DEV Community: Germán Alberto Gimenez Silva

Generating thousands of maps per minute in Ruby

Germán Alberto Gimenez Silva — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 02:33:24 +0000

April 20, 2026

👉 Read the full article.

Generating thousands of maps per minute in Ruby – Linking Ruby knowledge from the most remote places in the world.

April 20, 2026 Scan to try 🎯 Live Demo Available Introducing MapView Render beautiful, production-ready maps directly from your Ruby backend. No external APIs. No dependencies. Just pure speed and …

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Check the project

GitHub: https://github.com/ggerman/ruby-libgd

GitHub: https://github.com/ggerman/libgd-gis

RubyKaigi 2026: A Reminder of What Innovation Actually Looks Like

Germán Alberto Gimenez Silva — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 02:26:01 +0000

RubyKaigi 2026: A Reminder of What Innovation Actually Looks Like

April 15, 2026

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RubyKaigi 2026: A Reminder of What Innovation Actually Looks Like – Linking Ruby knowledge from the most remote places in the world.

RubyKaigi 2026: A Reminder of What Innovation Actually Looks Like April 15, 2026 Scan to try 🎯 Live Demo Available Introducing MapView Render beautiful, production-ready maps directly from your Rub…

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Create QR Codes from Scratch with Ruby, ruby-libgd, and rqrcode

Germán Alberto Gimenez Silva — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 12:44:36 +0000

April 15, 2026

See the LIVE DEMO in action

MapView

Render maps directly from your backend no external APIs required. Fast, controlled, and production-ready.

Try the demo →

Today I created a flyer to send to Ruby on Rails Kaigi about my library stack. I strongly recommend keeping an eye on that conference.

After fighting with QR code generators, I noticed that sometimes the QR redirects through other websites. It’s frustrating because I can’t share a QR code with insecure content.

I found the gem rqrcode “A Ruby library that encodes QR Codes”.

After that, I thought I could generate the QR code using Ruby. Since I have ruby-libgd, I can offer the possibility to create QR codes entirely in Ruby!

👉 Read the full article.

Create QR Codes from Scratch with Ruby, ruby-libgd, and rqrcode – Linking Ruby knowledge from the most remote places in the world.

April 15, 2026 Scan to try 🎯 Live Demo Available Introducing MapView Render beautiful, production-ready maps directly from your Ruby backend. No external APIs. No dependencies. Just pure speed and …

rubystacknews.com

Building MapView: Architecture, CI/CD, and Production Deployment on Railway

Germán Alberto Gimenez Silva — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 01:51:49 +0000

Building MapView: Architecture, CI/CD, and Production Deployment on Railway

April 13, 2026

Introduction

MapView is a server-side map rendering engine for Rails that generates high-quality geographic visualizations without external API dependencies. This article explores the technical architecture behind the project, its deployment pipeline, and how we leverage Railway for production hosting.

The project encompasses multiple layers: the core rendering engines (ruby-libgd, libgd-gis), the Rails gem integration (MapView), and the live demo application. Understanding how these pieces fit together reveals the challenges and solutions of building production-grade infrastructure for a data-intensive application.

Project Architecture

Three-Layer Stack

MapView is built as three distinct, composable layers:

Layer 1: ruby-libgd A high-performance Ruby wrapper around libgd, the C graphics library. This provides direct access to bitmap rendering, image manipulation, and low-level graphics operations. By wrapping libgd in native C extensions with FFI bindings, we maintain Ruby’s expressiveness while preserving C-level performance.

Layer 2: libgd-gis The GIS-specific raster engine built on top of ruby-libgd. This layer handles geographic coordinate systems, projection transformations, tile fetching from basemap providers (OpenStreetMap, Carto, Mapnik, etc.), and raster composition. It’s the abstraction that translates geographic data into rendered images.

Layer 3: MapView (Rails Gem) The Rails-specific integration layer. This is what developers use in their applications. It provides an ActiveJob-compatible rendering interface, webhook support, caching strategies, and seamless integration with Rails patterns.

👉 Read the full article.

Building MapView: Architecture, CI/CD, and Production Deployment on Railway – Linking Ruby knowledge from the most remote places in the world.

