Advocacy

Terrain Viewer streams national LiDAR and elevation datasets that each have their own community. This page keeps the list of venues where a release or showcase post fits, which ones have been done, and the upstream issues the project takes part in. It exists so that the next announcement starts from a list rather than from a search.

The post drafts, the #30DayMapChallenge 2026 plan and the venues per country are on their own pages.

DoneCopy Anchor Link

• OSM community forum, the international category and the French one.
• IGN communauté LiDAR HD (France).
• MapLibre: comments on PR 8335 (sparse tiles and the Esri placeholder tile) and PR 8567 (3D Tiles).
• geogrid-maplibre-gl: issue 18, MapLibre 6 support and label placement.
• geospatial-skills: issue 7, a browser option for remote DEMs.
• Placemark discussion.

Still to doCopy Anchor Link

• The upstream requests (maplibre-contour, Mapterhorn, impasto, maplibre-cog-protocol, Allmaps, Electrobun, Planet) are on Upstream requests.
• The venues below, Geoforum.nl first.

Getting listedCopy Anchor Link

Directories and showcases the app can appear in, with how to get there. The awesome-maplibre list already has it.

• Make with MapLibre: the MapLibre community's product catalog (about 160 entries). Use the Suggest a product form: name, URL, a one-paragraph description, a screenshot, and the MapLibre features used (terrain, globe, custom layers, custom protocols). Entries are reviewed before they appear.
• Allmaps: no showcase page. Write to the team through the #allmaps channel of the IIIF Slack (join at iiif.io/community) or by email, with a link to a Rumsey map draped on 3D terrain; ask whether the Allmaps site or newsletter lists viewers that read their annotations.
• Mapterhorn: an Examples page but no showcase. Issue 27 is the open thread with the project; a comment there with the National Datasets comparison is the natural place, and the maintainers may add a link.
• maplibre-contour: no "used by" section in the README; a line can be offered in issue 434 once the custom-protocol request is posted.
• STAC Index: self-service, see References below.
• OpenTopography Tool Registry: see Start here.

Start hereCopy Anchor Link

The venues to try first, in order:

1. OSGeo Discourse, Announce: the one list every open-geo developer reads; project releases are what it is for.
2. Reddit: r/gis, r/lidar, r/QGIS, r/archaeology, r/geology, r/openstreetmap; each takes tool posts when they come with a real example (a LiDAR site, a before/after).
3. Camptocamp forum, "LiDAR HD de l'IGN: test et applications possibles à la montagne": mountaineers already using LiDAR HD; a reply with the IGN sources in the viewer fits the thread.
4. GeoRezo wiki, logiciels: the French GIS community's software directory, an entry rather than a post; plus its forum's LiDAR HD threads.
5. Heritage Quest (Zooniverse), research page: citizen science on AHN LiDAR for barrows and Celtic fields; the viewer with AHN and the mound detector is the same question put to a browser.
6. OpenTopography Tool Registry: the community clearinghouse of topography tools, next to the Global Solar Irradiation and other on-demand services. Its submission form did not work on 2026-10-01; retry, or write to OpenTopography.

Communities beyond OSM and GISCopy Anchor Link

Checked 2026-10-04: each venue was fetched (Reddit through its RSS feed). "Active" gives the latest post seen that day. Posting rules were not checked for Reddit, TGR, Hikr or SummitPost: read them before posting. Each entry names the angle that fits.

