<p>OpenMapTiles 3.15, the open-source vector tiles map-generation tool, is out now. Here are the highlights:</p><ul><li>Significant enhancements to the road network</li><li>Improved rendering of water features</li><li>Integration of Aboriginal lands</li><li>Extra functionality for adding the most requested data and improving cartography</li></ul><h2>Improved road network and other new map features</h2><h3>Compact road network</h3><p>The most visible improvement is the enhancement of highway networks. Previously, certain sections of highways were not visible on the map, such as remote rural parts of Canada. With the latest update, the entire Trans-Canada highway is now visible as early as zoom level 4, significantly improving the map's comprehensiveness and accuracy in these regions. Roads on higher zoom levels were improved in general, e.g., bridges are now rendered as part of the highways, until they are visible as actual bridges on the map.</p><p>Additional enhancements have been made, particularly in the UK and Ireland, where primary and secondary networks have been refined. These improvements enable the tagging of roads with shields.</p><p>The ability to create a unified network from routes that share a common network value but employ different shields is another significant improvement. <strong>Please note that this update constitutes a breaking change.</strong></p><p><img src="https://media.maptiler.com/img/2024_04_29_openmaptiles_315_2_ddd19447c9.png" alt="2024-04-29-openmaptiles-315-2.png" srcset="https://media.maptiler.com/img/xsmall_2024_04_29_openmaptiles_315_2_ddd19447c9.png 125w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/thumbnail_2024_04_29_openmaptiles_315_2_ddd19447c9.png 245w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/small_2024_04_29_openmaptiles_315_2_ddd19447c9.png 450w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/medium_2024_04_29_openmaptiles_315_2_ddd19447c9.png 750w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/large_2024_04_29_openmaptiles_315_2_ddd19447c9.png 1000w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/xlarge_2024_04_29_openmaptiles_315_2_ddd19447c9.png 1250w," sizes="100vw" width="1250px"></p><p style="text-align:center;"><i>Kennedy Interchange on the </i><a href="https://zelonewolf.github.io/openstreetmap-americana/#map=15.28/38.258705/-85.736118" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><i>OpenStreetMap Americana</i></a><i> map style</i></p><h3>Improved water features</h3><p>A new class, “pond”, for minor water bodies like ponds, basins, and wastewater, has been introduced, allowing for some cartographic improvements. This new class means that it is possible to style big lakes differently and sooner on higher zoom levels than your local pond.</p><p>Also, traveling across big lakes and even seas is more visible thanks to the addition of long-distance ferry routes.</p><p><img src="https://media.maptiler.com/img/2024_04_29_openmaptiles_315_3_fbcb7d8399.png" alt="2024-04-29-openmaptiles-315-3.png" srcset="https://media.maptiler.com/img/xsmall_2024_04_29_openmaptiles_315_3_fbcb7d8399.png 125w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/thumbnail_2024_04_29_openmaptiles_315_3_fbcb7d8399.png 245w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/small_2024_04_29_openmaptiles_315_3_fbcb7d8399.png 450w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/medium_2024_04_29_openmaptiles_315_3_fbcb7d8399.png 750w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/large_2024_04_29_openmaptiles_315_3_fbcb7d8399.png 1000w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/xlarge_2024_04_29_openmaptiles_315_3_fbcb7d8399.png 1250w," sizes="100vw" width="1250px"></p><p style="text-align:center;"><i>Ferry routes between Greek islands</i></p><h3>New “Lands inhabited by Indigenous peoples” and even more languages</h3><p>To promote awareness and recognition of indigenous communities, we have introduced “Aboriginal lands” into OpenMapTiles. These areas are technically mapped as boundary=aboriginal_lands in OpenStreetMap. I strongly encourage individuals to contribute to this initiative by mapping these areas. For additional information on how to map them, visit the <a href="https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:boundary%3Daboriginal_lands" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">OSM wiki</a>.</p><p>With eight newly added languages, OpenMapTiles now supports 78 languages!