December 2012 Summaries

The CartoDB.js beta release offers several key benefits to developers, including continuous improvement through testing and iteration, unification of mapping libraries for flexibility and ease of use, better support for CartoDB visualizations on websites, and full control over customization options. The library also aims to reduce latency and improve performance with its availability on a content delivery network (CDN), allowing for faster website loading times. Additionally, the release includes features such as versioning, bug reporting, and a user thread for support, making it easier for developers to report issues and request help. Overall, CartoDB.js is designed to provide developers with a powerful, easy-to-use tool for building online geospatial applications.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' visualization showcases filming locations in New Zealand, created using CartoDB and media added to info windows with CartoDB.js library. The project is available for public viewing on GitHub as an example of the new library's capabilities.

Hackathons, hacks, and meetups have been happening around the community over the past few months, with CartoDB being involved in several events such as DataKind's DataDive HackNY Princeton Hack Film Tow Center Mapathon EcoHack and SanHack. The team also organizes the NYC GIS meetup and will be hosting a Geo meetup in Madrid, Spain. A recent hackathon, EcoHack, brought together environmental scientists with developers to solve real-world challenges, resulting in projects such as a makeover for dontflush.me and visualizations of insects. CartoDB's team is excited to see the community's passion and creativity, and invites others to share their own projects via [email protected].

The recent release of CartoDB 2.0 introduces a range of new styling features, including a revamped user interface for maps and improved point-and-click visualization support for advanced CartoCSS methods. The new styling interface allows users to easily customize their maps with options such as density maps, hexagon grids, and label addition. Additionally, the release includes enhanced infowindows, basemaps, and shared map features, giving users more control over how their visualizations appear. The updated CartoCSS capabilities also enable advanced styling methods, including 3D visualizations, blending, and variable-based styling, as demonstrated in an example that uses SQL query results to style buildings with varying heights.