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Surprising to see competition in a space that is so dominated by Google. I hoped it’d be some open source endeavor, but seeing the link was Forbes I shouldn’t h

Surprising to see competition in a space that is so dominated by Google. I hoped it’d be some open source endeavor, but seeing the link was Forbes I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up... that said competition and options is good!

dmitriid 8y ago
It's not surprising at all. Google have essentially built a moat that is very hard to cross: https://www.justinobeirne.com/google-maps-moat https://www.justinobeirne.com/google-maps-moat
- tallytalwar 8y ago
  Specific map rendering projects from mapzen: Web Renderer: https://github.com/tangrams/tangram https://github.com/tangrams/tangram Native/Mobile Renderer: https://github.com/tangrams/tangram-es https://github.com/tangrams/tangram-es Native renderer can be accessed for android through gradle, ios through cocoapods and even available on raspberry pi. Scene file documentation: https://github.com/tangrams/tangram-docs https://github.com/tangrams/tangram-docs https://mapzen.com/documentation/tangram/ https://mapzen.com/documentation/tangram/ (still seems to work :D) Scene file authoring tool: https://github.com/tangrams/tangram-play https://github.com/tangrams/tangram-play Which continues to live at http://tangram.city/play/ http://tangram.city/play/ One of the great features of tangram is to embed any glsl shader in the scene file, which gets injected during rendering and "transforms" the map rendering and the map experience to a all new level, giving the some great flexibility cartographer/designer/developer will like. As an example check this demo "tron" scene: https://tangrams.github.io/tron-style/#15/37.7926/-122.4003 https://tangrams.github.io/tron-style/#15/37.7926/-122.4003 (source: https://github.com/tangrams/tron-style https://github.com/tangrams/tron-style) Tangram had some great consumer base including this amazing project called StreetComplete (https://github.com/westnordost/StreetComplete/ https://github.com/westnordost/StreetComplete/). Check it out and use it to improve osm street data. Also mapzen's geocode engine Pelias, continues to live as geocode.earch, which it out at https://geocode.earth/ https://geocode.earth/. Disclamer, I used to work for mapzen on the tangram-es (native rendering) project and still supporting the project in the open source world (along with other tangram-es developers). If anyone interested has any questions, you can contact me @tallytalwar on twitter.
arsey 8y ago
Much of the data they use is open source, coming from OpenStreetMap.
dougmccune 8y ago
A huge amount of Mapbox's tech is open source, including the entirety of their WebGL rendering engine. They rely heavily on OpenStreetMap, which is all open data.
zerebubuth 8y ago
Mapzen, a now sadly defunct mapping startup, released all of its software open-source, including WebGL mobile and browser SDKs, map tile rendering, search and routing. Take a look at: https://github.com/tangrams/ https://github.com/tangrams/ https://github.com/tilezen/ https://github.com/tilezen/ https://github.com/valhalla/ https://github.com/valhalla/ https://github.com/pelias/ https://github.com/pelias/ (Full disclosure: used to work at Mapzen)

dmitriid 8y ago

It's not surprising at all. Google have essentially built a moat that is very hard to cross: https://www.justinobeirne.com/google-maps-moat https://www.justinobeirne.com/google-maps-moat

tallytalwar 8y ago
Specific map rendering projects from mapzen: Web Renderer: https://github.com/tangrams/tangram https://github.com/tangrams/tangram Native/Mobile Renderer: https://github.com/tangrams/tangram-es https://github.com/tangrams/tangram-es Native renderer can be accessed for android through gradle, ios through cocoapods and even available on raspberry pi. Scene file documentation: https://github.com/tangrams/tangram-docs https://github.com/tangrams/tangram-docs https://mapzen.com/documentation/tangram/ https://mapzen.com/documentation/tangram/ (still seems to work :D) Scene file authoring tool: https://github.com/tangrams/tangram-play https://github.com/tangrams/tangram-play Which continues to live at http://tangram.city/play/ http://tangram.city/play/ One of the great features of tangram is to embed any glsl shader in the scene file, which gets injected during rendering and "transforms" the map rendering and the map experience to a all new level, giving the some great flexibility cartographer/designer/developer will like. As an example check this demo "tron" scene: https://tangrams.github.io/tron-style/#15/37.7926/-122.4003 https://tangrams.github.io/tron-style/#15/37.7926/-122.4003 (source: https://github.com/tangrams/tron-style https://github.com/tangrams/tron-style) Tangram had some great consumer base including this amazing project called StreetComplete (https://github.com/westnordost/StreetComplete/ https://github.com/westnordost/StreetComplete/). Check it out and use it to improve osm street data. Also mapzen's geocode engine Pelias, continues to live as geocode.earch, which it out at https://geocode.earth/ https://geocode.earth/. Disclamer, I used to work for mapzen on the tangram-es (native rendering) project and still supporting the project in the open source world (along with other tangram-es developers). If anyone interested has any questions, you can contact me @tallytalwar on twitter.

arsey 8y ago

Much of the data they use is open source, coming from OpenStreetMap.

dougmccune 8y ago

A huge amount of Mapbox's tech is open source, including the entirety of their WebGL rendering engine. They rely heavily on OpenStreetMap, which is all open data.

zerebubuth 8y ago

Mapzen, a now sadly defunct mapping startup, released all of its software open-source, including WebGL mobile and browser SDKs, map tile rendering, search and routing. Take a look at: https://github.com/tangrams/ https://github.com/tangrams/ https://github.com/tilezen/ https://github.com/tilezen/ https://github.com/valhalla/ https://github.com/valhalla/ https://github.com/pelias/ https://github.com/pelias/ (Full disclosure: used to work at Mapzen)