Stream: boston

Topic: map of places we've met

Philip Durbin (Feb 14 2026 at 18:37):

Should we make a map of places we've met? :thinking:

Maybe the marker could be bigger the more often we've met at the same place to convey where we meet most often.

Adrian (Feb 14 2026 at 18:39):

that would definitely be cool for newcomers like me to estimate the approximate geographic center of the community

Philip Durbin (Feb 15 2026 at 04:13):

Well, here's a proof of concept, at least:

places.png

Philip Durbin (Feb 15 2026 at 04:15):

I kind of like this watercolor version better:

watercolor.png

Philip Durbin (Feb 15 2026 at 04:16):

The data: places.json

Philip Durbin (Feb 15 2026 at 15:17):

Ok, I made a PR: https://github.com/bostonopen/bostonopen.github.io/pull/18

Philip Durbin (Feb 15 2026 at 15:18):

Here's a preview:

Screenshot 2026-02-15 at 10.15.48 AM.png

Philip Durbin (Feb 15 2026 at 15:18):

merged

Philip Durbin (Feb 15 2026 at 15:20):

bah

Screenshot 2026-02-15 at 10.19.39 AM.png

Philip Durbin (Feb 15 2026 at 15:24):

Fixed. I switched it to more boring, standard, OpenStreetMap tiles:

Screenshot 2026-02-15 at 10.23.09 AM.png

Philip Durbin (Feb 15 2026 at 15:24):

Anyway, feedback welcome!

Philip Durbin (Feb 15 2026 at 15:29):

Here's how it looks on mobile. Could be better but good enough for now, I'd say.

Screenshot_20260215-102909.png

Philip Durbin (Feb 15 2026 at 15:32):

If you zoom in you'll see I have it centered on the dome at MIT:

Screenshot 2026-02-15 at 10.31.06 AM.png

I guess I could move the center west a bit so dots aren't as cut off. But who knows, maybe we'll meet downtown some day. :smile:

Dan (Feb 15 2026 at 22:30):

I think the map is very useful. I wonder if we could use one for upcoming meetings as well.

Dan (Feb 15 2026 at 22:31):

Leaflet is outgoing technology btw. maplibre is where new things are happening. Though, there's a compatibility layer I think.

Dan (Feb 15 2026 at 22:34):

Case in point - maplibre is usually vector based, and it has better tools for that. Leaflet can do vector with old protomaps libraries but the protomaps guy himself told me to use maplibre :-)

So in this case that means that you would have been able to try out different styles while using the same map data. With raster, you're stuck with what was rendered for you.

Dan (Feb 15 2026 at 22:37):

But all is not lost. How much server space you got? We could theoretically host those watercolor tiles ourselves :-D

Dan (Feb 15 2026 at 22:43):

Though it looks like they're a business so maybe it would break a license.

Philip Durbin (Feb 16 2026 at 01:46):

/me looks at https://maplibre.org

Philip Durbin (Feb 16 2026 at 01:46):

huh, I don't think I've heard of this

Philip Durbin (Feb 16 2026 at 01:47):

anyway, I'm glad you like the map

Dan (Feb 16 2026 at 02:06):

maplibre is a pretty big part of the OSM ecosystem these days. It's a fork of Mapbox from when they went closed source.

Adrian (Feb 16 2026 at 23:50):

what was that one community tile server too

Dan (Feb 17 2026 at 01:06):

Do you mean openfreemap? That's the only one I'm thinking of.

Dan (Feb 17 2026 at 01:06):

Or maps.black, lesser known, but I'm using it for a project.

Dan (Feb 17 2026 at 01:06):

Both of those are maplibre though.

Philip Durbin (Mar 12 2026 at 22:00):

Now that we have a map of places we've met, I'm extra motivated to try our some new places. :smile:

Here are the suggestions so far:

• #boston > Eastern Edge Food Hall
• #boston > High Street Place Food Hall
• #boston > Grainne O'Malley's
• #boston > Night Shift Esplanade (outside, summer only)

If you have more suggestions, please make topics for them! :smile:

Philip Durbin (Mar 22 2026 at 21:22):

Philip Durbin said:

Maybe the marker could be bigger the more often we've met at the same place to convey where we meet most often.

I just made the Hamilton marker the same size as the others.

Dan (Mar 23 2026 at 13:59):

You don't like the old idea?

Dan (Mar 23 2026 at 13:59):

Of making it bigger?

Philip Durbin (Mar 23 2026 at 22:13):

I still like the idea of making the circle bigger for the default location. I'm just not sure I want Hamilton to be the default. I think Time Out might be a better default. But I'm open to ideas!

Adrian (Mar 25 2026 at 22:44):

why not bubble size by actual # of times we have been there, and the default is like outlined in black or something, or maybe a different color bubble

Philip Durbin (Mar 25 2026 at 23:46):

Yeah, but Hamilton will be much bigger since we've met there 90% of the time (at a guess). And again, I'm not sure I want Hamilton to be the default anymore and have such a big bubble.

Adrian (Mar 25 2026 at 23:49):

what if there was a toggle that showed the bubbles both in terms of like "all time" and also "last 12 months", "last 3 months" etc so those ones change sooner to having a big bubble over time out market

Philip Durbin (Mar 26 2026 at 00:54):

Sure, that could be interesting. Maybe show last 3 or 6 months by default.

Adrian (Mar 29 2026 at 06:02):

also for some reason i now want to recommend we go to Roccos italian cucina right on the tip of north end because it would make our map almost a perfect circle of locations that we have met before LOL

Last updated: Apr 04 2026 at 05:55 UTC