●Slide0:
Alright, I think we’re ready to get started.
Welcome to our session at W3C Breakouts Day 2026: "From Hyper Layering to Practical SVGMap: AppLayers & Community Updates."
This session is meant to be informal and a bit more like a meetup,
so please feel free to jump in, share ideas, or drop links in the chat as we go.
Rather than focusing on concepts, today we’ll mainly share what’s already running,
and how the ecosystem is starting to grow.
To kick things off, let’s do a quick round of self-introductions from everyone joining us.

●Slide1:
At TPAC 2025 last year, I shared the background of Hyper Layering Architecture, or HLA, and the idea of “Layers as Web Apps.”
So today, I’ll keep this part very brief.
The key point is that this is not something new - it has actually been used in real systems for nearly 20 years.
For example, in enterprise environments since around 2005, and even as a consumer service on mobile phones back in 2007.
At its core, it’s simply applying the original Web idea — linking independent resources — to map layers.
And over time, this approach has evolved into what you see today: a growing, practical ecosystem built around that same principle.

●Slide2:
So this is the model we’re working with today: LaWA — Layers as Web Apps.
In this approach, each layer is simply a small Web App.
There’s no central system integrating everything.
Each layer is published independently, and the browser brings them together through links.
So instead of uploading data into a platform, you just publish your layer and connect it.
Over time, this has naturally grown into a collection of reusable layers.
And recently, we organized them into an open repository called svgmapAppLayers.

●Slide3:
So what we have now is not just a few examples, but a growing ecosystem of working layers.
At the moment, there are over 246 layers across 13 categories, covering things like disaster prevention, weather, infrastructure, and more.
And again, each of these is a Web App.
They are not pre-integrated — each one runs independently, and the browser combines them on demand.
From a deployment perspective, it’s very lightweight.
Most of these layers run on static hosting, like GitHub Pages, and the only dynamic part is a small proxy when cross-origin access is needed.
So in practice, you can just fork the repository and have your own system up and running in minutes.
That’s why we sometimes call this a “self-sovereign GIS” — you don’t need a central platform to get started.

●Slide4:
Let me quickly show a few things you can do with these layers.
First, combining global datasets.
You can bring together data from sources like NASA, JAXA, USGS, or yr.no, and simply overlay them in the browser.
They are completely independent services, but they work together just by linking.
Second, public open data.
For example, in Japan, weather radars and hazard maps from different ministries can be viewed together on a single map.
These datasets were originally siloed, but here they become easy to combine and explore.
And third, client-side processing.
You can load your own CSV or GeoJSON files, render large datasets, and even run spatial operations — all directly in the browser.
So it’s not just viewing data — you can actually work with it, without any backend.

●Slide5:
So far, many of the layers have been developed around Japanese data, but this is now starting to expand more globally.
In fact, about one-third of the layers already use international datasets.
And today, we’re happy to share a new step in that direction: the kickoff of canadianSvgmapAppLayers.
The WebDINO Canada team has joined the project and started building their own collection of layers.
They are also working on multilingual tutorials, so it’s becoming easier for people outside Japan to get involved.
Getting started is simple.
If you have geospatial data or a web service, you can turn it into a LaWA layer and publish it as a Web App.
And if you’re interested, everything is available on GitHub.
So with that, I’d like to hand over to the WebDINO Canada team.
Over to you!

●Follow canada presentation:
Thank you very much for that excellent presentation.
It clearly shows that this approach is not just a concept, but something that is already spreading and taking shape in real projects.
Now, I would like to open the floor.
We would love to hear your thoughts, impressions, or questions.
It doesn’t have to be formal , even small ideas, reactions, or different perspectives are very welcome.

●Wrap up:
Thank you very much for all your comments and insights.
It was great to hear such a variety of perspectives.
What we saw today is exactly how this architecture should evolve.
Not as something fixed or centrally defined, but as something that grows through discussion and collaboration.
We are already starting to see that happening, through real implementations like the one from the Canada team.
If you are interested in continuing this conversation, you are very welcome to explore our work on GitHub.
Even just browsing is absolutely fine.
And if you feel like it, sharing an idea or posting an issue is also very welcome.
You can also join the discussion in the W3C Maps for HTML Community Group.
Finally, thank you all very much for being here today.
We truly appreciate your time and your engagement.
We look forward to continuing this together.
Thank you.