Building MapView: Architecture, CI/CD, and Production Deployment on Railway April 13, 2026 🚀 See the LIVE DEMO in action MapView Render maps directly from your backend no external APIs required. Fa…

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MapView: Server-Side Map Rendering for Rails

Germán Alberto Gimenez Silva — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 02:04:26 +0000

MapView: Server-Side Map Rendering for Rails

April 12, 2026

After an extensive development journey, MapView has arrived: a powerful API for generating map images directly from your Ruby server.

What is MapView?

MapView is a Ruby gem that enables you to render maps, routes, points, and polygons with zoom levels ranging from a global world view down to neighborhood-specific details. Everything is processed server-side, without JavaScript dependencies or expensive external API calls.

Built on ruby-libgd and libgd-gis , a robust architecture that delivers:

Deterministic rendering (predictable results)
Multiple map styles (OSM, Carto, Mapnik, etc.)
Configurable resolutions (up to 4K)
Full customization: legends, logos, watermarks
GeoJSON support, routes, real-time alerts

👉 Read the full article.

MapView: Server-Side Map Rendering for Rails – Linking Ruby knowledge from the most remote places in the world.

MapView: Server-Side Map Rendering for Rails April 12, 2026 After an extensive development journey, MapView has arrived: a powerful API for generating map images directly from your Ruby server. Wha…

rubystacknews.com

Building a Complete GIS Stack in Rails: ruby-libgd + libgd-gis + map_view

Germán Alberto Gimenez Silva — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 02:20:34 +0000

Building a Complete GIS Stack in Rails: ruby-libgd + libgd-gis + map_view

April 10, 2026

Over the past few months I’ve been working on a small GIS-oriented stack in Ruby, focused on a simple goal: rendering maps from GeoJSON directly on the server.

It started at a low level, building bindings around libgd:

ruby-libgd (MIT)
libgd-gis (MIT)

From there, I added a higher-level layer designed for Rails applications:

map_view

The idea is straightforward: take GeoJSON as input and generate a map image as output.

No browser, no JavaScript runtime, and no dependency on external APIs — just rendering maps directly from Ruby.

👉 Read the full article.

Building a Complete GIS Stack in Rails: ruby-libgd + libgd-gis + map_view – Linking Ruby knowledge from the most remote places in the world.

Building a Complete GIS Stack in Rails: ruby-libgd + libgd-gis + map_view April 10, 2026 🚀 See the LIVE DEMO in action MapView Render maps directly from your backend no external APIs required. Fast…

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Pure Ruby Maps: libgd-gis + Rails

Germán Alberto Gimenez Silva — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 02:13:03 +0000

April 8, 2026

Static GIS maps, pure Ruby, GeoJSON support, and zero JavaScript bloat.

Over 15 years ago, I discovered the GD library at a Linux conference. I was fascinated by the ability to generate graphics dynamically in C and PHP with just code. It seemed magical.

For two decades, I kept wondering: Why doesn’t Ruby have solid GD support?

Last year, I built the answer. Today, I’m sharing it: MapView – a Rails gem that renders beautiful static maps without a single line of JavaScript.

👉 Read the full article.

Pure Ruby Maps: libgd-gis + Rails – Linking Ruby knowledge from the most remote places in the world.

April 8, 2026 🚀 See the LIVE DEMO in action MapView Render maps directly from your backend no external APIs required. Fast, controlled, and production-ready. Try the demo → Static GIS maps, pure Ru…

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Published on Ruby Stack News. Featured in Ruby Weekly.

Last updated: April 2026

MapView: Static maps for Rails. No JS. No frontend. Just Ruby.

Germán Alberto Gimenez Silva — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 02:29:36 +0000

MapView: Static maps for Rails. No JS. No frontend. Just Ruby.

April 7, 2026

From the creator of ruby-libgd and libgd-gis comes native Rails integration

Many of you already know ruby-libgd – the gem that brings GD graphics power to Ruby.

Many of you already know libgd-gis – the GIS rendering layer built on top of GD.

Now there’s MapView for Ruby on Rails.

