Instant Cities: San Francisco

Instant San Francisco BETA

Explore or race by bike, on foot or on horseback through San Francisco, from Chinatown to the bay!

Ride through the north-east of San Francisco in 3D, by the bay, past Chinatown and the Dragon Gate, the Transamerica Pyramid, the Ferry Building, Union Square and Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill, with every building from OpenStreetMap.

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Free · no account · works on PC, tablet and phone

What there is to do

The real San Francisco

Wander among about 4,100 buildings rebuilt in 3D from OpenStreetMap, from the painted wooden houses of North Beach to the towers of the Financial District at their real heights. More of the city is to come.

Towers, cable cars and the bay

Look up at the Transamerica Pyramid, climb Telegraph Hill to Coit Tower, ride the Embarcadero to the Ferry Building, find the cable car turntable on Powell Street by Union Square, and wander up Grant Avenue through Chinatown.

A race: Chinatown to the Bay

Race down Grant Avenue through Chinatown, along Bush Street through the Financial District, down Market Street to the Ferry Building, along the Embarcadero and back past the Transamerica Pyramid.

This is San Francisco

San Francisco lies on the tip of a peninsula in northern California, between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, a city of steep hills, painted wooden houses and summer fog. It grew from a small Spanish mission into a boom town in the Gold Rush, burnt down in 1906 and was rebuilt at once. Today it is known for its cable cars, the Golden Gate Bridge, Chinatown and the tech companies of the Bay Area.

  • The Golden Gate Bridge in the fog
  • The cable cars climbing the hills
  • Chinatown, the oldest in North America
  • Alcatraz, the prison island in the bay
  • The earthquake and fire of 1906
  • The Beat poets of North Beach

About the city

Where San Francisco lies in the United States New York Washington San Francisco
San Francisco in the United States, whose capital is Washington (the square).

Places, elements and landmarks

Transamerica PyramidThe white pyramid of the Financial District, 260 metres tall, the sign of San Francisco’s skyline since 1972. Ferry BuildingThe ferry terminal at the foot of Market Street, with its clock tower after the Giralda of Seville, now a food hall. Coit TowerThe slim concrete tower on top of Telegraph Hill, built in 1933 with the money of Lillie Hitchcock Coit. Dragon GateThe gate into Chinatown on Grant Avenue at Bush Street, with green tiled roofs, dragons and two stone lions. ChinatownThe oldest Chinatown in North America, along Grant Avenue and Stockton Street, with lanterns over the street. Union SquareThe square of the big shops and hotels, named after the rallies for the Union before the Civil War. Cable carsThe last cable cars in the world still running in city streets, pulled up the hills by a cable under the road. Washington SquareThe green heart of North Beach, the Italian quarter, before the white church of Saints Peter and Paul. City LightsThe bookshop of the Beat poets on Columbus Avenue, which published Allen Ginsberg’s Howl in 1956.

All 13 places and landmarks

Ready to go?

Play Instant San Francisco

Still in development: expect some rough edges.