Spatial intelligence systems, GIS + AI, and the tools that make them possible.
The SDK Was Always There — AI Just Handed You the Keys
The ArcGIS JavaScript SDK has been Esri's most powerful toolkit for nearly two decades. It was also nearly impossible for most GIS practitioners to use. Here's what changed.
Stop Hitting the Wall — ArcGIS SDK + AI
Why ExB and Dashboards hit a ceiling — and how the ArcGIS JavaScript SDK, paired with AI, removes it.
Talking to Your Map — How Esri's Agentic Pattern Works
The ArcGIS JS SDK 5.0 agentic pattern explained: why your map needs vector embeddings before an LLM can query it, and what the natural language → layer → answer pipeline actually looks like.
The Thin HTML Deploy Pattern — From Prompt to Live URL in 8 Minutes
Describe a tool in plain English. Get working code. Push to GitHub. Live on Vercel. Under 10 minutes. No servers, no build steps, no DevOps. This is the actual workflow.
The Lego Principle — How Modern GIS Tools Actually Fit Together
GIS tools aren't monoliths. They're bricks. Feature Layers, Web Maps, Experience Builder, the SDK, Vercel — each snaps onto the next. Once you see the connectors, building gets fast.
The Bus Theory of GIS Development
What happens to your maps when you're gone? Thin HTML files outlive their authors. Experience Builder apps don't. The bus theory is the best argument for learning the SDK.
The Pattern Transfers: What AI Unlocks Beyond ArcGIS
The ArcGIS SDK was just where I learned the pattern. Every complex toolkit — D3, Three.js, Plotly, Python — works identically. Here's what that actually means.
Security First — Building Tools That Assume Breach
The mindset shift that changes how you build GIS tools: don't ask whether your data is secure — assume it isn't, and build accordingly. What that means in practice for field names, schemas, and live data.
Geomasking, YubiKeys, and Blast Radius — Security in Practice
Hardware keys, geomasking, zero-credential code, and blast radius thinking. Security in GIS work isn't a checklist — it's a design constraint that shapes every decision.
OAuth Without the Pain — Authentication for GIS Developers
OAuth scared me for years. Then I understood the actual flow — five steps, one non-obvious rule. Here's what I wish someone had shown me.
Beyond the Eye Candy: What Anvaka's Work Actually Teaches
Andrei Kashcha's open-source visualization projects look like art. The techniques underneath — Barnes-Hut physics simulation, GPU-first particle rendering, vector tile pipelines — are directly applicable to GIS work at scale.
The Stack: ArcGIS + MapLibre + Deck.gl
Three tools, three layers, one map. How ArcGIS data, MapLibre rendering, and Deck.gl visualization work together — and why almost nobody in humanitarian GIS is combining them yet.