Creating the most used map animation tool: GEOLayers - Markus Bergelt - MBM#65
Markus Bergelt is a motion designer and the person behind GEOLayers, a video editing plug-in simplifying the creation of map animations in Adobe After Effects. Most map animations you’ve seen online are most likely made with this plug-in. We touch what makes map tricky to animate, how to simplify the process, the state of software development and of course, about Markus’s business model behind it all
Show Notes
Sponsor: OpenCage
Use OpenCage for your geocoding needs with their API
Geomob
Shownotes
Note: Links to books are Amazon Affiliate links. I earn a small commission if you buy any of these books.
- GeoLayers
- geolayers.app
- Johnny Harris
- Search Party
- Felt
- Procreate dreams
- Jason Boone’s episode
- Podcast recommendation: Syntax.fm
Timestamps
(00:00) - Intro
(02:26) - Sponsor: OpenCage
(03:52) - Markus Describes himself
(04:29) - GEOlayers in simple terms
(05:50) - From Motion Designer, to Map Animation Developer
(07:51) - The team behind GEOlayers
(08:20) - How does a Motion Designer turn into software engineer?
(10:45) - Tricky nature of Map Animation
(13:10) - OpenStreetMap
(14:57) - Markus before and after diving into GIS
(17:01) - Map projections
(20:01) - Business Model & Funding
(24:08) - Self Funding
(26:38) - Being your own user
(27:37) - GEOLayers used on Youtube
(30:23) - Working with creator, example of Johnny Harris
(32:20) - Paid Support
(33:33) - Focusing ones time on what you enjoy doing
(35:11) - Making a web app
(42:35) - Subscription models
(46:34) - Expectations in modern software business models
(49:22) - High tech barrier to entry
(55:01) - Inspiration from 2 other projects
(01:05:32) - The future of GEOLayers
(01:07:21) - Local vs Web based software
(01:16:13) - Marketing & Social Media
(01:20:50) - Book/podcast recommendation
(01:23:18) - Support the podcast on Patreon