GIS Platform Engineering
Acknowledgement: Shared by Peter Bamuhigire, techguypeter.com, +256 784 464178.
Use this parent skill as the active GIS implementation entrypoint. Keep enterprise concepts in gis-enterprise-domain; use this skill for build, integration, and platform engineering.
Use When
- Building GIS map interfaces, layers, spatial search, geocoding flows, route displays, or geospatial APIs.
- Integrating third-party map providers, tile services, location capture, or spatial analytics.
- Designing PostGIS-backed storage, indexes, queries, and backend services for geospatial products.
Do Not Use When
- The task is unrelated to this parent skill or is better handled by a narrower active parent named in the workflow.
- The request only needs a trivial answer and no reference module needs to be loaded.
Required Inputs
| Artifact | Produced by | Required? | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| System, users, spatial workflows, and constraints | Product or architecture brief | required | Defines map, API, and data requirements |
| Dataset inventory with CRS, accuracy, and ownership | Data owner | required | Prevents invalid transformations and false precision |
Workflow
- Load
gis-enterprise-domainfor domain boundaries, organisational concepts, and GIS vocabulary. - Load the needed implementation reference:
references/gis-mapping.mdfor map UI, layers, markers, controls, and interaction.references/gis-maps-integration.mdfor map providers, geocoding, routing, and external integrations.references/gis-postgis-backend.mdfor PostGIS schema, indexing, spatial SQL, and backend patterns.
- Pair with
database-design-engineering,postgresql-engineering,api-design-first, and frontend skills when the GIS work crosses those boundaries.
Quality Standards
- Treat coordinate reference systems, precision, privacy, and offline/low-bandwidth constraints as first-class design inputs.
- Make spatial indexes, query shape, geometry validity, and API payload size explicit for backend work.
- Keep map UI usable for inspection, comparison, filtering, and task completion, not only visual display.
Anti-Patterns
- Treating references as active skills. Fix: route here and load only the matched reference.
- Loading every migrated reference. Fix: select mapping, integration, or PostGIS depth from the deliverable.
- Ignoring CRS or axis order. Fix: record source and target SRID and test a known coordinate.
- Running spatial predicates without suitable indexes. Fix: inspect query plans and add the appropriate index.
- Returning unbounded geometries. Fix: filter by viewport, simplify for zoom, and cap payloads.
Outputs
- GIS implementation plan, map UI spec, spatial API/schema, integration notes, or PostGIS review.
References
- Load only the references/.md files named in the workflow when their depth is required.
Evidence Produced
| Category | Artifact | Format | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Correctness | Spatial data and map-service verification | Markdown plus query/render evidence | CRS, geometry validity, spatial query, tile/service response, attribution, and failure state |
Decision rules
| Condition | Choice | Failure avoided |
|---|---|---|
| Distance and area must be accurate | Use geography or a suitable projected CRS | Misleading measurements |
| Client needs only the current viewport | Query by bounding box and zoom-dependent detail | Oversized payloads |
| Provider integration is replaceable | Put it behind an application adapter | Vendor lock-in |
Capability contract
Read and search schema, sample data, API, and map client first. Edit only when authorised; execute geometry-validity, CRS, query-plan, API, and map checks when available.
Degraded mode
If datasets, database execution, or a rendered map are unavailable, return a read-only design and mark query performance, geometry validity, provider behaviour, and visual interaction as unverified.