What is MapView?

👉 Read the full article.

What’s this? DragonRuby Game Toolkit – Linking Ruby knowledge from the most remote places in the world.

What’s this? DragonRuby Game Toolkit April 6, 2026 🚀 See the LIVE DEMO in action MapView Render maps directly from your backend no external APIs required. Fast, controlled, and production-rea…

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What’s this? DragonRuby Game Toolkit

Germán Alberto Gimenez Silva — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 02:34:24 +0000

What’s this? DragonRuby Game Toolkit

April 6, 2026

Ruby outside the web browser. On a game cartridge. Sort of.

Every so often, something appears in the Ruby world that doesn’t fit the usual categories. It’s not a web framework. Not a gem for background jobs. Not a Rails performance tweak.

It’s a game engine. And it runs on a Nintendo Switch.

The thing

DragonRuby Game Toolkit is a cross-platform 2D game engine where you write code in Ruby. Actual Ruby. Not a transpiled subset. Not a configuration language masquerading as Ruby.

You write:


def tick(args)
  args.outputs.sprites << {
    x: 100, y: 100, w: 50, h: 50,
    path: "sprites/hero.png"
  }
end

👉 Read the full article.

What’s this? DragonRuby Game Toolkit – Linking Ruby knowledge from the most remote places in the world.

What’s this? DragonRuby Game Toolkit April 6, 2026 🚀 See the LIVE DEMO in action MapView Render maps directly from your backend no external APIs required. Fast, controlled, and production-rea…

rubystacknews.com

This Week in Rails: Faster Logs, Reliable Parallel Tests, and Key Deprecations

Germán Alberto Gimenez Silva — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 02:48:15 +0000

This Week in Rails: Faster Logs, Reliable Parallel Tests, and Key Deprecations

April 5, 2026

A new batch of improvements has landed in the Rails codebase this week, focusing on performance refinements, testing reliability, and cleaning up legacy configuration options. Here is what you need to know.

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The AI Art Competition That Nobody Won – Linking Ruby knowledge from the most remote places in the world.

The AI Art Competition That Nobody Won April 2, 2026 🚀 See the LIVE DEMO in action MapView Render maps directly from your backend no external APIs required. Fast, controlled, and production-ready. …

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Originally published on RubyStackNews.com Based on the official “This Week in Rails” summary from April 5, 2026

The AI Art Competition That Nobody Won

Germán Alberto Gimenez Silva — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 03:46:31 +0000

The AI Art Competition That Nobody Won

April 2, 2026

fter teaching different AIs the ruby-libgd interfaces, I proposed a competition: Who could create the most creative and beautiful image using Ruby-LibGD?

So we began the competition.

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The AI Art Competition That Nobody Won – Linking Ruby knowledge from the most remote places in the world.

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Rails Logs: A Blessing in Development, a Headache in Production

Germán Alberto Gimenez Silva — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 02:16:55 +0000

Rails Logs: A Blessing in Development, a Headache in Production

March 31, 2026

The Love Affair

You know the feeling. Local machine, Rails server running, something breaks. You glance at the terminal and there it is: a beautiful stack trace with every detail you need.


Started GET "/articles/999" for 127.0.0.1 at 2026-03-31 10:23:45 -0300
Processing by ArticlesController#show as HTML
  Article Load (0.8ms) SELECT * FROM articles WHERE id = 999 LIMIT 1
Completed 404 Not Found in 15ms

ActiveRecord::RecordNotFound (Couldn't find Article with 'id'=999):
app/controllers/articles_controller.rb:7:in `show'

HTTP method, path, controller, action, SQL query, error, line of code. Everything. In development, logs are a blessing.

Then you need to find what happened in production three weeks ago. That’s when the blessing becomes a curse.

👉 Read the full article.

Rails Logs: A Blessing in Development, a Headache in Production – Linking Ruby knowledge from the most remote places in the world.

Rails Logs: A Blessing in Development, a Headache in Production March 31, 2026 The Love Affair 🚀 See the LIVE DEMO in action MapView Render maps directly from your backend no external APIs required…

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What about you? Still grepping through compressed files?