Prism Map Studio: a map workspace in your browser

Prism Map Studio is a map workspace that runs in the browser, with nothing to install and no account. It opened on the day these notes were written.

What it does

• Your data, as it is. Drag GeoJSON, KML, shapefiles, CSV, GeoParquet or rasters onto the map, or add a map service or a cloud file by its address.
• Opened, not uploaded. Files you add are read inside the page, not uploaded, and the analysis runs on your own computer. Since 9 October 2026, tools that need an outside service (routes, US Census data, satellite imagery) send it the places they ask about, and a live session shares your map with the people in it; the product page lists them. Since 10 October 2026, a map shared by link is kept on our server so others can open it, and census data for North Dakota, Minnesota, South Dakota and Montana comes from our own copy of the Census Bureau's files.
• More than a thousand tools. Terrain and water tools such as slope, hillshade, watersheds and flow paths; vector and raster tools; imagery indices and point-cloud tools for survey and drone data.
• Ask with SQL. Every layer is a table. Query the layers on your map and put the answer back on the map as a new layer, or export it.
• Finished maps. Style, label and print.
• Fields ready to use. North Dakota's field boundaries from Prism Microclimate are a ready layer, beside your own files.

Why it matters

Map work usually means installing desktop software or uploading files to someone else's service. Keeping the files in the browser fits the rule Prism follows everywhere: your data stays with you. There is more on that on the security page, and more about the product on the Map Studio page.