The language
A declarative language for maps.
The heart of Gesta Carta isn’t a model — it’s the DSL. A document that describes what the map contains, not how to draw it, which a deterministic renderer turns into cartography. It is the product.
Open the Studio →map.gesta.yaml
gesta_version: "1.0"
id: russian-sphere-2022
class: gesta-core/continental-narrative@1.0
theme: gesta-core/meridiana@1.0
metadata:
temporal_reference: "2022-12-31"
disambiguation_state:
crimea: de_facto_post_2014
map_region:
focus: entity:RUS
layers:
- type: zone
subtype: influence-sphere
composition:
operation: union
operands: [RUS, BLR, KAZ, …]Finite, well-defined types
Thirteen layer types.
zone
Areas: spheres of influence, control, choropleths.
line
Borders, movement arrows, routes.
marker
Points: cities, bases, chokepoints, events.
label
Toponyms, with optional dual names.
annotation
Interpretive text, margin notes.
cartouche
Title, legend, scale, source.
data-layer
Table → map (grammar of graphics).
admin-choropleth
Choropleths over real units (geoBoundaries).
control
Data-driven territorial control.
inset
Sub-maps: zoom, locator, comparison.
icon · raster
Your own assets and georeferenced overlays.
network
Relational node–edge graphs.
Named entities, derived geometry.
entity:RUS · entity:disputed-territories:crimea — the renderer resolves it to authoritative geometry. No geographic hallucination.
- Natural Earth · curated OSM · GeoNames
- World Historical Gazetteer · historical libraries
- geoBoundaries (real sub-national units)
First-class disambiguation.
Twenty contested territories and ten disputed toponyms, each with its modes (de-facto, de-jure, dual name) and temporal validity. The map doesn’t assume — it declares.
disambiguation_state: crimea: de_jure_un persian-arabian-gulf: dual_naming
Style apart from content
The same map, six themes.
Meridiana
The signature: editorial, warm, narrative.
Sestante
Historical atlas: didactic, authoritative.
Reticolo
Clinical, maximum data-ink.
Quadrante
Neutral, analytic, balanced.
Brace
Single-thesis, a deliberately imperfect line.
Nudo
Scaffolding: the renderer’s fallbacks only.
The other doors