Qiusheng Wu
@giswqs • 51,507 subscribers
Associate Professor @UTKGeography | @Amazon Scholar | Talk about #opensource #geospatial #dataviz #GeoAI
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GeoLibre v2.0.0 is here! GeoLibre is a free and open-source geospatial platform that runs everywhere: as a native desktop app, in the browser, on Android, and embedded right inside Jupyter notebooks. It brings modern web mapping, cloud-native data formats, and a full processing toolbox together in one place, all built on MapLibre and with no proprietary lock-in. Our first major release adds a true 3D globe, takes mapping beyond Earth to Mars and the Moon, lets styles round-trip with QGIS, and turns loaded vector layers into editable, save-back-to-source data. What's new in v2.0.0 - Planetary mapping: explore Mars, the Moon, and other bodies with the OpenPlanetaryMap basemaps, a per-project ellipsoid, and a planet switcher right in the Layers panel. - CesiumJS 3D globe: switch any map pane to a photorealistic 3D globe that stays camera-synced with your 2D maps and mirrors the layer stack. - True 3D data: render vector layers with Z coordinates, load TIN/MultiPatch 3D shapefiles, and display KML/KMZ Collada (.dae) 3D models. - Symbology interchange: import and export vector styling as OGC SLD, QGIS QML, and Mapbox GL style JSON, so styles round-trip between GeoLibre, QGIS, and the Mapbox/MapLibre ecosystem. - Editable source layers: edit vector layers and write the changes back to their source, including GeoPackage and GeoJSON files and PostGIS database tables. - Weather and sky: a new Weather menu with live cloud and precipitation radar overlays (RainViewer), plus a Google Earth-style sun position simulation for realistic lighting. - Terrain and lighting: double-click the terrain control to set vertical exaggeration, and view any scene in true 3D relief. - Smarter data import: bring in CSV without coordinates as an attribute table, split GPX track points and route points into separate layers, and load macOS-zipped and projected-CRS shapefiles. - Raster in the browser: build normalized-difference indices for any HTTP COG and extract COG/WMS/XYZ bounding-box subsets client-side. - Field Calculator upgrades: compute geometry length and area directly on your features. - Attribute table: multi-select rows with Ctrl and Shift, plus faster navigation. - Google Earth-style extras: "View in Google Maps / Google Earth" actions, camera-reset keyboard shortcuts, and a UTM easting/northing grid mode for the Gridlines overlay. - New plugins: a Mapillary coverage and street-level image viewer, a Historical Imagery panel, and an Elevation Profile tool. - Fully localized: all 13 language catalogs are complete, so the entire UI is translatable. Try it out - Launch GeoLibre Web: - GitHub: - Documentation: - Release notes: #GIS #GeospatialData #OpenSource #RemoteSensing #DataVisualization #MapLibre #GeoLibre
Qiusheng Wu34,433 views • 7 days ago
GeoLibre v1.10.0 is here! GeoLibre is a free and open-source, lightweight, cloud-native GIS platform for visualizing, exploring, and analyzing geospatial data. It runs everywhere you do, in the web browser, on the desktop, on mobile, and inside Jupyter notebooks, all while keeping your data local and private. This release brings photorealistic city-scale 3D to the map, adds OGC API vector tiles, and makes vector tiles and live editing easier to work with. What's new in v1.10.0 - Google Photorealistic 3D Tiles: drape entire cities in photorealistic 3D right in the map, streamed and rendered through - ArcGIS I3S scene layers: stream Integrated Mesh and 3D Object scene layers and render them in 3D on the shared instance. - OGC API vector tiles: add standards-based OGC API - Tiles vector tile services as a remote source, right alongside XYZ and ArcGIS vector tiles. - Local HDF5 and NetCDF-4 loading: open scientific HDF5 and NetCDF-4 files straight from disk, no cloud references required. - GeoEditor from the current view: pull the vector features currently visible in the map into the GeoEditor and start editing what you are looking at, without re-importing the source data. Try it out - Launch GeoLibre Web: - GitHub: - Documentation: - Release notes: #GIS #Geospatial #OpenSource #RemoteSensing #DataVisualization #MapLibre
