Writing
Notes on maps, the web, and whatever I have been taking apart lately.
Parchment devlog · Part 5
Where Parchment is today
Parchment is in closed alpha with a small group of testers. Here's what's working so far, and what I want to finish before opening up a beta.
Parchment devlog · Part 4
How Barrelman spun out of Parchment
The APIs I depended on couldn't do a lot of what I wanted, so I started building my own backend for search, routing and map tiles. It ended up becoming a separate product with its own business model.
Parchment devlog · Part 3
Making map providers swappable
Parchment's code used to reference every map service by name, which made changing anything painful. I borrowed the way Home Assistant handles devices, and now switching providers doesn't mean rewriting features.
Parchment devlog · Part 2
How Parchment started on free public APIs
The first version of Parchment was a Vue app wired up to free, open source map services. That worked well for a while, until rate limits, mismatched data formats and outages started getting in the way.
Parchment devlog · Part 1
Why I'm building my own maps app
I've spent most of my spare time since 2023 building Parchment, a maps app for people who walk, bike and take transit. Here's why I started it and what I want it to become.