# SimCity 2000 comes to Toronto

By [Brandon Donnelly](https://paragraph.com/@brandondonnelly), 2026-11-04

urbanism, gemini, google maps, isometric map, john fewell, junction house, one delisle, toronto

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I just discovered this great [isometric map of Toronto](https://iso.sloptoronto.ca) by John Fewell.

He started with Google Maps using one fixed isometric view (30° down, aligned with the diagonal of the street grid), and then used Gemini to redraw each frame as an illustration. The overall map is intended to be a nod to SimCity 2000. (I loved that game in the 90s.)

If you zoom in, you can even see cars driving around.

At the time of writing this post, he had spent roughly $57 on Gemini and $21 on GPU rentals to produce it. [Here’s](https://x.com/johnfewell/status/2117390647904612526?a=UBUTw4qiCHR32qIDEhI&s=20) more on his creative process. Imagine how much time and effort this would have taken before AI.

Here’s a downtown screenshot:

![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/63d82f4f355cfb86f384a97e3edc8612770f85d076e88b515e446014c6683230.png)

Here’s [Junction House](https://house.junctionhouse.ca):

![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/c72ca813ed6f99664bf4f9bd80e4ced8925d1fd48ce14ffd4e9804fc41fc860c.png)

And here’s me waiting for [One Delisle](https://onedelisle.com) to be rendered:

![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/c6f8128052727c43478d9c563f03b85fc1c7de26cdb582a20e9e0f84822edca6.png)

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*Originally published on [Brandon Donnelly](https://paragraph.com/@brandondonnelly/simcity-2000-comes-to-toronto)*