Map Clustering Is Not My Favorite • Hacker News Board

Re: Map Clustering Is Not My Favorite

#41

Post by smeej » Wed, Jun 17, 2026, 8:42 PM UTC

gregsadetsky wrote: post #29

smeej wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it end up a darker or at least fully opaque dot to show it's not the same as the individual dots elsewhere? Like from your example in the article, I might make that dot maroon (or some other color entirely) instead of red so people understand "there are multiple things here." This has been my first adventure dealing with maps with user-generated points and I'm discovering how much goes on behind the scenes that…

It’s not easy for sure and I’m not a designer or ui/ux expert - just been around maps for a while I agree with you that the point itself could show that it’s special - or - rely on users tapping/clicking it and then show all the info In a sense, maybe conveying that the point has more than one data point attached to it isn’t critical - as long as you can see everything inside when clicking it! Feel free to email me,…

I think the reason I might like to have the dot be darker is also because even at closer zooms, it suggests "There's a high density of activity here," which could make it more obvious that a town or neighborhood is active in my app in a way that wouldn't be as obvious if there were just one regular dot on an area that might not have a lot of good places to meet, but does have lots of groups meeting at the one really great meeting place.

If I'm browsing the map trying to decide if it's worth joining the platform at all, I'm a lot more likely to stay and click around if I can tell my area has lots of options, not just one.

I can't sent it right now, but I can follow up with you too. My opinions here might very well be specific to my own project.

Re: Map Clustering Is Not My Favorite

#42

Post by willtemperley » Thu, Jun 18, 2026, 2:10 AM UTC

xemoka wrote: post #39

willtemperley wrote: post #37

That’s a useful article, and as impressive as these demos are, and how smooth Maplibre is, I dearly wish people would spend more time on building map tech that is actually based on geoscience. The heat map is a good example. What does it mean? Points per what? And I can’t bear to talk about the tyranny of Web Mercator. Maps are so much more powerful when they mean something, and convey scientific facts or actionable…

OpenLayers is probably what you're looking for. It supports multiple projections. It's a wonderful library, but a bit more ceremony is required than MapLibre/box and leaflet.

OL is great, but it's still not really usable as a GIS renderer, especially in native apps.

Re: Map Clustering Is Not My Favorite

#43

Post by grvdrm » Thu, Jun 18, 2026, 9:15 AM UTC

willtemperley wrote: post #37

That’s a useful article, and as impressive as these demos are, and how smooth Maplibre is, I dearly wish people would spend more time on building map tech that is actually based on geoscience. The heat map is a good example. What does it mean? Points per what? And I can’t bear to talk about the tyranny of Web Mercator. Maps are so much more powerful when they mean something, and convey scientific facts or actionable…

Is Kepler what you're looking for?

Not sure if I am pointing in the right direction but curious.

https://kepler.gl

Re: Map Clustering Is Not My Favorite

#44

Post by willtemperley » Thu, Jun 18, 2026, 3:01 PM UTC

grvdrm wrote: post #43

willtemperley wrote: post #37

That’s a useful article, and as impressive as these demos are, and how smooth Maplibre is, I dearly wish people would spend more time on building map tech that is actually based on geoscience. The heat map is a good example. What does it mean? Points per what? And I can’t bear to talk about the tyranny of Web Mercator. Maps are so much more powerful when they mean something, and convey scientific facts or actionable…

Is Kepler what you're looking for? Not sure if I am pointing in the right direction but curious. https://kepler.gl

Thanks, a quick glance makes me think Kepler is a layer on top of MapLibre GL. Good looking tools, but not professional GIS tools.

I’ll take a closer look. Really what I’m after is a native GIS renderer, like QGIS has, or ArcGIS that are part of a process to allow high fidelity map production.

Professional maps have legal and scientific meaning. With Kepler and MapLibre I see pretty pictures.

Re: Map Clustering Is Not My Favorite

#45

Post by stevage » Fri, Jun 19, 2026, 7:59 PM UTC

Yeah I hate clustering too. Especially since, like the OP points out, mapping libraries have been easily able to handle thousands of points on screen for many years now.

At least, make the clustering less aggressive so you only get clusters for large numbers of points.