Qiusheng Wu23,612 views • 13 days ago
GeoLibre v1.5.0 is here! GeoLibre is a free and open-source, lightweight, cloud-native GIS platform for visualizing, exploring, and analyzing geospatial data. It runs everywhere you do, in the web browser, on the desktop, on mobile, and inside Jupyter notebooks, all while keeping your data local and private. This release lands 90+ merged pull requests and resolves 90+ issues, adding a dashboard of chart widgets, customizable UI profiles, a saved library of web services, and an in-browser Whitebox raster engine. What's new in v1.5.0 - Dashboard panel: Build a collapsible panel of chart widgets (histogram, scatter, bar, line, box) next to the map. - Customizable UI profiles: Tailor the menus and filter the data sources you see, so the workspace matches your workflow. - Saved service library: Save and reuse your favorite web-service layers (XYZ, WMS, WFS) instead of re-entering URLs. - Whitebox in the browser: Run Whitebox raster tools fully client-side through a WASM runtime, no Python sidecar required. - View menu and viewport history: Step backward and forward through your recent map views from a new View menu. - A more beautiful globe: Add a spinning globe, customize the atmosphere halo and deep-space colors, and reset pitch and bearing with a rotation indicator. - More basemaps: New Protomaps basemaps and support for stacking multiple raster basemaps. Try it out - Live demo: - GitHub: - Documentation: - Release notes: #GIS #GeospatialData #OpenSource #RemoteSensing #DataVisualization #MapLibre #Python
Qiusheng Wu41,308 views • 29 days ago
GeoLibre v1.2.0 is here! GeoLibre is a free and open-source, lightweight, cloud-native GIS platform for visualizing, exploring, and analyzing geospatial data. One application that runs everywhere: in your web browser, as a native desktop app, on your phone, and inside a Jupyter notebook. No account, no server, no cost. Everything runs locally and your data stays private. This release packs in 35+ pull requests of new capabilities. A few highlights: - Run SQL right in the browser. The SQL Workspace pairs DuckDB Spatial with a new in-browser PostGIS engine (PGlite), so you can query layers, local files, and remote URLs without a server. - A smarter attribute table. Add fields, run a field calculator, and explore your data with a built-in Charts panel (histogram, scatter, bar, line, and box plots). - More ways to add data. OpenStreetMap PBF extracts, Cloud-Optimized NetCDF/HDF via kerchunk, georeferenced video overlays, authenticated 3D Tiles, and a Layer builder for custom overlays. - Better visualization. Heatmap rendering, point clustering, and H3 hexagonal grids for spatial binning. - New analysis and routing. A Directions plugin, plus Spatial Join, Select by Value, and Select by Location vector tools. - Print and share. A print layout composer that exports your map to PNG or PDF. - Work faster. A command palette (Ctrl/Cmd + K), global keyboard shortcuts, and undo/redo for layer and style operations. - Built for everyone. New internationalization framework, an accessibility pass with automated axe checks, an installable offline-capable PWA web build, React error boundaries, and Playwright end-to-end tests. Try the live demo: Star it on GitHub: Docs and roadmap: Release notes: #GIS #OpenSource #Geospatial #MapLibre #WebGIS #DuckDB #GeoLibre
Qiusheng Wu39,608 views • 1 month ago
