If you look over the edge of your coffee cup you’ll notice everything is going 3D. There’s more news about 3D maps, 3D TV’s and 3D games than ever before.

Then I see this article from the January 1931 issue of Modern Mechanix about a 17,000 sq. ft. model of what modern day (1980) New York would look like.

“This model took 5 months to complete…built in an old blimp hanger…[with] the tallest tower of which is 40 feet high”

77 years later…
The $200,000 and 200 technical experts it took to build that plaster and glass modern version can be done at a fraction of the cost in a full 3D environment.

There’s sites like Everyscape that map out the cities, models of Modern/Futuristic 3D cities you can view with Google SketchUp and illustrated3D maps of Shanghai, but the most impressive I’ve seen is ScreamPoint’s 3D New York city. See a video after the break. What could be next?