What is your favorite technology from your project and why?

The capstone project has been an overwhelming abundance of new information, including new libraries with Mapbox GL JS and Chart JS, new languages in Typescript and .NET, and new methods of development with Docker. The standout piece that I have been most excited to delve into has been Mapbox. While it is challenging to learn, the documentation is thorough and well-organized, lending a sense of confidence to a beginner such as myself. The beautiful visuals that are produced are inspiring as well, as I have an appreciation for aesthetics.

What is it used for?

Mapbox technology is used for location and navigation services. It uses vector tiles and style rules in Javascript to render dynamic, highly interactive and customizable maps. Some of these features are 3D points of interests, distance from point to point by driving, walking, or biking, and powerful searching capabilities. It can be utilized by web, mobile, and gaming applications. Essentially, if there is a need to incorporate a map into an application, Mapbox is a provisioner.

How could it be made better?

This is a pretty great technology. Knowing I am not fully adept at everything it has to offer, and speaking as a beginner, take this with a grain of salt. The place where I could see improvement at this stage is with their Mapbox Studio application. This is where a where a user can create their own map, including downloading their own datasets. It’s not entirely intuitive getting started. It’s not necessary as a developer to use the Studio, but it also isn’t entirely clear if this is for developer’s. Meaning, if there are benefits or downsides to using the application versus developing locally.

I highly recommend just even following one of the tutorials on the Mapbox website, it is really fun, and highly satisfying to see your map come together in real time.