# MakieCon highlights

We're happy to announce that Makie is now the most starred Julia plotting library:

[](https://star-history.com/#MakieOrg/Makie.jl&JuliaPlots/Plots.jl&GiovineItalia/Gadfly.jl&JuliaPy/PyPlot.jl&jheinen/GR.jl&JuliaPlots/UnicodePlots.jl&Date)

While one shouldn't put too much emphasis on GitHub star counts, we like to think that it's an indicator that Makie is on a good trajectory and people are excited to see where it's going next.

MakieCon playlist on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP8iPy9hna6TXEn99mhG5KaTgjsrCkDzQ

## Fast TopoPlots with more Julia
https://github.com/MakieOrg/TopoPlots.jl/issues/31

## Observable{Vector{PlotSpec}} prototype
https://github.com/MakieOrg/Makie.jl/pull/2868

This prototype can be used by recipes when the number and type of plots depend on the input data, rather than just the input types.

It extends the functionality of the existing PlotSpec infrastructure and allows for the creation and deletion of plots as needed. It is compatible with any backend.

This step is crucial in optimizing the integration of WGLMakie within Pluto. While Pluto lacks support for UIs via Observables like Makie, it follows a declarative style where users write out the complete plot command for each animation step. This will ensure smooth operation and compatibility between WGLMakie and Pluto.

## A datashader implementation

James A. Bednar delivered an [exceptional keynote at MakieCon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ORTZQQ2NGQ), where he introduced the Python package [datashader](https://datashader.org).

This presentation sparked immediate inspiration within the Makie community, leading to the [development of an initial prototype for Makie](https://github.com/MakieOrg/Makie.jl/pull/2883).

Imagine a 2D histogram where each bin corresponds to a single pixel. This plot type was implemented as a recipe and proves particularly useful for exploring vast amounts of data (ranging from millions to billions of points) that may encounter issues like overplotting and saturation.

The [preliminary documentation](https://docs.makie.org/previews/PR2883/examples/plotting_functions/datashader/) includes an example showcasing the interactive speed of "shading" 2.7 billion points on a laptop:

Once the implementation is finalized, we will publish an official announcement with a blog post elaborating on the details.

## Progress on axes in nonlinear spaces
https://github.com/MakieOrg/GeoMakie.jl/pull/163

We were able to understand and present a lot of what is required to have generic nonlinear axes in Makie. These were implemented in a PR to GeoMakie, and we've had some success so far. Work is still ongoing to make this a good axis, though!

## Scatterjitter
https://github.com/MakieOrg/Makie.jl/pull/2872


# v0.19.5 Release

Some highlights from the 0.19.5 release:

## More fixes for line rendering in GLMakie [#2843](https://github.com/MakieOrg/Makie.jl/pull/2843)

[Frederic Freyer](https://github.com/ffreyer) went all in on fixing remaining issues with the new line rendering from [v0.19.3](https://github.com/MakieOrg/Makie.jl/pull/2666).
See the well documented PR for more infos about the challenges: [](https://github.com/MakieOrg/Makie.jl/pull/2843)

## Added contour labels [#2496](https://github.com/MakieOrg/Makie.jl/pull/2496)

[t-bltg](https://github.com/t-bltg) put lots of work into [enabling proper contour labels for Makie](https://docs.makie.org/stable/examples/plotting_functions/contour/index.html#contour):



## Fixes for `Makie.inline!()` [#2919](https://github.com/MakieOrg/Makie.jl/pull/2919) [#2937](https://github.com/MakieOrg/Makie.jl/pull/2937)

We now allow and default to `Makie.inline!(automatic)`, which is better at automatically opening a window / inlining a plot into plotpane when needed [#2919](https://github.com/MakieOrg/Makie.jl/pull/2919) [#2937](https://github.com/MakieOrg/Makie.jl/pull/2937)

## Block/Axis doc improvements [#2940](https://github.com/MakieOrg/Makie.jl/pull/2940) [#2932](https://github.com/MakieOrg/Makie.jl/pull/2932) [#2894](https://github.com/MakieOrg/Makie.jl/pull/2894)

We got a lot of feedback regarding Makie's documentation during MakieCon. Many users feel that while it contains a lot of information, it could be structured more clearly. A system for structuring documentation that has been gaining popularity is the four-sector system from the folks at [divio](https://documentation.divio.com/) which separates tutorials, how-to's, explanations and reference.

There is an ongoing effort to make plotting function and `Block` documentation pages more reference-like, with more focused examples for each attribute or keyword argument, and extended help functionality in the Julia REPL. In the future, we'd like to add more complex how-to's, an area in which the separate project [Beautiful Makie](https://beautiful.makie.org/dev/) has been stronger than the official documentation in the past.

# Exciting developments

## [Julia v1.9 release](https://julialang.org/blog/2023/04/julia-1.9-highlights/)

The 1.9 release is a great release for Makie :)


Also, it fixes [a long standing issue](https://github.com/JuliaGL/GLFW.jl/issues/198) for GLMakie users with AMD GPU on linux: https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/pull/46976, which [got backported to 1.8.4](https://github.com/JuliaGL/GLFW.jl/issues/198#issuecomment-1367567883).

## [Miner.jl](https://github.com/ashwani-rathee/Miner.jl)

## [ModelingToolkitDesigner.jl](https://github.com/bradcarman/ModelingToolkitDesigner.jl)

## [Tyler](https://github.com/MakieOrg/Tyler.jl) & [SegmentAnything.jl](https://github.com/rafaqz/SegmentAnything.jl)

Tyler.jl is a package which plots large images performantly by breaking them up into a set of "tiles". This is often used for interactive maps where tiles are downloaded on demand.

### SAM

### Greenland ice loss

### OSM


### PyramidSchemes.jl
https://github.com/MakieOrg/Tyler.jl/issues/44

The pyramid scheme is actually how Google Maps works with satellite imagery - it creates tilesets at multiple resolutions (called "zoom levels") which are then dynamically loaded. Tyler also supports this - it's a pretty common format called the web map tile or XYZ tile interface.

Tyler also supports a lot of other providers, like Leaflet.

## [GtkMakie.jl](https://github.com/JuliaGtk/GtkMakie.jl)


## TidierPlots

https://github.com/TidierOrg/TidierPlots.jl

# Social Media
[julialang.social/@makie](https://julialang.social/@makie)
[twitter.com/MakiePlots](https://twitter.com/MakiePlots)
[makieplots.bsky.social](https://staging.bsky.app/profile/makieplots.bsky.social)
[www.linkedin.com/company/makieorg](https://www.linkedin.com/company/makieorg)
[medium.com/@makieorg](https://medium.com/@makieorg)
[discord.gg/2FBjYAT3cY](https://discord.gg/2FBjYAT3cY)