GeoLibre v0.9.0 is out. GeoLibre is a lightweight, cloud-native GIS platform for visualizing, exploring, and analyzing geospatial data across desktop and web environments, with a responsive layout for mobile screens. This release turns GeoLibre into a far more complete analysis environment. Highlights: - New cloud data panels for Microsoft Planetary Computer and Google Earth Engine, plus an Overture Maps plugin and federal Web Services plugins, including NASA Earthdata, USGS National Map, EPA EnviroAtlas, FEMA NFHL - Accessing 1000+ NASA Earthdata layers with a few simple clicks - Time Slider plugin for animating time series raster and vector data - SQL Workspace: run DuckDB Spatial SQL directly against loaded layers, local files, and remote URLs, with query history and one-click "add results to map" - Conversion tools: Vector to GeoParquet, CSV to GeoParquet, and Raster to COG, running in the browser with DuckDB-WASM - Controls menu with Measure, Bookmark, Minimap, View State, and Print Everything is open source. Try it in your browser, install the desktop app, or self-host it. Live demo: GitHub: Feedback and contributions are welcome. #GIS #Geospatial #OpenSource #MapLibre #DuckDB #WebGIS #GeoLibre
Qiusheng Wu42,356 views • 1 month ago
GeoLibre now supports rendering Google Photorealistic 3D Tiles! GeoLibre is a free and open-source, lightweight, cloud-native GIS platform for visualizing, exploring, and analyzing geospatial data. It runs everywhere you do, in the web browser, on the desktop, on mobile, and inside Jupyter notebooks, all while keeping your data local and private. Try it out with your own Google Maps API key: - Launch GeoLibre web: - GitHub: - Documentation: #GIS #Geospatial #OpenSource #RemoteSensing #MapLibre #GeoLibre
Qiusheng Wu19,096 views • 17 days ago
I am very excited to release GeoLibre v1.0 🌍 GeoLibre is a free and open-source, lightweight, cloud-native GIS platform for visualizing, exploring, and analyzing geospatial data. One application that runs everywhere: in your web browser, as a native desktop app, on your phone, and inside a Jupyter notebook. No account, no server, no cost. Everything runs locally and your data stays private. In this video, I walk through GeoLibre 1.0 step by step: how to install and run it, load vector and raster data, stream gigabyte-scale cloud-native datasets without downloading them, edit attributes and geometry, work with PMTiles, 3D tiles, LiDAR point clouds, and DuckDB, and share your projects as static links. GeoLibre is built on MapLibre GL JS, React + TypeScript, Tauri (Rust), DuckDB, and Try it: GitHub: Full video tutorial: If you have feature requests or run into bugs, leave a comment or open an issue on GitHub. And if you find GeoLibre useful, please give it a star. #GIS #OpenSource #Geospatial #MapLibre #Python #DataVisualization #GeoLibre
Qiusheng Wu39,210 views • 1 month ago
GeoLibre v1.9.0 is here! GeoLibre is a free and open-source, lightweight, cloud-native GIS platform for visualizing, exploring, and analyzing geospatial data. It runs everywhere you do, in the web browser, on the desktop, on mobile, and inside Jupyter notebooks, all while keeping your data local and private. This release brings CAD drawing import, smarter WMS and WFS service discovery, and a docked SQL workspace with autocomplete. What's new in v1.9.0 - CAD import: Add CAD drawings (DXF/DWG) as a layer, with a picker for choosing which drawing layers to load and a CRS selector for placing them correctly on the map. - Smarter service discovery: WMS and WFS panels now read the service's GetCapabilities, so you pick available layers and feature types from a populated dropdown instead of typing names by hand. - Docked SQL Workspace: The SQL Workspace now docks as a resizable panel beside the map, with editor autocomplete for tables, columns, and SQL keywords. - Generic Vector to Vector conversion: Convert between any supported vector formats by file extension, alongside the existing targeted converters. - Richer camera tours: Per-keyframe hold and transition duration controls for finer pacing, plus save and reload of a named tour setup. - Better story maps: A hide-itinerary toggle, subtitle and byline fields on the printable handout, and dedicated start and closing slides. - Styling and plugin extras: A transparent (no fill / no outline) option in the color picker, a Legend populated from a paletted raster's color table, and plugins can now use the maplibre-gl-raster stack and the projection control. Try it out - Launch GeoLibre web: - GitHub: - Documentation: - Release notes: #GIS #Geospatial #OpenSource #RemoteSensing #DataVisualization #MapLibre #Python
