I'm Karthik from GeoG. We wanted to use a serialization format that is close to JSON so that it would work well with JavaScript and various other languages.

We wanted it to be compressed, not as GZIP or Snappy, but more like Protobuf or Avro. Except, we did not want a specification/RPC file for larger types beforehand - but give some leeway for user defined types.

We have come up with a specification - but we know that our design isn't quite there yet, and we could do a whole lot better.

Which is why I'm asking the HackerNews community to help us make this format leaner, meaner and simpler to use.

We want to know how to get trashed for trying to reinvent the wheel - we'll take the feedback seriously enough if there is merit in it.

Our repo with the specification is here: https://github.com/geog-opensource/sonofa

We'd love to hear you!