[HN Gopher] Placemark is now open source - web-based geospatial ...
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       Placemark is now open source - web-based geospatial data editor
        
       Author : danboarder
       Score  : 213 points
       Date   : 2024-01-25 03:24 UTC (19 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (github.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (github.com)
        
       | spacec0wb0y wrote:
       | Anywhere we can see a working demo?
        
         | defrost wrote:
         | See it being used? https://www.youtube.com/@_tmcw/videos
         | 
         | I didn't see an URL to reach a working demo for hands on test
         | drive.
        
         | andrewviren wrote:
         | https://app.placemark.io/play
        
           | robertlagrant wrote:
           | Wow, nice.
        
       | etewiah wrote:
       | This is amazing, thanks for open sourcing it!!
       | 
       | I own the domain chattymaps and have been planning to do a map
       | based chat app on there - maybe digging into placemark will spur
       | me on todo that.
        
       | reddalo wrote:
       | Great news! It could totally look like a G Suite app.
        
         | cinntaile wrote:
         | This is different from a project that was started as open
         | source without any company backing. Without a company backing
         | it it likely won't survive.
        
       | vincnetas wrote:
       | Placemark is going open source and shutting down (72 days ago)
       | 
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38250459
        
       | jillesvangurp wrote:
       | The same person also did geojson.io, which is a wonderful tool I
       | use occasionally. Great for testing geojson. It's a pity
       | placemark did not make it as a company but fantastic it's now
       | open sourced.
       | 
       | The people at geomob did an interview with Tom MacWright two
       | years ago or so on their podcast:
       | https://thegeomob.com/podcast/episode-118 when he just launched
       | placemark.
        
         | webel0 wrote:
         | I can't believe I'm saying this but: I wish they had placed an
         | ad for placemark on geojson.io.
         | 
         | I had no idea this existed until just now but I've worked at
         | two companies where a lot of coworkers could have benefited
         | greatly from a map app that has a few more features than
         | geojson.io but is less complex than qgis/arcgis.
        
           | incanus77 wrote:
           | geojson.io is owned & managed by our former employer, Mapbox,
           | where Tom built it originally some years ago, whereas
           | Placemark was an independent project by Tom.
        
       | cyanydeez wrote:
       | I've seen a lot of these generic GIS tools.
       | 
       | the problem is ArcGIS is so prevalent and invasive in work flows
       | that the remaining work and workers simply aren't substantial
       | enough.
       | 
       | a product like this needs a ecosystem and a "killerapp" to really
       | thrive.
        
         | mistrial9 wrote:
         | you mistake "lockin" for competition. GIS will always be niche.
         | There is no reason not to use standards for GIS, and open
         | source has a place in the long term.
        
           | cyanydeez wrote:
           | the point is ArcGIS simply as first right of refusal for
           | almost any significant workflow.
           | 
           | certainly GIS outside of this is valuable but it's within a
           | specific project specific world that it's a component of and
           | not the central hub
        
             | greenie_beans wrote:
             | maybe people are trying to build a better alternative to
             | arcgis? and to do this, maybe you start with a simple app
             | first? and perhaps these people are also experts in gis?
             | crazy to think about
        
               | cyanydeez wrote:
               | oh I agree, I run QGIS and Postgresql with PostGIS. I
               | switched my entire work flow out of ArcGIS in 2016
               | because ArcGIS Pro was heading to LaLa land with it's
               | online subscription garbage.
               | 
               | But, my point is: If you're goin gto compete with ArcGIS,
               | it's going to come from the spokes to the hub, and not
               | from the hub to the spokes. That is, you need a killer
               | app for a very specific work flow and go from there into
               | a ecosystem.
               | 
               | Without a "killer app", trying to build a separate hub
               | and market that as-is just won't sell.
        
       | dvdkon wrote:
       | I wish I had a use for this, GIS tools usually don't have such a
       | level of polish and intuitiveness. I could maybe see building a
       | capable data viewer on Placemark as a base, but I would be
       | ignoring half its features at that point.
       | 
       | Since this was a commercial product for some time, I'd love to
       | hear some user anecdotes: What did they use it for? Did Placemark
       | replace some existing tool, or was it used for new kinds of
       | tasks?
        
       | eMerzh wrote:
       | would be interesting to find some mutualisation with umap-
       | project.org ... or at least become a friend project :)
        
       | jwilber wrote:
       | Very polished project. The founder is now helping build Val town,
       | which seems pretty awesome, too:
       | 
       | https://www.val.town/
       | 
       | (Also his blog is a great read: https://macwright.com/)
        
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       (page generated 2024-01-25 23:02 UTC)