Qiusheng Wu19,457 views • 17 days ago
GeoLibre v1.4.0 is here! GeoLibre is a free and open-source, lightweight, cloud-native GIS platform for visualizing, exploring, and analyzing geospatial data. It runs everywhere you do, in the web browser, on the desktop, on mobile, and inside Jupyter notebooks, all while keeping your data local and private. This release brings field data collection, image georeferencing, and a full Jupyter notebook experience right next to the map. What's new in v1.4.0 - Jupyter beside the map: Run notebooks alongside your map (JupyterLite in the browser, JupyterLab on the desktop). - Field data collection: Capture point observations in the field with custom, configurable forms. - Georeferencer: Pin a scanned map or image to the map using ground control points. - Spectral Index toolbox: Compute NDVI, NDWI, EVI, and more directly from your rasters. - Better internationalization: Correct rendering of right-to-left basemap labels (Arabic, Hebrew). - More reliable data handling: Render GeoPackages without GDAL's WASM thread crash. Try it out - Live demo: - GitHub: - Documentation: - Release notes: #GIS #GeospatialData #OpenSource #RemoteSensing #DataVisualization #MapLibre #Python
Qiusheng Wu29,386 views • 1 month ago
I am excited to introduce OpenGeoAgent, a powerful open-source multimodal AI agent for automated geospatial analysis and visualization! It supports QGIS, Jupyter notebook, and Python scripting. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to automate GIS workflows using natural language, generate maps, analyze satellite data, and even run complex hydrological models. You can even interact with the agent using voice commands (no typing needed). Video: GitHub: QGIS Plugin: #geospatial #GeoAgent #OpenSource #AI
Qiusheng Wu62,096 views • 2 months ago
Introducing anymap-ts: a new Python package that makes geospatial visualization easy! Built on MapLibre + TypeScript, anymap-ts brings the same rich mapping experience to both the web and Jupyter Notebook. It supports many popular geospatial formats, including GeoJSON, GeoParquet, FlatGeobuf, PMTiles, COG, Zarr, COPC LiDAR, and Gaussian Splat. It also includes powerful built-in UI components such as a minimap, bookmarks, print tool, view state manager, STAC search, street view, and geometry editor. Try it out: Web demo: Jupyter demo: GitHub: Documentation: Video tutorial: #mapping #maplibre #typescript #jupyter #python
Qiusheng Wu102,240 views • 5 months ago
I'm excited to introduce GeoLibre, a lightweight, cloud-native desktop GIS built with MapLibre GL JS and Tauri. GeoLibre is designed for modern geospatial workflows, combining the flexibility of web technologies with the performance of a native desktop application. The current prototype includes a MapLibre-powered map workspace, local vector data import, project persistence, and built-in plugins for basemaps, layer control, swipe, street view, lidar, GeoAgent, and GeoEditor integrations. GeoLibre can run directly in a web browser or as a standalone cross-platform desktop application (<30 MB). GitHub: Website: Live demo: Feedback, ideas, and contributions are welcome. #GeoLibre #GIS #Geospatial #MapLibre #OpenSource #CloudNative
Qiusheng Wu34,538 views • 1 month ago
🎁 A New Year’s gift to the geospatial community: a brand-new QGIS plugin that unlocks access to 80+ petabytes of satellite imagery and geospatial datasets with zero coding required. In my first video of 2026, I’m excited to share what might be one of the most powerful QGIS plugins I’ve built so far. This plugin makes it incredibly easy to explore the official Earth Engine Data Catalog and the Awesome GEE Community Catalog directly inside QGIS. With just a few clicks, you can browse massive Earth Engine datasets, visualize them on the map, generate time series from ImageCollections, export data for further analysis, and even convert Earth Engine JavaScript workflows to Python, all without writing a single line of code. If you’ve ever wanted the power of Earth Engine inside QGIS without the learning curve, this plugin is for you. 👉 Download the plugin and follow the full step-by-step video tutorial to get started today: QGIS Plugin Page: GitHub Repository: Video Tutorial: Happy New Year, and I hope this tool helps you do more with geospatial data in 2026 🚀 #QGIS #geospatial #EarthEngine #Python #datascience
