills with scripts/contact-sheet.sh sheet.png f-hook.png f-mid.png f-end.png, then assert the encode with scripts/probe-mp4.sh out.mp4 [WxH] [fps]. See scripts/README.md.

The code-renderable path is a Remotion composition — frame-deterministic, so any exact frame renders headlessly with no seek harness. Use this tier when the deliverable is an MP4/GIF (vector map, data-driven, exact labels) or batches per dataset; for an Earth Studio + AE comp, the deliverable is the AE project + rendered footage instead, verified by scrubbing the master comp.

Output contract:

• A Remotion project with the composition registered (<Composition> + zod schema + defaultProps), all motion frame-driven (no timers / Date.now() / Math.random()).
• Deliverable = the rendered out/*.mp4 (plus the project + the beats/coordinates array, so the map can be re-rendered from new data).
• The 12fps stutter is computed from fps (quantize the frame), not hardcoded — so it survives an fps change.
• Duration data-dependent (sum of beat holds)? compute it in calculateMetadata, not by hand.

Verify loop — render stills → inspect → encode. Render single frames first (cheap, no encode), inspect them, encode only once the frames are right.

# Frame-exact stills at start / each beat / end — render with the SHIPPED props (the real beats array)
npx remotion still MapSeq out/f-start.png --frame=0   --props='{...}'
npx remotion still MapSeq out/f-beat2.png --frame=N   --props='{...}'   # mid a beat's hold
npx remotion still MapSeq out/f-end.png   --frame=L   --props='{...}'   # L = durationInFrames - 1

# Inspect each PNG — FIDELITY: every pin sits on the correct lat/long, the route connects the right
# cities, the highlighted region is the intended one, labels are spelled right and readable. And land
# on TWO adjacent frames inside a move to confirm the overlay holds for 2 frames (the 12fps step),
# while the base camera is still advancing every frame.
# ARTIFACTS: labels off-canvas/clipped, pins drifting off their coordinate, route overshooting,
# missing map tiles/fonts, projection cutoff at the antimeridian.

# Only after the stills check out, encode:
npx remotion render MapSeq out/map.mp4 --props='{...}'

• npx remotion compositions reads durationInFrames/fps to pick the end frame and per-beat sample frames.
• Data-driven / batch: verify ONE representative beats array via stills before batch-rendering all datasets — catch a projection/label bug once, not N times.
• README demo GIF for free: npx remotion render MapSeq out/demo.gif --codec=gif.

Before you finish:

1. npx remotion still renders cleanly at frame 0, mid each beat, and last — no errors, no missing tiles/fonts.
2. Every pin/route/label lands on the correct projected coordinate at every checked frame (spot-check a known city).
3. Two adjacent overlay frames are identical (12fps step holds) while the base camera advanced — stutter is real and only on the graphic layer.
4. Frame-driven only — no Date.now() / Math.random() / timers; the shipped beats render correctly (not just defaultProps).
5. Full MP4 encoded and plays; (optional) GIF rendered for the README.

Reference files

• references/earth-studio-to-ae.md — Google Earth Studio keyframe + export settings, the After Effects .jsx camera-import workflow, parenting overlays to track points, lat/long ↔ screen-space mapping, and applying the 12fps stutter to the overlay precomp.
• references/vector-maps.md — GeoJSON projection setup, vector camera zoom/pan to a lat/long, pin-drop / route draw-on / region-highlight / label-callout recipes, the data-driven beats pattern, and the full 12fps stutter quantization recipe for code and AE.