SV
ENWhy we run everything on our own servers
The map, the tiles, the routing engine and the analytics all sit on our own machines in Sweden. It is more work, and that is exactly the point.
There is an easier way to build this site. You rent the map from one large provider, the routing from another, the analytics from a third, and assemble something that works in an afternoon.
We did the opposite, and it is worth explaining why.
What sits with us
The map itself, meaning the tiles you see as you zoom, is built and stored by us. That is several gigabytes of map data covering all of Sweden, plus satellite imagery, plus all the thematic layers. The routing engine that computes travel times by public transport and car runs on the same machine. The visitor analytics is self hosted too.
In other words: when you search an address, drag a slider or plan a journey, that question never leaves our servers.
Why we bother
- Privacy. A map loads hundreds of tiles per session. If they sit with a third party, that party knows exactly where you are looking, for how long and how often. We do not think your moving plans are anyone else's business.
- No platform dependency. Map services change prices and terms. A site that builds its entire function on somebody else's free tier is one price change away from being dead.
- Control over the data. We can add exactly the layers we want, at the resolution we want, and fix errors ourselves instead of filing a report and hoping.
- Cost at scale. It is expensive at first and cheap later. The opposite holds for rented services.
What it costs us
Honesty demands the other side too. We are responsible for operations, updates, security and backups ourselves. If something breaks at three in the morning there is no support desk to call. Map data has to be rebuilt when the sources update, and every new layer is its own construction project.
That is why some things take time here. We do not add a layer by ticking a box. We fetch the raw data, reproject it, simplify the geometry, build tiles and test that it renders correctly in both dark and light mode.
Why you should care
Really, you should not have to. A good site should simply work. But if you have ever wondered why certain services suddenly start charging, add advertising or shut down, the answer is almost always that the ground they stood on was not theirs.
Ours stands on its own. That is the entire idea.
Photo: The National Archives (UK), server room at The National Archives, United Kingdom, 2011. Licensed under CC BY 3.0. The image has been cropped and downscaled.
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