A free, declarative way to publish a map of any public dataset.
Drop a geocontext.json at the root of a public GitHub repo, then open it
as an interactive map. No fork, no build, no account.
geocontext.info · Live viewer · Format spec
A map is just a file in a repo. Describe what you want — a basemap, your data, the layers — in one small JSON file, commit it to any public GitHub repo, and open:
…/<user>/<repo>/map
GeoContext fetches your config and data over a CDN and renders an interactive map. The repo stays the source of truth; the map follows when you push. It's the engine that powers OpenHistoryMap.
{
"title": "My map",
"center": [44.292, 13.975],
"startzoom": 5,
"background": "osm",
"datasources": [
{ "name": "places", "type": "geojson+http+remote",
"conf": { "source": "data/places.geojson" } }
],
"layers": [
{ "name": "Places", "type": "features", "datasource": "places",
"style": { "options": { "radius": 4, "fillColor": "#9448b7" } } }
]
}One engine renders the maps; three on-ramps create them — write the JSON by hand, draw it in a desktop editor, or export it straight from QGIS.
| Repository | What it is |
|---|---|
| geocontext-front | The web engine — Angular + MapLibre/Leaflet. Renders any repo at /<user>/<repo>/map. Plugin-driven basemaps & data formats. |
| geocontext-app | GeoContext Editor — a Tauri + SvelteKit desktop app to author and publish repos with forms, asset analysis, import, and a live preview. |
| geocontext-qgis | GeoContext Sync — a QGIS plugin that exports the current map canvas as geocontext.json + datasets/*.geojson, to a folder or a repo. |
- Your data — GeoJSON & CSV, inline or fetched (tag CSV columns with
gcx:lat/gcx:lon). - Basemaps — OSM, CARTO, OpenFantasyMaps, raw XYZ, plus
wms-tiledandarcgis-imageservices. - Terrain — DEM hillshade and optional 3D terrain on the MapLibre flavour.
- Live streams — the
geomqttlayer pushes features from an MQTT broker in real time. - Static pages — ship About / Sources / Methodology prose alongside the map.
- CDN-delivered — assets resolve through jsDelivr against your repo; nothing to host.
Marsicano, L. & Montanari, M. (2018). GeoContext and ChContext: Geographic Information in Cultural Heritage. International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, XLII-4/W8, 129–132. doi.org/10.5194/isprs-archives-XLII-4-W8-129-2018
Apache-2.0 · Made in Bologna by OpenHistoryMap — archaeologists and developers, since 2015.