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Mapbox-gl-js is no longer under the 3-Clause BSD license

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Re: Mapbox-gl-js is no longer under the 3-Clause BSD license

#31

What a shame. I guess they got sick of people taking their code and ripping out their API subscriptions. For anyone interested in an open source mapping library (that also has 3D support) that can handle raster data (including the Mapbox tiles), I launched a project 2 weeks ago that is the culmination of 7 years effort: https://github.com/felixpalmer/procedural-gl-js/ . I must say (while acknowledging my huge bias) t…

Very very cool :) Three observations: - Why have a vertical limit when rotating in 3D? I have to click on 2D to look directly top-down. This would be the natural result if I simply tilted the camera all the way downward, but instead it maxes out at some arbitrary angle. (Same the other way, I want to look at the horizon, but I guess there are bandwidth issues involved.) - Scroll zoom is waaay to slow. I have a mouse…

The camera limits are just defaults, and can be overridden. Manipulating a camera in 3D can be counterintuitive, so the defaults try to keep things manageable at the expense of flexibility.

As you say, the further you can see the higher the bandwidth bill. If you really want to see the horizon, make the window narrow :)

For the other issues, could you please file a issue on the repo? This is not expected and works great on all machines I've tested.

Re: Mapbox-gl-js is no longer under the 3-Clause BSD license

#32
post #18

Does this mean "private repo" closed source, or "don't copy paste our shit" closed source?

"Pay $5 per 1,000 page loads" closed source.

That doesn't answer the question. And has nothing to do with closed source, really.

Re: Mapbox-gl-js is no longer under the 3-Clause BSD license

#33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very very cool :) Three observations: - Why have a vertical limit when rotating in 3D? I have to click on 2D to look directly top-down. This would be the natural result if I simply tilted the camera all the way downward, but instead it maxes out at some arbitrary angle. (Same the other way, I want to look at the horizon, but I guess there are bandwidth issues involved.) - Scroll zoom is waaay to slow. I have a mouse…

The camera limits are just defaults, and can be overridden. Manipulating a camera in 3D can be counterintuitive, so the defaults try to keep things manageable at the expense of flexibility. As you say, the further you can see the higher the bandwidth bill. If you really want to see the horizon, make the window narrow :) For the other issues, could you please file a issue on the repo? This is not expected and works gr…

Sure:

https://github.com/felixpalmer/procedural-gl-js/issues/6

https://github.com/felixpalmer/procedural-gl-js/issues/7

Re: Mapbox-gl-js is no longer under the 3-Clause BSD license

#34

I guess we should expect to see a fork of the v1 codebase?

Founder, Stadia Maps here.

We're looking into this, as well as trying to build consensus with the other map vendors on how to approach it.

If you're a vendor and what to be part of it, email me (luke at stadiamaps.com).

Re: Mapbox-gl-js is no longer under the 3-Clause BSD license

#36
post #32
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Pay $5 per 1,000 page loads" closed source.

That doesn't answer the question. And has nothing to do with closed source, really.

So C cannot answer the false dichotomy of A or B?

Not all closed source software is pay-per-use, but this one is. And can you point me to an open source license that requires pay per use?

This move to closed source stops the free use that was possible this far with the open source license. To me, that's a plausible motive. Is there a more significant one?

Re: Mapbox-gl-js is no longer under the 3-Clause BSD license

#37

Well, that sucks. I've been a happy Mapbox GL JS user for years, hosting my own tiles and not using their service at all. I even had a few (very small) pull requests accepted into the project. Hopefully the OSS community can maintain a fork of the 1.x codebase. -edit- The FAQ says developers can still use self hosted tiles, but also says that usage is now billed per map load, and "a map load occurs whenever a Map obj…

> To me that sound like while I can still use my own map tiles, it would still costs the same as if I used Mapbox hosted tiles.

That's my reading of it, as well. Even though it's somewhat expected on the data collection side, it's decidedly unexpected that they not only require ToS acceptance, but also licensing fees for what used to be entirely free, OSS software.

> Hopefully the OSS community can maintain a fork of the 1.x codebase.

I'm sure this will happen. My company is trying to get some consensus around the best way to proceed. Email in bio if you're interested in taking part!

Re: Mapbox-gl-js is no longer under the 3-Clause BSD license

#38

What a shame. I guess they got sick of people taking their code and ripping out their API subscriptions. For anyone interested in an open source mapping library (that also has 3D support) that can handle raster data (including the Mapbox tiles), I launched a project 2 weeks ago that is the culmination of 7 years effort: https://github.com/felixpalmer/procedural-gl-js/ . I must say (while acknowledging my huge bias) t…

[deleted]

Re: Mapbox-gl-js is no longer under the 3-Clause BSD license

#39

I guess we should expect to see a fork of the v1 codebase?

Founder, Stadia Maps here. We're looking into this, as well as trying to build consensus with the other map vendors on how to approach it. If you're a vendor and what to be part of it, email me (luke at stadiamaps.com).

Glad to see this. I’m a long time mapbox gl js user for https://onthegomap.com which costs $300-400 per month for running my own graphhopper routing servers and Stadia Maps tile hosting. It would cost over $3000 per month to upgrade to 2.0 and I have no need for 3D.

I also use mapbox gl js for visualizing large datasets locally (precomoute vector tiles from non-geographic datasets), which doesn’t seems like it needs to be reaching out to mapbox servers.

Happy to help, I’ve had a few pull requests accepted to the mapbox gl js codebase.

Re: Mapbox-gl-js is no longer under the 3-Clause BSD license

#40
Mapbox has been extremely generous in releasing their rendering libraries under a permissive license. Creating a map renderer that matches the user experience of Google Maps is a FAANG-level effort, and Mapbox GL also encompasses:

* A single style specification format that works well for both base map rendering and data overlays

* Parity across native and web rendering

* Smooth SDF text rendering with decent i18n support

* A font to SDF renderer that is open source: https://github.com/mapbox/node-fontnik

* A tiled data format that is open source: https://github.com/mapbox/vector-tile-spec

I hope this licensing change can spur some competition among open source renderers. I’d recommend taking a look at:

* Tangram: https://github.com/tangrams/tangram - another WebGL based renderer with some key advantages over MapboxGL JS such as custom shaders and canvas text

* OpenLayers: https://openlayers.org has some vector and WebGL capabilities now as well

* Harp: https://www.harp.gl is another new WebGL option

I've been working recently with Tangram, so contact me (see user link) if you have questions or are interested in collaborating!

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