CitySnap — FAQ

What is this?

Pick one of 100 real city downtowns and snap half of its buildings to dust in real time — then read the damage report.

What if half of the metal in a city just disappears?

That's the premise. The snap yanks all the rebar and steel out of every building at once. With nothing left to hold it together, the concrete simply crumbles — and half the skyline comes down.

Is this real map data?

Yes. Every building and street is real OpenStreetMap geometry for that downtown, extruded to its tagged height and shown at the city's live local time.

Are the damage numbers real?

They're rough back-of-the-envelope estimates: floor area × that city's real regional construction cost (per Turner & Townsend / Arcadis surveys), and material densities for the rubble and metal. For scale and fun, not engineering.

Why all the talk about metal?

Because it's a PSA in disguise. Steel is ~95% of all the metal we make, and the world forges about 60 tonnes of it every second. A rich-country life leans on ~13 tonnes of steel — in the car, the building, the rails and pipes. The snap pulls it all out at once so you can see just how much is holding everything up.

Can I snap a city more than once?

One snap per city. Pick another from the menu, or hit “Surprise me” — you're working toward all 100.

Does it work on my phone?

Yes. Mobile runs a lighter profile (fewer cars and particles, no shadows) so it stays smooth.

Where's the map data from?

Building data © OpenStreetMap contributors, licensed under the ODbL.

It's a toy — no real cities were harmed.