Nestoria Blog

One of the aspects of Nestoria that we get the most comments about is our integration of maps with property and local information. New developments in the online mapping world are of keen interest to us, and so it’s with pleasure that we today interview Artem Pavlenko, creator of Mapnik - a free toolkit for developing mapping applications.

Artem is an independent software developer and consultant specializing in all things ‘mapping’ based in Oxford, UK. He got involved in GEO in 1996 when he joined Cadcorp as a developer. Since then he has worked with many clients and projects including Infotech Enterprises and more recently Yotta. His main interest now is FOSS software development.

Artem, thanks for agreeing to speak with us

1. Explain the idea behind Mapnik.

When I started Mapnik about two years ago, there wasn’t any Open Source software around which would produce ‘good looking maps’. Most projects were GIS orientated, meaning all efforts would go into supporting OGC standards and quality of rendering or cartography tended to be overlooked.

This situation changed when Google Maps arrived. Their maps looked good, worked well and everybody liked them. Being an independent developer I wanted a toolkit I could use in my daily work to make maps like that, so I started Mapnik.

2. Where is Mapnik used?

Mapnik is a relatively young project, but it has already a few users worldwide. It’s mainly used to create custom maps for the web. Here are some examples: 10east.com who are also hosting mapnik.org, use Mapnik to render maps for their Bolt-On-Maps service. Kosmosnimki is a Moscow based company whose aim is to create a mosaic of satellite imagery covering the entire Russian territory. They use Mapnik to render a topographic map of Russia. Others include Heritage Walks in Auckland, Freemap for walkers in the UK, Placebase, UK Cycle Map and of course OpenStreetMap.

3. What’s next for Mapnik?

There are lots of ideas. I started some work on a GUI which I hope will allow more people to get involved in online cartography. I’m also planning to add more comprehensive styling capabilities, improve text rendering and more besides. One of the critiques about Mapnik is a lack of documentation - I’m hoping to improve in this area. Mapnik is a collaborative effort and if you’re a developer or just have some ideas do get in touch.

4. What are your thoughts on the developments in the online geography sector (maps, etc) in the last 18 months?

Is that when GMap arrived? I think there was a dramatic change in the last 18 months. Suddenly everyone realised (almost) everything can have a location attached, and as a result on-line mapping has become a vibrant area. Also I think we’re getting to the stage when mobile based mapping devices will be a hot spot. I can quite easily imagine walking along a street anywhere in the UK and receiving location based information, not to mention ’spam’ on my mobile phone, just because its has GPS, Wifi etc.

5. What are the challenges you think a vertical search engine for property like Nestoria faces?

Perhaps, providing the best possible user experience, which most certainly will include on-line mapping, is a big challenge. Users are getting more sophisticated and they want to see more detailed, more up-to-date and more personalised maps while looking for property to buy or to let. Is there a school near-by, how easy is it to get to the train station on a bike… Community based efforts to collect data like OpenStreetMap can play a big role in this area. And tools like Mapnik could help to visualise this data.

Thanks Artem, you’re right, providing the best possible user experience is a big challenge. It’s exactly that challenge that lead us to start Nestoria. For those interested in following Mapnik’s progress please subscribe to the Mapnik news feed.

past Nestoria interviews: Harvey Edgecombe, Marc Wick, Nick Black.