Steve Bennett
@stevage.bsky.social
Mapbox consultant. Gardener. Grump.
https://hire.stevebennett.me
https://hire.stevebennett.me
Ok, here's a mappy challenge: where is the pen pointing on this map? Maybe South Australian outback somewhere?
From youtu.be/U9zq_4ED-pI?...
From youtu.be/U9zq_4ED-pI?...
November 11, 2025 at 11:11 PM
Ok, here's a mappy challenge: where is the pen pointing on this map? Maybe South Australian outback somewhere?
From youtu.be/U9zq_4ED-pI?...
From youtu.be/U9zq_4ED-pI?...
Now there's a pretty datavis accident
July 25, 2025 at 7:23 AM
Now there's a pretty datavis accident
Does @theguardian.com think "spores" is a verb? Confusion with "spurs"?
July 11, 2025 at 6:55 AM
Does @theguardian.com think "spores" is a verb? Confusion with "spurs"?
I seriously cannot comprehend the mindset of shutting down a site, hiding behind the euphemism of "important changes", and claiming that this somehow demonstrates your "respect" for the users. Then claiming you're thinking deeply about the community, before weeks later announcing your funemployment.
July 2, 2025 at 11:38 AM
I seriously cannot comprehend the mindset of shutting down a site, hiding behind the euphemism of "important changes", and claiming that this somehow demonstrates your "respect" for the users. Then claiming you're thinking deeply about the community, before weeks later announcing your funemployment.
So cool to see my humble site, opentrees.org, cited and even screenshotted in academic journals. In this case, an article in Urban Forestry & Urban Greening. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
June 11, 2025 at 6:02 AM
So cool to see my humble site, opentrees.org, cited and even screenshotted in academic journals. In this case, an article in Urban Forestry & Urban Greening. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
A little disappointed that Boobs surf beach is not on the eastern Australian map. (www.surf-forecast.com/breaks/Boobs)
It's also a bit weird that beaches to the west and east of the bay are completely smooshed together, despite being many hours of driving apart.
It's also a bit weird that beaches to the west and east of the bay are completely smooshed together, despite being many hours of driving apart.
May 2, 2025 at 1:56 AM
A little disappointed that Boobs surf beach is not on the eastern Australian map. (www.surf-forecast.com/breaks/Boobs)
It's also a bit weird that beaches to the west and east of the bay are completely smooshed together, despite being many hours of driving apart.
It's also a bit weird that beaches to the west and east of the bay are completely smooshed together, despite being many hours of driving apart.
Yeah, YAML really is cursed.
Credit: noyaml.com
Credit: noyaml.com
April 12, 2025 at 12:01 AM
Yeah, YAML really is cursed.
Credit: noyaml.com
Credit: noyaml.com
This is the most mystifying VS Code setting. If files.trimTrailingWhitespaceInRegexAndStrings is true (the default), spaces are removed *from within strings* when you save. Changing the meaning of the string. Why would you ever want this? Why is this the default? #vscode
March 29, 2025 at 2:40 AM
This is the most mystifying VS Code setting. If files.trimTrailingWhitespaceInRegexAndStrings is true (the default), spaces are removed *from within strings* when you save. Changing the meaning of the string. Why would you ever want this? Why is this the default? #vscode
This is such a dumb UX fail from "the world's most customer-oriented company".
The solution to "you can't buy this product because of where you live" is not "ship it to a different country instead". It's buy a different product, obvs.
The solution to "you can't buy this product because of where you live" is not "ship it to a different country instead". It's buy a different product, obvs.
March 23, 2025 at 11:36 AM
This is such a dumb UX fail from "the world's most customer-oriented company".
The solution to "you can't buy this product because of where you live" is not "ship it to a different country instead". It's buy a different product, obvs.
The solution to "you can't buy this product because of where you live" is not "ship it to a different country instead". It's buy a different product, obvs.
Urgh. broadcom.com - absolute worst website experience I've had in a long time.
The pinnacle was this bit: if your proposed password contains a < or > or ", the requirement to have a special character becomes unmet. So the password $< does not meet that requirement even though there's a $ there.
The pinnacle was this bit: if your proposed password contains a < or > or ", the requirement to have a special character becomes unmet. So the password $< does not meet that requirement even though there's a $ there.
March 14, 2025 at 3:54 AM
Urgh. broadcom.com - absolute worst website experience I've had in a long time.
The pinnacle was this bit: if your proposed password contains a < or > or ", the requirement to have a special character becomes unmet. So the password $< does not meet that requirement even though there's a $ there.
The pinnacle was this bit: if your proposed password contains a < or > or ", the requirement to have a special character becomes unmet. So the password $< does not meet that requirement even though there's a $ there.
Geohashing is still, surprisingly, a thing. More than 18,000 expeditions, 50-100 per month. See geohashing.win.
March 4, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Geohashing is still, surprisingly, a thing. More than 18,000 expeditions, 50-100 per month. See geohashing.win.
StackOverflow is pivoting into a kind of social network for software people.
stackoverflow.blog/2025/02/27/o...
stackoverflow.blog/2025/02/27/o...
March 4, 2025 at 10:57 AM
StackOverflow is pivoting into a kind of social network for software people.
stackoverflow.blog/2025/02/27/o...
stackoverflow.blog/2025/02/27/o...
The two 4-flats I lived in were both Art Deco style.
Actually come to think of it in your typology they were both pairs of 2-flats. And the "6" flats (~1960s) were actually a 6-flat and an 11-flat. But neither of those had private balconies. So probably everything I said was wrong.
Actually come to think of it in your typology they were both pairs of 2-flats. And the "6" flats (~1960s) were actually a 6-flat and an 11-flat. But neither of those had private balconies. So probably everything I said was wrong.
