FOSS4G NA 2023 | Open Source Mapping Library Shoot Out - Courtney Yatteau & George Owen

Highlights

🌐 Courtney and George compare four open-source web mapping libraries in a shootout, covering strengths, weaknesses, and unique features.

🚀 The presentation includes a high-level comparison, performance analysis, and conclusions.

👥 Courtney is a developer advocate at Esri, while George is a product engineer at Esri, both emphasizing open source.

Library Comparisons:

🗺️ Mapping Support: All libraries support 2D maps, with MapLibre and Cesium also supporting 2.5D and 3D maps.

📊 Data and Layer Support: WebGL is fully supported by MapLibre and Cesium. Various data types are supported, with Leaflet having the smallest file size.

🎨 Styling Data: Vector tiles are fully supported by MapLibre and Cesium, while Leaflet and OpenLayers offer partial support.

📦 Library File Sizes: Leaflet is the lightest, followed by MapLibre and OpenLayers, with Cesium being larger due to its 3D capabilities.

👥 Community Involvement: Leaflet is the most active library, but all have active communities, providing support on platforms like Stack Overflow and GitHub.

Performance Analysis:

🕐 Library Load Times: Leaflet has the fastest load time, with MapLibre and OpenLayers closely following.

🗺️ Base Maps: Performance analysis includes raster and vector tile base maps, map tiles, and GeoJSON data types.

⚙️ Methodology: Tests conducted using Puppeteer JS and Lighthouse on a laptop, acknowledging the non-lab conditions.

📊 Results: Performance graphs show the total time in milliseconds for library load times, with Leaflet being the fastest.