Qiusheng Wu84,918 views • 6 months ago
GeoLibre v1.1 is out! GeoLibre is a free and open-source, lightweight, cloud-native GIS platform for visualizing, exploring, and analyzing geospatial data. One application that runs everywhere: in your web browser, as a native desktop app, on your phone, and inside a Jupyter notebook. No account, no server, no cost. Everything runs locally and your data stays private. This release builds on the v1.0 foundation with features that make day-to-day mapping smoother: - Attribute table management — rename, delete, hide/show, and reorder fields right in the table, with the layout saved to your project. - Data-driven symbology for Add Vector Layer — single, categorized, graduated, and expression-based styling now applies to maplibre-gl-vector layers. - Atmosphere Effects plugin — a deep-space backdrop, parallax starfield, comets, and a glowing globe halo at low zoom (toggle it from the Controls menu). - Layer panel upgrades — rename layers, open the attribute table, and export straight from the layer actions menu. - Auto Refresh extended to Add Vector Layer URL layers. - In-browser GeoPandas via Pyodide — run the vector tools with no Python sidecar, same results. - Plugin API — external plugins can now render on the host's shared instance via app.getDeckGL(). Try the live demo: Star it on GitHub: Docs and roadmap: Release notes: #GIS #OpenSource #Geospatial #MapLibre #WebGIS #DuckDB #GeoLibre
Qiusheng Wu20,691 views • 1 month ago
GeoLibre v1.6.0 is here! GeoLibre is a free and open-source, lightweight, cloud-native GIS platform for visualizing, exploring, and analyzing geospatial data. It runs everywhere you do, in the web browser, on the desktop, on mobile, and inside Jupyter notebooks, all while keeping your data local and private. This release brings multi-map layouts, advanced cartographic symbology and labeling, and a one-click way to install external plugins from a zip. What's new in v1.6.0 - Multi-map grid: Split the workspace into a grid of synchronized map views to compare basemaps, layers, or time steps side by side. - Advanced symbology: Style features with a rule-based renderer, proportional symbols, fill patterns, and a built-in marker library. - Label engine: Label vector features by any attribute, with full placement and styling control. - Install plugins from a zip: Add external plugins from an uploaded zip on both desktop and web. - New vector analysis: Movement, space-time, and cell-coverage tools under Processing. - Faster sample data: Ready-to-load example datasets from a dropdown in every Add Data panel. - Place search in the layer panel: Geocode and fly to a location without leaving the Layers panel. Try it out - Live demo: - GitHub: - Documentation: - Release notes: #GIS #GeospatialData #OpenSource #RemoteSensing #DataVisualization #MapLibre #Python #Cartography
Qiusheng Wu15,293 views • 27 days ago
GeoLibre v1.3.0 is here! GeoLibre is a free and open-source, lightweight, cloud-native GIS platform for visualizing, exploring, and analyzing geospatial data. One application that runs everywhere: in your web browser, as a native desktop app, on your phone, and inside a Jupyter notebook. No account, no server, no cost. Everything runs locally and your data stays private. This release packs in 50+ pull requests of new capabilities. A few highlights: - GIS in your pocket. A native Android build with offline tile caching and download-a-region support, so you can take your maps into the field with no signal. - AI, built in. A natural-language GIS assistant that turns plain-English requests into real geoprocessing, plus an AI segmentation toolbox powered by SamGeo and SAM 3 for extracting