Kepler.gl — Open Source Geospatial Data Visualization

Introduction

Kepler.gl is a data-agnostic, GPU-powered geospatial analysis tool originally developed at Uber. It lets you drag and drop CSV, GeoJSON, or Arrow files onto a map and instantly see patterns with heatmaps, arcs, hexbins, and 3D extrusions without writing code.

What Kepler.gl Does

• Renders millions of data points at interactive frame rates using GPU-based WebGL rendering
• Provides a visual layer editor for points, arcs, lines, hexbins, heatmaps, and polygons
• Supports time-series playback to animate spatial data over time intervals
• Offers data filtering, color mapping, and size scaling via a sidebar UI
• Exports shareable map configurations as JSON or publishes static HTML maps

Architecture Overview

Kepler.gl is a React and Redux application that wraps deck.gl for GPU-accelerated layer rendering on top of a Mapbox GL base map. The state is managed entirely in Redux, making it embeddable as a component in larger applications. Data processing runs in Web Workers for non-blocking file parsing.

Self-Hosting & Configuration

• Embed as a React component in any Redux-based application
• Provide a Mapbox access token or use MapLibre GL JS for fully open-source base maps
• Load datasets programmatically via the addDataToMap action creator
• Customize the UI by toggling panels (layer, filter, interaction, map) through component props
• Deploy standalone by building the demo app with custom datasets baked in

Key Features

• No-code visual interface for exploring and styling geospatial data
• Trip layer for animating vehicle/object movement along paths
• S2 layer for visualizing S2 cell geometry at multiple resolutions
• Split map view for side-by-side comparisons with synchronized navigation
• Export to image, JSON config, or self-contained HTML for sharing

Comparison with Similar Tools

• Deck.gl — lower-level rendering library; Kepler.gl adds a complete UI on top of Deck layers
• QGIS — desktop GIS with richer analysis tools; Kepler.gl is browser-native and optimized for large-scale point data
• Mapbox Studio — focuses on base map styling; Kepler.gl handles analytical overlay visualization
• Apache Superset — supports some map charts; Kepler.gl provides deeper geospatial layer types and time animation
• Google Earth Engine — cloud-based raster analysis; Kepler.gl targets interactive vector data exploration

FAQ

Q: How much data can Kepler.gl handle? A: Kepler.gl can render millions of points in the browser thanks to GPU-accelerated deck.gl layers. Performance depends on the client GPU, but datasets of 1-5 million rows are common.

Q: Can I use Kepler.gl without Mapbox? A: Yes. Swap the base map provider to MapLibre GL JS for a fully open-source stack without a Mapbox token.

Q: Is Kepler.gl embeddable in my app? A: Yes. Kepler.gl is a React/Redux component. Mount it inside your application, dispatch actions to load data, and read state for exports.

Q: What file formats are supported? A: CSV, GeoJSON, Apache Arrow (Feather), and JSON are supported out of the box. Data can also be loaded programmatically from any source.

Sources

• https://github.com/keplergl/kepler.gl
• https://kepler.gl/docs