The SDK Landscape
Click any card to see concepts, use cases, and how it connects to your current work.
Your Current Tier — Enterprise GIS
ESRI Enterprise
You Are Here
ArcGIS JS SDK v4
Your foundation. CDN-based, featureEffect, hitTest, queryFeatures.
Learn Next — Highest Return on Investment
Open Source WebGL
Learn Next
MapLibre GL JS
Free Mapbox fork. Vector tiles, custom styles, no license cost.
Commercial WebGL
Learn Next
Mapbox GL JS
The original. Best cartography, paid tier, massive ecosystem.
Extend Your Reach — Data Visualization
WebGL Data Viz
Learn Next
Deck.gl
Uber's large-scale data layer library. Millions of points, cinematic.
Lightweight Web Maps
Weekend Project
Leaflet
Most deployed mapping library. Simple, plugin-rich, zero WebGL.
Watch — Powerful but Specialized
3D Globe / Terrain
3–6 Months
CesiumJS
Open source 3D globe. Terrain, buildings, time-dynamic data.
Enterprise Open Source
Low Priority
OpenLayers
Verbose but powerful. Government/enterprise GIS standard.
—
Key Concepts
Use Cases for Your Work
Connection to Your Stack
Your Learning Horizon
Now
- ArcGIS JS SDK v4
- CDN approach
- featureEffect / hitTest
Next 30 Days
- MapLibre GL JS
- Deck.gl basics
- Leaflet weekend
1–3 Months
- Deck.gl + MapLibre
- Combined layers
- ECharts/Plotly
3–6 Months
- Cesium 3D
- Globe + disaster
- terrain data