Welcome to the Studio On-Prem SDK.

What is the On-Prem SDK?

The Studio On-Prem SDK is essentially a version of Foursquare's own Studio product offered in library form. It takes the Studio Map SDK (that is used for "light weight" embedding of maps in web applications and notebooks) to the next level, offering deeper integration options.

The target audience for the On-Prem SDK is "tool builders" who want to use Foursquare Studio as a component in their own offerings.

The On-Prem SDK is:

for organizations that want to offer geospatial visualization and analytics tools to customers (visualization and analytics).
for organizations that prefer to buy rather than build their own visualization tools.
a library that visualizes maps and performs analytics on geospatial data in the browser.
delivered in library form, enabling customers to build and host their own services.
disconnected from the Foursquare Studio cloud. It is designed to enable users to integrate visualizations with their own backends.

By licensing the Studio On-Prem SDK you can provide your customers with one of the most advanced geospatial visualization and analytics platforms in the industry, as part of your own tool suite or SaaS offering.

For further details, visit the following pages:

The Studio Map SDK API overview (contains a table view of available API functions)
Studio On-Prem SDK feature matrix
Studio On-Prem Servers

Availability

The On-Prem SDK is a premium product that is not available to free users. It is however a superset of the Studio Map SDK, which is available for free evaluation.

Documentation

Since the On-Prem SDK is essentially a library version of Foursquare Studio, much of the Studio documentation can be helpful to understand how the visualizations and user interface powered by the library work.

In terms of APIs, the following documentation describes the On-Prem SDK:

The Studio Map SDK. The "PRO" badge in the Map SDK documentation calls out functions that are only available in the On-Prem SDK.
The Studio map configuration format specification.
The Studio layer configuration format specification.

Licensees also receive additional non-public documentation explaining how to configure and integrate the On-Prem SDK.

Customization

The Studio On-Prem SDK offers additional styling and configuration options that are not available in the standard Map SDK, to support customer-specified branding of the UI.

Studio may be able to provide some additional customization options on request, considering feature requests on a case-by-case basis.

In some cases, feature improvements can also be done directly by the customer via the open core.

Please get in touch with us if you’re thinking about custom development. Find us in the Studio Community Slack channel or contact us directly via email.

Integration Options

Custom backend - The Studio On-Prem SDK allows the user to connect Studio visualizations to their own backend and user identity services. By default, the On-Prem SDK does not interact with any Foursquare backend services. This allows a customer can take control of the storing and loading of both data and maps. Users that do not want to build a full range of backend services can also deploy Foursquare On-Prem Backend Services.
On-Prem Backend Services - Foursquare is building on-prem versions of our geospatial backend services that can be licensed together with the On-Prem SDK. Sometimes on-prem SDK customers prefer not to build a completely new backend, and then licensing on-prem backend services can make sense.
Map SDK - The primary integration API is a superset of the Studio Map SDK. It is continuously receiving additions that improve integration options.
Map Configuration - The Studio map format is very powerful, and most aspects of the on-prem SDK can be controlled simply by manipulating map configuration files. The map format is well documented, allowing tool builders to not only store such maps on their own backend but also create them programmatically from other formats or data sources.
Analytics - The On-Prem SDK offers a set of hooks providing analytics and error reporting events, all of which customers can be integrated with preferred analytics and telemetry solutions.

Please ask us if you’re interested in potentially licensing Foursquare On-prem Backend Services and using them alongside the On-Prem SDK.

Delivery

The On-Prem SDK is delivered in library form to the customer. The customer then integrates it with their own application code, and deploys the resulting combined application when ready.

Open Core

The Studio On-Prem SDK is built on top of an extensive open core tech stack that is under open governance through the OpenJS Foundation/Linux Foundations). This gives users access to a significant part of the code base of the On-Prem SDK which sometimes simplifies engineering collaborations.

In addition, the On-Prem SDK is regularly updated to include the latest versions of Foursquare's open core technologies, including kepler.gl, deck.gl. New features contributed into these frameworks thus eventually make their way into the On-Prem SDK.

For more information about what features the Studio On-Prem SDK adds on top of the kepler.gl open core, see the Studio vs kepler.gl comparison.

Support

Naturally, the On-Prem SDK comes with premium support and the possibility of custom feature development. Please inquire for more details.