Location-Based & Geospatial Apps | CARTO for Developers

The leading platform for cloud native geospatial app development

Create scalable, map-centric applications with our powerful developer toolkit.

Cloud native

Limitless scalability. Data is hosted and processed entirely in your cloud data warehouse, with all of the embedded enterprise-grade security and user management controls.

Rapid development

Accelerate spatial app development with the most comprehensive cloud native development toolkit available, including APIs, frameworks and templates.

Cost-effective

Save time and money by simplifying development, and removing complex backend APIs or ETLs. Your geospatial app will run natively on your existing cloud stack.

Built for developing powerful spatial applications in the cloud

Image showing different parts of the CARTO platform: Workflows, Builder and CARTO for Deck.gl

Cloud Native

Unmatched performance and scalability for visualizing spatial data hosted in the cloud.

APIs & Frameworks 

APIs, libraries and development frameworks that speed up location-based application deployment. 

Visualization tools

Visualization using deck.gl, web-GL technology and GPU rendering for unparalleled performance. 

Widgets & Charts

Easily build your own customized charts and other visual data components that stay fully synchronized with the map.

Tilers

Our Tiling technology dynamically renders massive geospatial datasets without any intermediate databases.

Basemaps

Integrate quality basemaps into your spatial apps to visualize data with clarity and precision.

Builder

Builder lets you to rapidly design maps and reference them in your code and applications. 

Data

Access more than 12,000 geospatial datasets to enhance your spatial analysis and applications.

A fully cloud-native platform

CARTO is built for the cloud, extending the spatial analysis and visualization capabilities available in BigQuery, Snowflake, Redshift, Databricks, Azure and more.  Data is hosted, processed and rendered entirely in your data warehouse. Complex ETLing is no longer required.

Rapid, cost effective development tools

Reduce the time and cost to develop location-based apps with the most comprehensive APIs and development toolkit available. No need for backend APIs, ETLs or hosting data in an intermediate mapping infrastructure.

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No limits on data volumes, guaranteed performance

Designed to support massive datasets directly from a cloud data warehouse. Our embedded tiling technology, combined with the power and flexibility of deck.gl, allows any developer to build applications, regardless of the data scale.

Framework agnostic development

No matter if your application uses vanilla Javascript, Typescript or a framework (Vue, React, Angular...), CARTO will integrate perfectly with your existing development stack, solving complex geospatial challenges with minimal dependencies.

Truly enterprise ready

Flexible authentication methods let you distribute your application publicly, or deploy secure enterprise-grade access controls. With CARTO Self-Hosted you get the same versatile development experience, but deployed in your own controlled environment.

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Applications built with CARTO

Mediterranean Conservation Grant Tracker

A mapping & analysis tool to explore more than 700 conservation projects in the Mediterranean region.

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CARTO + deck.gl

A sample custom app developed with CARTO + Deck.gl. Data is retrieved through a cloud native data warehouse connection, without any ETL or replication.

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Hawaii Climate Impact

The HDOT Climate Insights for Infrastructure platform lets users visualize climate-related hazards, and anticipate where risks to infrastructure may occur as a result of environmental impacts.

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CARTO for Site Selection

An end-to-end solution for site selection and planning that includes data, advanced visualization and embedded models to pinpoint the best locations for network expansion.

CARTO for OOH Advertising

A cloud-based Location Intelligence platform that combines outdoor media inventory with 3rd party data, street-level brand affinity and targeted consumer audiences.

CARTO for CPG

An end-to-end solution including data, advanced visualization and embedded models to segment trade partners and pin-point the best locations for brand expansion.

Vodafone Analytics

A data monetization solution that provides insights into human mobility patterns, based on mobile network events, to drive better decision-making in Tourism, Retail and Real Estate.

supply chain solutions

Supply Chain Solutions

Powerful Location Intelligence applications that reduce costs & improve visibility through spatially optimized supply chain operations and fleet management.

CARTO to address city congestion

Addressing City Congestion

Location Intelligence applications that integrate crowdsourced and open traffic data streams to gain real-time mobility insights.

Location Analysis for real estate decision-making

Gloval Analytics

Location analysis for Real Estate decision-making, using key metrics to obtain a realistic view of market behavior, and rapid online property valuations.

Frequently asked questions

Can I do a free trial of CARTO for Developers?

Yes! Our 14-day free trial includes unlimited access to our developer platform. Sign up and get started today!

We have billions of data points, can CARTO handle these volumes?

We designed the CARTO platform to handle datasets of all sizes with impressive performance, cost effectively, on any modern device. Billions of points, polygons, and lines. You can find many examples in our blog.

Does CARTO only do visualization?

No, CARTO also offers rich analytical capabilities, including Workflows, our low-code analysis design and automation tool, and the Analytics Toolbox, a set of functions and procedures you can use directly in your cloud data warehouse. We also offer a range of APIs, such as our SQL API, the LDS API (for geocoding, isoline calculation, routing...), or the Imports API, so that you can build the perfect application your organisations needs.

How does CARTO compare to open-source solutions for geospatial app development?

While open-source tools are great (among other major contributions, we're part of the steering committee for deck.gl) in most cases they're not fully ready to cover the needs of large-scale developments and the enterprises behind them. 

CARTO drastically reduces development time by offering solutions that integrate:

a) with your existing cloud and data architecture

b) with any volume of data

c) with your enterprise Single Sign-On and identity management systems

It also reduces maintenance needs and exposure: the CARTO team are constantly improving the platform while you focus on your business. Our Support and Customer Success teams will proactively and quickly complement your team with their deep geospatial expertise, as required.

Related content

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Dynamic Tiling for Highly Performant Cloud-Native Maps

Elevate cloud-native mapping of big data with CARTO's Dynamic Tiling. Seamlessly integrate interactive maps in your apps without compromising speed.

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Modernizing Spatial Apps in the Cloud with CARTO

Accelerate cloud native spatial app development with CARTO. Discover our APIs and developer frameworks, built for the modern geospatial data stack.

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Power 3D Maps with Google Maps Platform, CARTO & deck.gl

Learn how to leverage photorealistic 3D map tiles with this collaboration from Google Maps Platform, CARTO, and deck.gl.

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