Re:Earth consists of three tools: Visualizer (a no-code map authoring tool), CMS (a geospatial data management tool), and Flow (a data transformation tool). Built on Cesium and fully open source, Re:Earth is designed to make GIS accessible to users without technical expertise.

Use Case 1: High School Students Participating in Urban Planning

Many Japanese municipalities face population decline and seek to engage younger generations in local governance. In this project, high school students used Re:Earth Visualizer to design their vision of a future town and presented their proposals to the local mayor as policy recommendations.

To lower the barrier to participation, a custom web tool for the workshop was developed, enabling students to simulate and visualize urban landscapes without account registration or technical setup.

Use Case 2: Elementary School Students Creating a their own town Map

The children visited local businesses and residents in their community to interview them about their work, what makes it rewarding, and their connections to the town. They documented their findings through photographs and 3D scans, entered the data into the Re:Earth CMS, and ultimately presented their work as a 3D map on the Re:Earth Visualizer that brings the town’s work and daily life to life.

Conclusion

These case studies demonstrate that open source geospatial tools, when designed with accessibility in mind, can extend GIS far beyond the expert community — turning it into a tool for civic participation and education.