February 25, 2025 at 11:28 PM
The two 4-flats I lived in were both Art Deco style.
Actually come to think of it in your typology they were both pairs of 2-flats. And the "6" flats (~1960s) were actually a 6-flat and an 11-flat. But neither of those had private balconies. So probably everything I said was wrong.
Actually come to think of it in your typology they were both pairs of 2-flats. And the "6" flats (~1960s) were actually a 6-flat and an 11-flat. But neither of those had private balconies. So probably everything I said was wrong.
Example just now. Due to some syntax error, the bottom part of this is "unreachable". You prefer that it just get deleted with no warning? What if you're looking somewhere else at the time you save the file?
February 24, 2025 at 11:41 PM
Example just now. Due to some syntax error, the bottom part of this is "unreachable". You prefer that it just get deleted with no warning? What if you're looking somewhere else at the time you save the file?
Pretty shocked to discover the Typescript language server in VS Code automatically "fixing" unreachable code that it had detected by...deleting it!
Write the code on the left, press save, silently turns it into the code on the right. WTF.
Reported it here: github.com/typescript-l...
Write the code on the left, press save, silently turns it into the code on the right. WTF.
Reported it here: github.com/typescript-l...
February 24, 2025 at 1:06 AM
Pretty shocked to discover the Typescript language server in VS Code automatically "fixing" unreachable code that it had detected by...deleting it!
Write the code on the left, press save, silently turns it into the code on the right. WTF.
Reported it here: github.com/typescript-l...
Write the code on the left, press save, silently turns it into the code on the right. WTF.
Reported it here: github.com/typescript-l...
"Geofencing technology" is a great example of something that sounds far more impressive than it really is.
It's literally: get the user's location (3 lines of code). Check whether it's inside a polygon (1 line of code).
"Geofencing technology", my butt.
It's literally: get the user's location (3 lines of code). Check whether it's inside a polygon (1 line of code).
"Geofencing technology", my butt.
February 13, 2025 at 11:51 PM
"Geofencing technology" is a great example of something that sounds far more impressive than it really is.
It's literally: get the user's location (3 lines of code). Check whether it's inside a polygon (1 line of code).
"Geofencing technology", my butt.
It's literally: get the user's location (3 lines of code). Check whether it's inside a polygon (1 line of code).
"Geofencing technology", my butt.
Today's visualisation project on geohashing.win: geohashers' centres of activity.
1. Cluster their expeditions
2. Find weighted centroid of biggest cluster
3. Display label scaled by expedition count, coloured by median expedition age.
#geohashing #dataviz
1. Cluster their expeditions
2. Find weighted centroid of biggest cluster
3. Display label scaled by expedition count, coloured by median expedition age.
#geohashing #dataviz
February 9, 2025 at 10:58 AM
Today's visualisation project on geohashing.win: geohashers' centres of activity.
1. Cluster their expeditions
2. Find weighted centroid of biggest cluster
3. Display label scaled by expedition count, coloured by median expedition age.
#geohashing #dataviz
1. Cluster their expeditions
2. Find weighted centroid of biggest cluster
3. Display label scaled by expedition count, coloured by median expedition age.
#geohashing #dataviz
Is something broken with NPM's weekly downloads tracker? This module had 15,000 downloads the previous week.
February 6, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Is something broken with NPM's weekly downloads tracker? This module had 15,000 downloads the previous week.
ChatGPT hallucinating API functions, and then pretending to provide a link to the documentation. It's not even a link, just blue text that changes colour on hover.
February 5, 2025 at 9:10 AM
ChatGPT hallucinating API functions, and then pretending to provide a link to the documentation. It's not even a link, just blue text that changes colour on hover.
Trying to keep politics out of your feed is really difficult.
Presumably there are AI solutions that would make this really easy.
Presumably there are AI solutions that would make this really easy.
February 4, 2025 at 10:48 AM
Trying to keep politics out of your feed is really difficult.
Presumably there are AI solutions that would make this really easy.
Presumably there are AI solutions that would make this really easy.
Someone contacted me, asking (I think) to job share on technical contracts. I land the job, they do the work, I pay them 50%.
I can't work out if it's legitimate or a scam. They include a LinkedIn and UpWork which seem to pass the sniff test.
Anyone else get these?
I can't work out if it's legitimate or a scam. They include a LinkedIn and UpWork which seem to pass the sniff test.
Anyone else get these?
January 31, 2025 at 12:03 AM
Someone contacted me, asking (I think) to job share on technical contracts. I land the job, they do the work, I pay them 50%.
I can't work out if it's legitimate or a scam. They include a LinkedIn and UpWork which seem to pass the sniff test.
Anyone else get these?
I can't work out if it's legitimate or a scam. They include a LinkedIn and UpWork which seem to pass the sniff test.
Anyone else get these?
This week I spent a lot of time updating map-gl-utils to use TypeScript. It's my little convenience library that sits on top of Mapbox GL JS/Maplibre GL JS and makes either much more pleasant to use.
stevage.github.io/map-gl-utils/
Examples brought to you by ChatGPT.
stevage.github.io/map-gl-utils/
Examples brought to you by ChatGPT.
January 22, 2025 at 12:58 PM
This week I spent a lot of time updating map-gl-utils to use TypeScript. It's my little convenience library that sits on top of Mapbox GL JS/Maplibre GL JS and makes either much more pleasant to use.
stevage.github.io/map-gl-utils/
Examples brought to you by ChatGPT.
stevage.github.io/map-gl-utils/
Examples brought to you by ChatGPT.
Boy is that not what I am here for.
January 22, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Boy is that not what I am here for.
Is "droppings" the word you're looking for?
December 9, 2024 at 10:37 AM
Is "droppings" the word you're looking for?