features from imagery. - Automate everything with Python. A full scripting API and an in-app Python Console, with new helpers for local rasters, choropleths, marker clusters, split-map comparisons, legends, and colorbars. - Map together, live. Real-time multi-user collaboration so you can open a project and edit the map with others at the same time. - Tell stories with maps. A scroll-driven story map builder and presenter that exports interactive narrative maps to standalone HTML. - A much bigger analysis toolbox. Reproject, explode, and aggregate tools, IDW and kriging interpolation, zonal statistics, a raster calculator, a Spatial Statistics toolbox, and network analysis with isochrones, service areas, and OD cost matrices, plus batch runs and model/pipeline chaining. - Smarter raster and SQL. Single-band pseudocolor classification, RGB band combinations, a no-backend client-side raster fallback, Apache Sedona as a SQL Workspace engine, and transparent S3, GCS, and Azure URL support in queries. - More ways to add, view, and share. New Shapefile and GeoPackage export, glTF/GLB 3D model layers, multi-provider batch and reverse geocoding, collapsible layer groups, and a macOS Homebrew cask. Try the live demo: Star it on GitHub: Docs and roadmap: Release notes: #GIS #OpenSource #Geospatial #MapLibre #WebGIS #Android #GeoLibre
Qiusheng Wu18,075 views • 1 month ago
This Free Tool Unlocks Access to Nationwide US LiDAR Data in Seconds! Discover how this powerful web app lets you search, visualize, and download LiDAR point clouds across the entire United States, in just seconds. Built with the maplibre-gl-lidar plugin, this tool makes nationwide USGS LiDAR data more accessible than ever. Try the Web App: GitHub Repository: Full video tutorial: #lidar #opendata #opensource #usgs
Qiusheng Wu70,023 views • 6 months ago
GeoLibre v1.7.0 is here! GeoLibre is a free and open-source, lightweight, cloud-native GIS platform for visualizing, exploring, and analyzing geospatial data. It runs everywhere you do, in the web browser, on the desktop, on mobile, and inside Jupyter notebooks, all while keeping your data local and private. This release opens up the UI to plugins, adds inline color ramp previews across the styling panels, and makes the Whitebox toolbox browsable right from the Processing menu. What's new in v1.7.0 - Plugin UI host API: Plugins can now register first-class right-sidebar panels, toolbar menus, and floating panels that dock beside the built-in Style panel instead of faking an overlay. - Color ramp previews: Both the vector and raster style panels show each colormap's gradient inline, so you can see the colors while you pick rather than reading a list of names. - Richer vector labeling: ArcGIS-style label controls for anchor, offset, rotation, wrap width, and letter case, plus modes that collapse stacked points at the same coordinate into a single label. - Whitebox by category: Browse the whole Whitebox toolbox by category directly in the Processing menu, with an offline-bundled tool catalog for restricted environments. - Collaboration at a glance: An on-canvas session badge and roster show a live dot, the connected-participant count, and who is in the session, with a clear way back to the map. Try it out - Live demo: - GitHub: - Documentation: - Release notes: #GIS #GeospatialData #OpenSource #RemoteSensing #DataVisualization #MapLibre #Python #Plugins
Qiusheng Wu12,735 views • 26 days ago
Visualize 350TB of LiDAR Point Clouds (75 Trillion Points in Your Browser!) Learn how to access and visualize massive USGS LiDAR datasets, including over 350TB and 75 trillion points, directly in your browser using two powerful open-source formats: - COPC (Cloud Optimized Point Cloud) - Entwine Point Tiles (EPT) for large-area streaming No downloads needed. Stream and explore massive point cloud datasets instantly using cloud-native datasets from AWS Open Data Program and Microsoft Planetary Computer. Try it now: LiDAR Viewer: GitHub: Full video tutorial: #lidar #COPC #USGS #opensource #opendata
Qiusheng Wu56,179 views • 6 months ago