Completely understood, it's better to focus on interesting 3D stuff and easier to do it this way in JavaScript than to handle tile caching using WebWorkers/WebSockets and local storage in a language that doesn't support proper multithreading.

Yes, the project was completed and working fine though it ended up buried deep within my former employer's R&D lab and I have no update if they are using parts of it anywhere. They got acquired and another office was aggressively taking over, getting rid of internal competing technologies. I also had a prior experience in adding dynamic 3D cities and vector maps into NASA's World Wind, and therefore writing a completely own globe from the scratch was a joy ;-)

I am thinking about doing similar apps in WebGL and Qt and writing some tutorials on how to do it as I progress, so perhaps we can inspire each other then. First I need to finish some tutorials for advanced 2D geometry and Bezier curves though (Illustrator-class algorithms with JavaScript + HTML5 live examples).

Thanks for writing this inspiring piece! :)

Ah, projects in the R&D lab. I can sympathize with projects being "put on the shelf"

RE 3D world, I'm already working on something similar. Shoot me an email (see HN profile)?