Projects on the Move
Projects on the Move
This month, we explore open source science projects. The young TileMill project is a powerful mapping tool for cartographers, HUBzero provides a platform for scientific collaboration, and the NASA-sponsored Virtual Microscope magnifies specimens without breaking any glass slides.
TileMill 0.4.1 [1], an open source MapBox project built on Mapnik, was released in August 2011 and is available for Mac OS X and Ubuntu. MapBox is a Development Seed [2] product that provides open source tools to create and host custom maps. "TileMill was built because we needed better tools for quickly designing beautiful maps with custom data," says Development Seed Developer Will White. "We kicked off development of TileMill at the beginning of 2011, and the first version was released on February 16th, 2011." White says that TileMill makes it easy to create highly customized, interactive maps for the web. "With TileMill, you design maps using Carto, a map styling language that looks just like CSS," White says. "TileMill allows you to export your finished maps as MBTiles files, which can be loaded into TileStream, an open source map server," he says.
TileMill’s detailed manual [3] will get you up and running after installation. The manual offers a primer on GIS, map projections, and coordinate systems and provides a tour of the TileMill interface. After launching TileMill in a browser (Figure 1), you will see several sample projects (Figure 2) and options to add a project or see the manual. If you open the Road Trip project (Figure 3), for example, you’ll see the toolbar, stylesheet editor, map preview, and a layers list. Here, you can adjust fonts or colors, zoom in or out, add new layers, and export the map. Clicking on the book tab in the top right-hand corner of the style sheet (shown in Figure 3) opens up a Carto reference menu (Figure 4).
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
TUXEDO Computers Unveils Linux Laptop Featuring AMD Ryzen CPU
This latest release is the first laptop to include the new CPU from Ryzen and Linux preinstalled.
-
XZ Gets the All-Clear
The back door xz vulnerability has been officially reverted for Fedora 40 and versions 38 and 39 were never affected.
-
Canonical Collaborates with Qualcomm on New Venture
This new joint effort is geared toward bringing Ubuntu and Ubuntu Core to Qualcomm-powered devices.
-
Kodi 21.0 Open-Source Entertainment Hub Released
After a year of development, the award-winning Kodi cross-platform, media center software is now available with many new additions and improvements.
-
Linux Usage Increases in Two Key Areas
If market share is your thing, you'll be happy to know that Linux is on the rise in two areas that, if they keep climbing, could have serious meaning for Linux's future.
-
Vulnerability Discovered in xz Libraries
An urgent alert for Fedora 40 has been posted and users should pay attention.
-
Canonical Bumps LTS Support to 12 years
If you're worried that your Ubuntu LTS release won't be supported long enough to last, Canonical has a surprise for you in the form of 12 years of security coverage.
-
Fedora 40 Beta Released Soon
With the official release of Fedora 40 coming in April, it's almost time to download the beta and see what's new.
-
New Pentesting Distribution to Compete with Kali Linux
SnoopGod is now available for your testing needs
-
Juno Computers Launches Another Linux Laptop
If you're looking for a powerhouse laptop that runs Ubuntu, the Juno Computers Neptune 17 v6 should be on your radar.