Hiking, mountaineering, ski touring, flyingCopy Anchor Link

• The FATMAP gap. Strava closed FATMAP on 1 October 2024 and people still ask what replaces it: onX Backcountry, CalTopo, Gaia GPS, Outmap, PeakVisor, RealityMaps, Beyond Maps, Outdooractive 3D, Mapy.com, Whymper, Google Earth Pro for winter imagery come up. None pairs national LiDAR, slope classes and dated imagery in a browser for free. Threads to reply to, newest first:
  • r/Backcountry, Onx vs CalTopo sat images and 3d (2025-11-24) and Caltopo vs OnX vs Gaia vs others?? (2025-11-20)
  • r/Strava, true FATMAP STRAVA hybrid? (2025-11-05); r/skiing, I really miss FATMAP (2025-11-02)
  • r/Backcountry, Japan backcountry routes (2026-01-09); Best winter satellite map ever (2025-12-06, a competitor's post: a template for ours)
  • snowHeads, Best FatMap replacement app for ski touring (last post Feb 2026); UKC, FATMAP replacement (Sep-Oct 2025)
  • Older, high traffic: r/Backcountry FATMAP Alternatives Thread (2024-10-02), Fatmap alternatives (2025-01-06); TGR Tech Talk "Fatmap" (Sep 2024). r/Strava had "New Fatmap engine is coming to web" on 2025-09-11: watch what Strava ships.
• FATMAP alternatives, checked 2026-10-04 (prices per year unless noted):
  • Free: OUTMAP (3D, slope; Pro $4.99/month), Beyond Maps (3D, slope, avalanche bulletins), SkiMoMap, Skitourenguru (route risk), Mapy.com, Google Earth web, swisstopo app and map.geo.admin.ch, cartes.gouv.fr (ex Géoportail, LiDAR HD 3D beta), Copernicus Browser (winter Sentinel-2), OpenSnowMap, replay.flights, Relive. Google Earth Pro desktop downloads end 25 June 2027.
  • Open source: OsmAnd (GPLv3; 3D relief in Pro), Organic Maps and its fork CoMaps (Apache-2.0), OpenTopoMap, OpenSkiMap (Apache-2.0), CesiumJS (the engine). Terrain Viewer itself has no LICENSE file yet, so it is source-available, not open source, until one is added.
  • Paid: Strava Maps (the FATMAP engine since March 2025: 3D, slope, avalanche gradient; Premium about €60), onX Backcountry ($30-100), [CalTopo](https://caltopo.com) ($20-100; slope free), Gaia GPS (about $60), [RealityMaps](https://www.realitymaps.app/en/) (€60), [Outdooractive Pro+](https://www.outdooractive.com/en/membership/plans.html) (€60, 3D), [Whympr](https://get.whympr.com/en) (€25), [Iphigénie](https://www.iphigen.ie) (€25), [PeakVisor](https://peakvisor.com) ($40), Relief Maps (€31), Contours, Skida, OpenSnow, Komoot, AllTrails, Locus Map (slope classes), TwoNav Land, Avenza Maps, Topo GPS, PeakFinder (one-off).
  • Gone: FATMAP (2024), Ayvri (2022).
• r/Backcountry (active 2026-10-04) and r/BackcountrySkiing; r/skimountaineering does not exist. Angle: slope ≥30° classes and aspect in 3D, winter imagery dates on the timeline.
• TGR forums: active 2026-10-04; the Tech Talk board holds the FATMAP thread.
• Skitourenguru: active (SLABS-based risk indicators since November 2024; partners SAC, SLF, BFU, Mammut, DAV/ÖAV/AVS). Its slope-class and route overlays are published for private, non-commercial use (wiki); no partner programme or API found. A partnership would be "Skitourenguru's routes and classes in 3D": write to Günter Schmudlach.
• Hikr.org: forums live inside its communities (active 2026-10-03), for instance Hikr helfen Hikr. DE/IT/EN. Hikr has its own 2D/3D map, so the angle is swisstopo and Austrian LiDAR plus the historical timeline.
• SummitPost: active (routes and trip reports Aug-Sep 2026); the forum is behind Cloudflare and was not checked. Route pages can link a 3D view.
• r/Mountaineering, r/alpinism, r/trailrunning: active 2026-10-04. Angle: a shareable 3D view of a route with its profile.
• Walkhighlands forum: very active (2026-10-04), not-for-profit and ad-free; earlier threads on mapping software are where to post. Angle: Scottish LiDAR at 1 m.
• UKHillwalking / UKClimbing forums: active (2026-09-29), with posting guidelines and Skiing and Gear boards.
• paraglidingforum.com: very active (2026-10-04); post in Gear, Software subforum (commercial posts go in "Commercial Postings"). Angle: sun shadow and aspect for thermals, 3D launch recon. r/paragliding's feed only showed 2013 posts: not verified.
• r/caving (active 2026-10-04) and UK Caving (Surveying board active, a LiDAR thread from May 2026). Angle: LRM and sky-view factor for dolines and shafts.
• MTBR Trail Building & Advocacy: existing threads on LiDAR for trail layout (activity not checked).

