Glenn Fleishman profiles MapBox, whose 30 employees are taking on the big boys in the development of interactive street and satellite maps. The company is working with Charlie Loyd to develop "the most beautiful, clean map ever made."
Fleishman outlines the company's two-fold approach, which allows the upstart to compete with the major mapmaking players. "For street-level information, the most expensive part of mapping, MapBox relies on data gathered and distributed for free by OpenStreetMap (OSM), a crowdsourced mapping project managed by the not-for-profit OpenStreetMap Foundation, run entirely by volunteers."
"The only products that MapBox offers exclusively to its paying customers is its composite satellite imagery, on which Mr Loyd is working." Loyd's Cloudless Atlas provides the template for "cloud-free mosaics from open satellite imagery" that "will result in MapBox Satellite being the most beautiful, cloud-free global imagery basemap available."
According to Fleishman, "[MapBox co-founder Eric] Gunderson's bet is that his company's transformation of freely available data and open-source projects allow it to compete with companies hundreds of times its size on price, quality and technical support."
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Using Artificial Intelligence to Map Telecommuting Prevalence
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Multi-Modal Directions, Now Available on Google Maps
Under the transit tab on Google Maps, users will now be able to incorporate trips that start on a bike but end on a bus, train, or other mode of transport.
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There's plenty of vacant or underutilized land to be found in Miami-Dade County, if you know where and how to look.
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The Tesla Cybertruck was recalled seven times last year.
National Parks Layoffs Will Cause Communities to Lose Billions
Thousands of essential park workers were laid off this week, just before the busy spring break season.
Retro-silient?: America’s First “Eco-burb,” The Woodlands Turns 50
A master-planned community north of Houston offers lessons on green infrastructure and resilient design, but falls short of its founder’s lofty affordability and walkability goals.
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Analysis: Cybertruck Fatality Rate Far Exceeds That of Ford Pinto
The Tesla Cybertruck was recalled seven times last year.
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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
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EMC Planning Group, Inc.
Planetizen
Planetizen
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research
NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service