2026-07-01 –, Auditorium
Real-time rendered maps are surprisingly complex beasts.
Things you may take for granted, such as placement of labels on the map, have been the subject of multiple PhDs and the cause of a large amount of developer blood, sweat and tears.
In this talk we will take you on a ride-along and show you the gnarliest challenges of real-time rendered maps, as well as the secrets you will find hidden deep in the MapLibre source code used to tackle them. After this talk, you will understand:
- The raison d'être of the MapLibre project.
- How we manage to evolve this complex piece of software.
- Why creating your own map toolkit is a bad idea, but why you should try anyway.
MapLibre Native
Assign a number between 1 and 4 indicating the level of technical complexity of your contribution.: 1: no technical/ thematic skill required Select at least one general theme that best defines your proposal: Analysis, manipulation and visualization of geospatial data Under which license do you make your contribution available? The conference contribution comprises the abstract, the text contribution for the conference proceedings, the presentation materials as well as the video recording and live transmission of the presentation: CC BY
Bart Louwers is maintainer of MapLibre Native
I build high-performance mapping and navigation systems—especially when OpenStreetMap data, mobile/embedded constraints, and real-time UX all collide.
What I do best:
- Map & navigation architecture (SDKs, services, data formats, integration patterns)
- OSM-driven data engineering (compilation pipelines, incremental updates, size/perf optimization)
- Rendering engines (OpenGL/mobile & embedded performance, platform constraints)
- Engineering leadership (teams, delivery systems, hiring/mentoring, multi-year roadmap execution)