mapbox / mapbox/geobuf

Geobuf Index

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enhancement format design ready
Dominant language
JavaScript
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Description

Lets discuss indexing. Previous discussion: https://github.com/mapbox/geobuf/issues/27#issuecomment-67220880

I think the solution I'd like to see here is a separate PBF-based format that would come as a separate file coupled with a Geobuf file that would store:
- serialized R-Tree (rbush) with leafs pointing to feature offsets in the geobuf pbf
- a map of feature ids to feature offsets for fast single-feature seeking

The R-tree serialization should avoid embedded messages because they are hard to decode lazily. I'd imagine one possible solution to be nodes stored as a flat set of messages, with references to children implemented as offset pointers.

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with the previous discussion linked in the issue and inspect how Geobuf currently encodes feature data. Define the separate PBF-based index format, including lazy R-tree serialization and feature-id offsets, then validate that it supports spatial and single-feature seeking.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
javascript
Domain
data, performance, search
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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