DEV Community

Cover image for Zplots: Collaborative Maps on Stellar Blockchain
Hugo Silva
Hugo Silva

Posted on • Updated on

Zplots: Collaborative Maps on Stellar Blockchain

This is a submission for the Build Better on Stellar: Smart Contract Challenge : Build a dApp

Project Overview

Zplots is a web-based platform that empowers users to collaboratively build rich maps, adding layers of information relevant to their communities. It utilizes a novel GPU algorithm for drawing highly detailed, scale-invariant shapes with minimal data points. This technical breakthrough allows Zplots to store map data with exceptional memory efficiency.

Technical Breakthrough

The core innovation lies within Zplots drawing algorithm. By leveraging the power of GPUs (Graphics Processing Units), Zplots employs a unique technique to create intricate shapes using a minimal number of points. This translates to:

Scale-Invariant Shapes
A single triangle (requiring only 6 floating-point numbers) can be used to represent a quadratic shape. This dramatically reduces the data needed to draw detailed map features.

Extreme Memory Efficiency
Zplots approach significantly minimizes the memory footprint required to store map data, enabling a highly scalable platform that can handle vast amounts of user-generated content.

Benefits of Innovation

Zplots technical breakthrough offers several advantages:

Enhanced Scalability
The low memory footprint enables Zplots to accommodate a large and ever-growing collection of map data.

Improved User Experience
Faster rendering and smoother map interactions are achieved due to the efficient data handling.

Cost-Effectiveness
Reduced storage requirements lead to lower operational costs for maintaining the Zplots platform.

Next Steps

Zplots aims to utilize Stellar's smart contract functionality to create a novel approach for managing drawing permissions on specific map sections. Here's how it will work:

Proprietary Land Areas
Users can purchase specific map areas using Lumens (XLM). Once owned, they control who can add or modify information within that area. Owners have complete freedom to draw anything they want within their territory.

Community-Driven Maps
Public spaces like parks and paths form the base map. Anyone can contribute to and modify these public areas. Privately owned areas are superimposed on top of this community-created base map.

Enhanced User Interface
Our platform allows users to interact with multi-story buildings on a new level. Imagine an apartment building. Each floor can be selected individually, giving apartment owners the ability to customize their own space within the building. This level of detail and control is unprecedented in current mapping solutions.

Ownership Transfer
Users can directly transfer ownership of their map regions (or the rights to use or modify these regions) to other users. These transactions occur peer-to-peer without intermediaries and exclusively using Lumens (XLM) as the currency.

Conclusion

Zplots unique fusion of advanced GPU-powered drawing technology and Stellar blockchain offers a groundbreaking approach to map creation and management. By combining real-time, high-precision drawing capabilities with the security and transparency of blockchain, we empower communities to build accurate, verifiable, and collaboratively owned spatial data. Zplots is poised to redefine how maps are created, shared, and utilized, fostering a new era of decentralized geographic information systems.

Resources

Check out the current state of Zplots
Web App
Smart contract source

Top comments (2)

Collapse
 
audreydev profile image
Audrey Delgado

Cool project. Awesome concept, too. Thanks for sharing.

Collapse
 
hugo_silva_c33f29f9a29ed4 profile image
Hugo Silva

thanks :)