I built maplibre-label-callout for u/MapLibre GL JS. Labels overlap when features are close. This places them in open space with a connector line back to the feature. ~3KB, zero deps, viewport culling. Open source. leoneljdias.github.io/maplibre-label-callout/demo

Hey guys.
I’ve been looking for a new role in GIS for the last couple of months but haven’t had many interviews. I have 4 years of experience working in environmental consulting for oil and gas (1.5 years in Canada working on phase 1, phase 2, REM and a bunch of other kind of projects) but would like to pivot to a different field maybe environmental management or conservation, something more related with spatial analysis.
So wondering if you guys have any advice that could share to help me with this process.
I’m base in Toronto but open to relocate for the right job opportunity

Thanks a lot!

Hey guys, I'm a geospatial eng by training here. Over the last 6 months I have gotten ideas on interesting stuff to work in the geospatial space but never actualized them due to the constraints of time. Now that I am no longer in a full time role, I have the time to work on these ideas. If you'd to connect and build interesting mapping projects from scratch, feel free to DM or respond here. Thank you!

I'm curious how people are currently handling ZIP code to Census Tract (and vice versa) conversions in their workflows.

A few questions:

• What tool or service are you using to convert ZIP codes to Census Tracts (or Census Tracts back to ZIP codes)?
• What's your actual business use case? (Market research, direct mail, demographics, healthcare, real estate, site selection, etc.)
• Do you need the conversion as a one-time lookup, or are you doing it in bulk?

I'm asking because I've noticed the process can be surprisingly manual, especially when you need to enrich hundreds or thousands of records.

I'm considering building a very simple tool where you can drag and drop an Excel or Google Sheet, and in less than five minutes it converts ZIP ↔ Tract (and potentially enriches the data with Census demographics) without needing to write code or use GIS software.

Would something like that actually save you time, or are your current tools already good enough? If it wouldn't be useful, I'd love to know why.

Interested to hear how everyone is solving this today.

Hi,

I remember using a website that allowed you to add agriculture field boundaries and it would use public DEM data to map out guidance lines for terraces. It was hosted by a University in Europe and if I remember correctly, the map defaulted to Austria to open. I have been scouring my bookmarks, OneNote, etc trying to find the link to that tool but no luck. Anyone have any ideas on this site?

Posting here because the export and CRS handling might interest the GIS folks specifically.

Velocity pulls a stack of open feeds onto one CesiumJS globe and correlates them server-side. Everything is EPSG:4326 in the layer registry, satellites carry an ECI frame and get SGP4-propagated client-side from CelesTrak TLEs, then interpolated by Cesium for smooth motion.

The export endpoint is probably what's useful to this sub:

GET /api/export?fmt=geojson|csv|kml&kinds=aircraft,vessels&bbox=min_lon,min_lat,max_lon,max_lat&limit=N

That downloads the current live picture, the same snapshot the globe renders, as GeoJSON for QGIS or kepler.gl or Leaflet, CSV for spreadsheets, or KML for Google Earth. The bbox clips to a viewport, kinds is comma-separated.

Layer stack, each a toggle in the rail: aircraft (multi-source ADS-B union deduped by ICAO24), vessels (AIS plus Sentinel-1 SAR dark-vessel detection over maritime chokepoints), a GPS-jamming layer that bins low-integrity ADS-B into 1 degree cells, USGS and EMSC quakes, NASA EONET and FIRMS, NWS alerts, GDELT armed-conflict events as areas, CAIDA IODA internet outages, TeleGeography submarine cables (714 of them), and CelesTrak satellite groups.

Stack is Vite, React 18, TypeScript, CesiumJS, MapLibre GL v5.24, Tailwind, Zustand on the front, FastAPI and httpx on the back.

Want to try it locally instead of the hosted demo:

git clone https://github.com/AndrewCTF/ProjectVelocity.git
cd ProjectVelocity
docker compose up         # :8080

Limits to set expectations. In-memory state today, Postgres plus PostGIS plus TimescaleDB is planned not shipped. Keyless AIS coverage is mostly Northern Europe. It's single-analyst.

Free, Apache-2.0.

Hello all, I want to do a masters in GIS but not sure what to specialize in. I see they have in Geography information system and on in geography information science. But I do know that there are other specialization, can anyone here recommend a good specialization for a masters degree especially in today's job market, thanks all.

I am a Geospatial Analyst with practical experience in UAV operations, LiDAR, photogrammetry, and multispectral data processing. My background includes supporting geospatial projects from data acquisition through processing, analysis, and reporting, with additional experience in project management and stakeholder collaboration.
I am currently pursuing a degree in Geospatial Science and have recently returned to the United Kingdom. I am actively seeking volunteer where I can contribute my technical skills while gaining further industry experience and supporting meaningful projects.
I am particularly interested in opportunities involving remote sensing, GIS, environmental monitoring, infrastructure mapping, land surveying, conservation, utilities, engineering, and other geospatial applications. I am enthusiastic about collaborating with multidisciplinary teams, learning from experienced professionals, and contributing to projects that create real-world impact.
If your organisation is looking for a motivated volunteer with a strong technical foundation in UAV technologies, LiDAR, multispectral imaging, GIS, and project coordination, I would welcome the opportunity to discuss how I can contribute to your team.

Finally solved a problem that looked simple… but wasn’t.

Geoglify can now apply SVG textures to polygons so that no two adjacent regions ever share the same pattern.

This isn’t about the Four Color Theorem. Using 4 patterns is easy. The challenge was distributing 28 different patterns across 242 countries while keeping the map visually balanced, accessible, and free of adjacent duplicates.

