Solo Developer Builds 10-Container Web GIS Handling 51 GB of Road Survey Data
A single developer built a fully functional web GIS system capable of storing 2.7 million road features and 51 GB of LiDAR and imagery data, running across ten containers on one machine. The platform supports real-time editing by users, meaning changes such as moving a road sign are reflected on the map immediately rather than through nightly batch updates. The architecture separates workloads between Django for core domain logic and FastAPI for handling large asynchronous imports, since processing files like 200 MB shapefiles requires a job-and-poll model rather than synchronous requests. Two dedicated tile servers handle vector and raster data independently, while heavy binary files like point clouds and panoramas are stored on disk rather than in the database to keep the database lean at 2.3 GB. The developer acknowledges several design missteps along the way, making the project a candid account of practical trade-offs in solo full-stack geospatial engineering.
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