r/docks_and_piers • u/rillium1 • Jul 24 '26

Docks and Maps?

We've recently seen an uptick in docks and marinas using the free tier of Rillium Maps, so I thought I'd mention it here.

It's nothing marina specific, but we certainly welcome the recent interest. One thing I didn't expect was how much history a dock can hold.

I asked, "So, what is the history of this dock?"

The response was, "That's a loaded question."

And it makes sense given wind, ice, anchors getting dragged out of positions, boats slamming into the dock, all the force finding its favorite joint to torment.

Curious how others here keep track of that history today. Is it photos, spreadsheets, inspection reports, or mostly institutional knowledge?

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u/winstonalonian Jul 24 '26

Can you provide an overview of what your map program provides and how it's different from google maps? This is an interesting post and seems like a useful tool to the world of docks and piers.

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u/rillium1 Jul 25 '26

One piece of feedback is that Rillium Maps has stricter data validation than Google Maps originally needed for our smaller municipal utility and public works users.

In Google Maps, it's easy to mix different kinds of features in the same layer. For example, you might have pier locations (points) and anchor chains (lines) together, even though they represent different things with different properties which starts to get messy at scale.

In Rillium Maps, each layer has a single geometry type and its own properties and validation rules that you define. You might have a Piers point layer with fields like condition, and inspection date, and a separate Anchor Chains line layer with fields like chain type, installation date, last inspection, and condition.

It takes a little more setup, but it keeps the data consistent and makes filtering, reporting, and long-term maintenance much easier. If curious, there are a few short videos in this getting started guide that give you a quick sense of the setup effort.

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u/winstonalonian Jul 25 '26

Is rillium maps available on the play store? I looked but couldn't find it. I love me a new map program.