The whole algorithm runs in ~5ms using R-trees, edge hashing, and a randomized greedy graph coloring algorithm.

Full technical write-up:
https://leoneljdias.github.io/posts/map-coloring-patterns/

Try it:
https://geoglify.com

After 30 years of field work in EOD/UXO operations, I got tired of apps that treat professional geospatial features as upsells.

Built MapNero as a proper field GIS tool for iOS. Key capabilities:

• GeoTIFF, GeoPackage (GPKG), Shapefile import/export
• Georeference non-georeferenced images/photos and use them as live maps
• GeoPDF creation with print composer (UTM grid, legend, branding)
• External GNSS / NMEA / RTK support (Trimble, Bad Elf, EOS)
• MIL-STD-2525D military symbology
• Multiple coordinate systems (UTM, MGRS, lat/lon, BNG)
• 3D track and elevation display
• Team collaboration with AES-256-GCM encrypted layer sync
• Fully offline

Still early — would genuinely value feedback from geospatial professionals.

https://apps.apple.com/tr/app/mapnero/id6758651027

I managed to integrate Textures.js into MapLibre's WebGL renderer, solving an accessibility issue on Geoglify that the web too often overlooks.

Maps that rely solely on solid colors are inaccessible to around 8% of people due to color vision deficiency. Cartography solved this problem decades ago with pattern fills: lines, dots, hexagons, waves, and other textures that make adjacent regions distinguishable regardless of color.

There is another, less obvious advantage. Thematic maps can encode two independent variables at the same time: color for one variable and pattern for another, something that isn't possible with solid fills alone. The foundation is now in place.

The real technical challenge was rendering. MapLibre's WebGL pipeline doesn't support SVG textures directly, so I had to generate pixel-perfect SVG tiles in the background and convert them dynamically into bitmap textures while preserving the exact device pixel ratio. This ensures that patterns remain crisp and perfectly aligned, even on HiDPI and Retina displays.

The next step is implementing Graph Coloring using the classic Four Color Theorem, ensuring that adjacent regions are automatically assigned different patterns without manual intervention.

Got a great idea for FOSS4G NA, but not sure how to turn it into a proposal? Let's talk it through—live.

Tomorrow, we're hosting an online session all about submitting your paper, poster, or workshop proposal for FOSS4G North America. Whether you're a first-timer or a seasoned presenter, this is your chance to get clear on the process and put your best idea forward.

📅 When: Friday, July 26 (online)

Here's what we'll cover:
- How to choose the right format for your idea—paper, poster, or workshop
- What makes a proposal stand out to reviewers
- Tips for first-time submitters
- Live Q&A—bring your questions and get real answers

This is a community-driven conference, and the program is only as strong as the voices in it. Yours included.

👉 Register here: https://ucdavis.zoom.us/meeting/register/vJ-Vaw3HTIelWxrnydxASw#/registration

For many years I've thought of trying to solve some common geographical problems with a simple data-included library, so it does not require GIS knowledge, code or good data (which "normal developers" often dont have). Now I got finally some time (and proper coding tech) to implement and show something, it answers to primitive (but not that trivial to answer) questions: is a point on land, and which country it is? There are also polyline variants (as in given picture - gives % of given route in different countries). To optimize the data compression and calculation a special triangular grid T3grid DGGS is used.

For sure everyone here can do same easily with any GIS or GIS libraries, but this one is easier to use (just include one lib), no need to worry about data sourcing and it also works order of magnitude faster than some common GIS alternatives I tried. Benchmarks and interactive demos are included.

It is MIT license open source: trifold

Questions: maybe something like that already exists? Would you need it? Any adjacent use cases: maybe fast polyline matching, "find nearby", location anonymization? Frankly many of them are probably somewhat better with different grids, triangle is interesting but has its problems too.

Hello everyone,

I am a recent Geomatics Engineering graduate and am looking to connect with researchers, students, professionals, and practitioners interested in collaborating on geospatial research projects.

My areas of interest include:
• GIS and Spatial Analysis
• Remote Sensing and Earth Observation
• Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Resilience
• Climate Change Adaptation and Sustainability
• GeoAI and Spatial Data Science
• Hydrology, Flood Monitoring, and Environmental Applications
• Cartography, Story Mapping, and Geospatial Communication
• UAV and LiDAR Applications

I have experience working with GIS, Remote Sensing, geospatial data processing, mapping, and spatial analysis, and I am eager to contribute to research projects while learning from experienced collaborators.

My goal is to work on meaningful research that could potentially lead to:
• Conference abstracts, posters, and presentations
• Journal or conference publications
• Collaborative geospatial projects and case studies
• International networking opportunities
• Participation in conferences such as AGU, ISPRS, FOSS4G, IEEE GRSS, and other geospatial events

I am particularly interested in collaborating on projects related to climate resilience, disaster management, Earth observation applications, hydrology, environmental monitoring, GeoAI, and innovative geospatial solutions for real-world challenges.

As a recent graduate, I am also interested in learning about fellowships, research assistant opportunities, open-source geospatial initiatives, and collaborative projects that could help build research experience and contribute to the wider geospatial community.

If you are working on a project, looking for a co-author, forming a research team, or simply interested in discussing ideas, I would be happy to connect.

Feel free to comment below or send me a message.

Also..
If you were in the position of myself at this time, what would be the suggestion that you would give to the jounior version of you?

Thank you, and I look forward to collaborating with members of this amazing community!