Writing

Notes on maps, open source and the things I build.

• SVG Polygon Patterns for MapLibre

  Published: 14 Jul 2026

  SVG hatch/fill patterns for MapLibre GL JS polygons using fill-pattern. Built on textures.js. 28 built-in patterns, Retina sharp, colourise with graph coloring.

• Label Callouts for MapLibre

  Published: 11 Jul 2026

  A MapLibre GL JS plugin that places labels with connector lines on point features. Viewport culling, greedy collision, no dependencies.

• Map Patterning: Assigning SVG Textures to Hundreds of Adjacent Polygons

  Published: 1 Jul 2026

  How to pattern 242 adjacent countries with 28 SVG textures: zero conflicts, ~5ms runtime, crisp at any screen resolution, and accessible to color blind users.

• Globe Atmosphere, Halo, and Comets with Pure Canvas 2D and MapLibre

  Published: 6 Jun 2026

  Lightweight atmospheric glow, starfield, and shooting comets for a 3D globe using nothing but HTML Canvas and CSS gradients with no WebGL shaders, no Three.js, no extra dependencies.

• Map Sovereignty - Serving Raster Tiles for Full Tool Compatibility

  Published: 25 Apr 2026

  Add tileserver-gl to your stack to serve raster tiles alongside vectors. Get pre-rendered image tiles with the same self-hosted architecture, compatible with QGIS, Leaflet, MapTalks, and more.

• Map Sovereignty - Self-Hosted Vector Tiles with Protomaps and PMTiles

  Published: 19 Apr 2026

  Stop feeding external map providers. Host your own vector tile server with Protomaps, serve PMTiles via Nginx, render with MapLibre GL JS, and keep full control over your geographic stack.

• Scalable Multi-Language System - Bridging Laravel and Vue-i18n

  Published: 7 Dec 2025

  A practical dual translation system for Laravel + Vue.js that eliminates duplication and scales effortlessly to unlimited languages. Synchronize backend and frontend translations with ease.

• My Swiss Army Knife Tech Stack

  Published: 23 Nov 2025

  After years of experimentation and real-world projects, I've refined a technology stack that lets me rapidly develop sophisticated applications. This is my Swiss Army knife for building modern web solutions.

• Why Portugal Needs the National Automatic Identification System (NAIS)

  Published: 23 Apr 2024

  Portugal has forged an intimate relationship with the sea over centuries. From the Age of Discovery to the present day, the waters that bathe our coasts have been not only a source of inspiration but also of economic sustenance and strategic defense for the European continent.