Conquering new frontiers in web mapping application development
A modern framework for developing custom GeoIT solutions
Open Pioneer Trails is an open development platform for web clients that enables the development of custom GeoIT solutions. The development platform is characterized by a lean and powerful runtime environment and modern development tools. It offers an excellent developer experience and a broad use of various interfaces (APIs). Development work can also be efficiently reused.
The Trails framework is available free of charge as open source software on GitHub. This project is a collaboration between con terra and 52°North. It is part of the “Open Pioneer” initiative, which focuses on the collaborative development of modern technologies and components for the next generation of geodata infrastructures and solutions.
Trails is a framework — it does not provide a fixed solution or product. The development team provides many examples and basic application blueprints that serve as starting points for solutions.
The software is based on modern technologies:
- React (TypeScript)
- Chakra UI
- Vite
- pnpm
- Web components
The Trails framework provides “core packages” that can be used to develop an application. These packages cover basic functionality such as logging, an internal event bus, theming and look and feel, native Chakra integration, i18n, and interaction with remote content using HTTP clients.
In addition to the core packages, we are developing dedicated OpenLayers packages and making them available as open source. These packages provide the basis for the development of map applications and cover many common functionalities, such as:
- Base maps and switcher
- Interactions (pan, zoom, center)
- Table of Contents
- Coordinate display
- Scales
- Measurements
- Overview map
- Geolocation
52°North currently develops mutliple applications using the Trails framework for several projects, including NFDI4Earth and Volkswagen GeoNet Analyzer. These projects will contribute to the evolution of Trails by providing new use cases as well as components and widgets to the community.
Benefits
By providing a modern framework and developer experience, Trails enables project and product teams to efficiently design web applications that meet the needs of modern spatial data infrastructures. Its flexibility allows many different use cases and interaction patterns to be addressed, while keeping the basic functionality in a central location.
Fields of Application
- Modern spatial data infrastructures
- Web mapping and web GIS
- Lightweight and embeddable mapping solutions