Use PNG images or patterns easily with the new Raster icons upload in MapTiler Customize. Your maps can now include:
- Photos for locations
- Complicated PNG icons
- Seamless patterns to fill any area
Our new Aquarelle watercolor map style highlights how the pattern fill can create artistic effects like a paper texture showing through the colors! Check it out here.
Custom marker icons
You can now upload PNG raster images to use as icons on your maps! This is in addition to the vector SVG icons you can already upload. Raster icons can be uploaded as individual or zipped PNG images, or you can create a combined upload with SVGs.
We have guides on Adding Photos as Landmarks and Working with Icons, including uploaded PNGs.
You can also style the markers by Zoom range or data range to achieve your perfect design. The size of the icons can also be adjusted, and you can customize the text labels.
Once the icon has caught the user's attention, you can add more information about the location under the marker using an interactive pop-up created with the MapTiler SDK.
Pattern fills for maps
You can also upload seamless pattern fills in PNG formats along with your raster icons. These images that seamlessly repeat significantly increase your cartographic options and are perfect for maps with limited color palettes.
Patterns like dots, lines, or even tree or grass symbols let you distinguish areas you want to represent with the same or similar colors. For example, you can show the difference between coniferous and deciduous woodlands without changing the green. This means they are great for black-and-white maps like Toner or color-blind-friendly maps.
Creating a watercolor map style with patterns
Aquarelle, our beautiful artistic basemap, is perfect for adding your own data. By default, there are no labels, points, or other distracting features, letting your data shine. We harnessed the ability to upload raster icons to add a paper texture pattern in various colors, creating a hand-painted look for the map.
The basemap is ideal for adding a sense of place to your dataset without the strict precision of our other detailed maps.
Try the Aquarelle yourself; it's available in three beautiful variants:
