FOSS4G NA 2023 | Moving Protomaps from Open Core to Open Source - Brandon Liu

Summary:

Brandon Liu discusses the shift of Protomaps from open core to open source, highlighting the challenges and trends in open source projects, particularly in web mapping. He explores the dynamics between open source software and software as a service (SaaS), emphasizing the advantages of SaaS in terms of adoption, digital rights management (DRM), and price discrimination. Liu delves into the dilemma of building a SaaS product using open source software and addresses the sustainability of open source projects. Protomaps, an open-source map of the world and a vector tiling system, aims to create a sustainable open ecosystem for web maps, addressing underserved use cases.

Highlights:

🔄 Open Source Trends: Discussion on the evolving trend of open source projects in web mapping, including re-licensing and shifts in business models.

💼 SaaS Advantages: Exploring the benefits of Software as a Service, focusing on adoption, DRM, and price discrimination.

🛠 Protomaps Purpose: Introduction to Protomaps as an open-source map and vector tiling system, emphasizing its goal of creating a sustainable open ecosystem.

💡 Sustainability Challenge: Addressing the challenge of making open source software development competitive and sustainable, especially for niche use cases.

🌐 Underserved Use Cases: Identifying use cases not well-supported by existing map technology, such as offline use, customization, and self-hosting challenges.

🚀 Protomaps Model: Highlighting Protomaps' approach to sustainability, its independence, and efforts to provide an easy-to-deploy solution.

🔄 Shifting Paradigm: Discussing the toll story principle and the market difference in deploying Protomaps compared to complex self-hosted solutions.