What if your students' block creations could stand on the real Earth? GeoBlocks is a free, browser-based builder where students stack blocks on a baseplate, then see their build at a real place on a 3D globe.
This is a custom ArcGIS Online JavaScript app that is open source and runs on GitHub.
In the app, students choose from 14 colors and eight block sizes, and can drop in ready-made stamps like houses, trees and cars. In Map settings, they enter a latitude and longitude or pick a preset such as Paris, Tokyo or Uluru. Then they set how long one block is in feet or meters. That one choice turns a toy into a scale model and opens great conversations about ratio and real-world size. In the 3D Map view, students switch between ArcGIS Online basemaps to see their creation in its setting.
Six ready-to-teach lessons
Each activity is tied to national standards:
- Middle school geography: Same House, Different Places
- Grade 8 earth science: Field Station
- Grade 9 geometry: Step Pyramid
- Grade 10 history: Layers of a Place
- STEM: Pavilion by the Numbers
- CTE architecture: Site to Scene, which ends with a published 3D web scene
Sample models
Show students what's possible with sample builds of the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower, Stonehenge, Devils Tower, Delicate Arch and more. Each opens straight into GeoBlocks from the teacher page.
Publish to ArcGIS Online
Optionally, students sign in with their ArcGIS Online account and choose "Save GeoBlock creation to ArcGIS." GeoBlocks creates a 3D web scene and feature service, sets the sharing level and returns a link students can open in Scene Viewer. Their work becomes real GIS content.
Students can also save .geoblocks files and export PNG images or 3D models (GLB or STL) for 3D printing.
GeoBlocks runs in any modern browser with no installs. Find lessons, samples and setup tips.
