Mission GIS Engineer

Move GIS off the desktop and into the browser, real-time, and 3D. Build vector tile pipelines, deliver maps via Leaflet/MapLibre/OpenLayers, draw orbits on a CesiumJS globe, and stream live satellite positions over WebSockets. Capstone: a real-time satellite tracker web app on a 3D globe.

What you'll learn

• Compare Leaflet, MapLibre, and OpenLayers and pick the right one for a use case.
• Build a vector tile pipeline with tippecanoe and serve MBTiles via a tile server.
• Draw orbital tracks on a CesiumJS 3D globe.
• Stream live TLE updates over WebSockets and render moving satellites.
• Run multi-frame change detection over a raster time series.

Prerequisites

Remote Sensing Specialist track or equivalent. Comfortable with web technologies (HTML, JavaScript, basic React).

Tools you'll use

CesiumJS · MapLibre GL JS · tippecanoe · Socket.IO · scikit-image

Weekly curriculum (5 weeks)

• Week 16 Web mapping: Leaflet vs MapLibre vs OpenLayers
• Week 17 Vector tiles with tippecanoe and MBTiles
• Week 18 3D globes: CesiumJS and orbital visualization
• Week 19 Real-time GIS: WebSockets and streaming TLEs
• Week 20 Spatiotemporal change detection (Capstone 4 week) Capstone 4

Capstone 4: Real-Time Satellite Tracker

Cesium globe + live ISS/Starlink + visible passes + 24h replay.

Build a Cesium-based web application that shows real-time positions of the ISS and a configurable Starlink shell on a 3D globe. The user supplies a latitude/longitude; the app shows the next 5 visible passes (elevation > 30°) at that location. Click any satellite to inspect orbital elements (TLE epoch, inclination, mean motion, period). A time slider lets the user replay the last 24 hours of positions.