Not long ago, we began rendering 3D models
on GitHub. Today we’re excited to announce the latest addition to the visualization family –
geographic data. Any .geojson file in a GitHub
repository will now be automatically rendered as an interactive, browsable map, annotated
with your geodata.
People are already using GitHub to store everything from
Chicago zipcodes
to community radio stations
to historic hurricane paths,
and we can’t wait to see what the community will begin to collaborate on next.
Under the hood we use Leaflet.js to render the
geoJSON data, and overlay it on a custom version of MapBox’s
street view baselayer — simplified so that your data can really shine. Best of all, the
base map uses OpenStreetMap data, so if you find
an area to improve, edit away.
Maps on GitHub support rendering GIS data as points, lines, and polygons.
You can even customize the way your data is displayed, such as coloring and
sizing individual markers, specifying a more descriptive icon, or providing
additional human-readable information to help identify the feature on click.
Looking to get started? Simply commit a .geojson file to a new or existing
repository, or dive into the docs
to learn how to customize the map’s styling.
Written by
Ben Balter is Chief of Staff for Security at GitHub, the world’s largest software development platform. Previously, as a Staff Technical Program manager for Enterprise and Compliance, Ben managed GitHub’s on-premises and SaaS enterprise offerings, and as the Senior Product Manager overseeing the platform’s Trust and Safety efforts, Ben shipped more than 500 features in support of community management, privacy, compliance, content moderation, product security, platform health, and open source workflows to ensure the GitHub community and platform remained safe, secure, and welcoming for all software developers. Before joining GitHub’s Product team, Ben served as GitHub’s Government Evangelist, leading the efforts to encourage more than 2,000 government organizations across 75 countries to adopt open source philosophies for code, data, and policy development.