Landscape archaeologyCopy Anchor Link

• AARG: AARGnews 72 (April 2026), annual meeting in Plzeň 10-12 September 2026; Facebook and Bluesky aerialarchaeology.bsky.social. Angle: LRM/SVF on LiDAR plus the ELI and Wayback timeline.
• CAA International: CAA2027 in Santiago, 17-20 May 2027 (call for sessions extended 2026-08-03). Its Discord (discord.gg/WTunKEPevW) is the easiest way in; also Bluesky, Mastodon and national chapters.
• IAG geoarchaeology group: low activity (latest thread March 2024). Low priority.
• r/archaeology: already in Start here.

Earth surface processes, polar, hazardsCopy Anchor Link

• EGU Geomorphology blog: active (2026-10-01); in April 2026 it ran a post on a free coastline-mapping tool, so a guest post on this one fits.
• British Society for Geomorphology: news goes through its communications committee by email; pitch a news item or a Geomorphological Techniques entry.
• Polar Geospatial Center Slack (join at z.umn.edu/pgcslack): ArcticDEM and REMA users; activity not checked.
• Cryolist: the cryosphere email list; its code of conduct accepts broad announcements. Angle: glacier change by DEM difference and the timeline.
• The Landslide Blog (Dave Petley, active late September 2026): a tip, not a post. Angle: before/after imagery and slope over a recent landslide.

Cartography and relief shadingCopy Anchor Link

• NACIS: annual meeting in Milwaukee, 21-24 October 2026; its Slack invite is in the February 2026 newsletter (invite links expire). Angle: hillshade methods compared in split view.
• r/cartography (active) and r/MapPorn (images only, not tool pitches).
• reliefshading.com (Bernhard Jenny) and shadedrelief.com (Tom Patterson): reference sites to cite, or a note to their authors; nothing to post on.
• #30DayMapChallenge (1-30 November): one map a day, each showing off a different feature; see the plan below.

Newsletters, podcasts, socialCopy Anchor Link

• weeklyOSM (issue #845 out 2026-10-04): submit through its news form; angle the OSM ELI timeline.
• The Map Room (2026-09-28): email a tip.
• Spatial Edge (2026-09-29) and MapScaping podcast (2026-10-01).
• Geoawesome (renamed from Geoawesomeness).
• #gischat on Mapstodon and Bluesky (there is no r/gischat); en.osm.town.
• r/LiDAR: active, exact fit.
• Sim racing and motocross track builders: TrackRelief (a Windows app, releases only, no source or licence) turns national LiDAR into heightmaps for racing-game tracks; v1.1.0 on 2026-10-04 made it free and added the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Flanders to Switzerland, France and the US. A niche that wants national LiDAR, and a near-competitor to know about.
• Hacker News, Show HN: no earlier post on the app. A similar terrain viewer got 1 point in June 2026: title and timing matter (a weekday morning US time, a link straight to a striking view).

Disaster response and imagery catalogsCopy Anchor Link

• HOT, OpenAerialMap and Maxar/Vantor Open Data users: the timeline's Catalogs tree shows their items covering the view as dated ticks. Angle: a before/after of a recent event in the split view, built only from open catalogs.
• Map Warper, Wikimaps Warper and Allmaps (IIIF georeferencing; partnership with the IIIF Consortium since 2025): their maps on the timeline and over 3D terrain.

References and catalogs worth citing or contactingCopy Anchor Link

• Read by the viewer: OSM Editor Layer Index, NextGIS QMS, Allmaps, the HOT STAC API (OpenAerialMap, Maxar/Vantor Open Data, NOAA Emergency Response), Planet disaster data (Source Cooperative), Map Warper, Wikimaps Warper, USGS historical topo maps, ArcGIS Online search, Esri Wayback (Esri's new Historical Imagery Explorer is the closest comparable to the timeline).
• STAC Index: list the viewer yourself (Add, type Software, categories Client and Visualization); entries go live without review. Its API is CORS-open and could feed the STAC search.
• Open STAC APIs, CORS-open: Element84 Earth Search, Microsoft Planetary Computer, Source Cooperative.
• National historical layers, CORS-open, dated by layer: IGN Remonter le temps on data.geopf.fr (more archives announced February 2026), swisstopo Zeitreise (a WMTS time dimension per year since 1864), Kartverket historical maps WMS. Candidates for timeline pills.
• Not usable from a browser: Old Maps Online, the Georeferencer API and David Rumsey's MapRank (Cloudflare challenge, no CORS), loc.gov (its maps reach us through Allmaps instead), Mapire (paid WMTS), GeoSeer API (paid; the web search is free), the legacy OpenAerialMap API (CORS locked to its own site). NYPL's Map Warper has been archived since 2021.