</p><figure class="media"><div data-oembed-url="https://vimeo.com/940818081"><div style="position: relative; padding-bottom: 100%; height: 0; padding-bottom: 56.2493%;"><iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/940818081?background=1" style="position: absolute; width: 100%; height: 100%; top: 0; left: 0;" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div></div></figure><p style="text-align:center;"><i>Another few hundred million people are able to read maps based on OpenMapTiles in their own language</i></p><p>For a full list of new features, read the <a href="https://github.com/openmaptiles/openmaptiles/releases/tag/v3.15" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">full changelog</a>.</p><h2>OpenMapTiles-based maps for web developers and for self-hosting</h2><p>Maps from the OpenMapTiles project are available for end-users for use as a map service via API or as a data package for self-hosting. Both services provide maps with weekly updates. &nbsp;</p><p>For web developers, we offer <a href="/cloud/">maps via API</a> as vector or raster tiles. You can use the <a href="/maps/openstreetmap/">OpenMapTiles style</a> or completely change the map design using the <a href="/cloud/customize/">Customize tool</a>. &nbsp;</p><p>For self-hosting, we provide <a href="/data/">map packages</a> with weekly updated data and a <a href="/server/">map server</a> for easy deployment.</p><p><img src="https://media.maptiler.com/img/2024_04_29_openmaptiles_315_4_3d8e85a21b.png" alt="2024-04-29-openmaptiles-315-4.png" srcset="https://media.maptiler.com/img/xsmall_2024_04_29_openmaptiles_315_4_3d8e85a21b.png 125w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/thumbnail_2024_04_29_openmaptiles_315_4_3d8e85a21b.png 245w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/small_2024_04_29_openmaptiles_315_4_3d8e85a21b.png 450w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/medium_2024_04_29_openmaptiles_315_4_3d8e85a21b.png 750w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/large_2024_04_29_openmaptiles_315_4_3d8e85a21b.png 1000w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/xlarge_2024_04_29_openmaptiles_315_4_3d8e85a21b.png 1250w," sizes="100vw" width="1250px"></p><p style="text-align:center;"><a class="btn btn-primary m-o5" href="https://cloud.maptiler.com/maps/openstreetmap/">USE OPENMAPTILES VIA API</a> &nbsp;&nbsp;<a class="btn btn-lighter m-o5" href="https://data.maptiler.com/downloads/planet/">GET SELF-HOSTING DATA</a></p><h2>Improvements focused on cartography</h2><p>Many changes in version 3.15 were intended to improve cartography - e.g., displaying bigger lakes &amp; important universities on higher zoom levels, removal of house number duplicates, adding many values from the “office” key, charging stations, generalizations, road merging, etc. The style that benefits mostly from these changes is the default <a href="/news/2023/05/openmaptiles-3-14-new-openstreetmap-style-shows-all-the-features/">OSM OpenMapTiles Style introduced in OMT 3.14</a>,‍‍‍ but other styles benefit as well, including community-based ones like OSM Americana.</p><p style="text-align:center;"><img src="https://media.maptiler.com/img/2024_04_29_openmaptiles_315_5_0fb084cf70.png" alt="2024-04-29-openmaptiles-315-5.png" srcset="https://media.maptiler.com/img/xsmall_2024_04_29_openmaptiles_315_5_0fb084cf70.png 125w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/thumbnail_2024_04_29_openmaptiles_315_5_0fb084cf70.png 245w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/small_2024_04_29_openmaptiles_315_5_0fb084cf70.png 450w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/medium_2024_04_29_openmaptiles_315_5_0fb084cf70.png 750w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/large_2024_04_29_openmaptiles_315_5_0fb084cf70.png 1000w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/xlarge_2024_04_29_openmaptiles_315_5_0fb084cf70.png 1250w," sizes="100vw" width="1250px"><i>Labels on big lakes show much sooner than on small ponds</i></p><p>A huge part of the work needs to be credited to the community. I would like to thank each and every person who helped OpenMapTiles in any way. A big thanks to the major committers Brian Sperlongano alias ZeLonewolf, Benedikt Brandtner, Andrea Mennillo, and Michał Gwóźdź. Thank you; your contribution makes the project thrive!</p><h2>Changes for the OpenStreetMap community</h2><p>Last year, we tried to get OpenMapTiles as one of the featured maps on the <a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">openstreetmap.org</a> homepage. After a discussion with the community via email and also in the <a href="https://github.com/openstreetmap/openstreetmap-website/pull/4042" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">pull request</a>, an issue was identified due to OMT using Wikidata translations. We removed these translations from OpenMapTiles 3.15 (Please note you can add it back during tile generation!), and we really hope to see OpenMapTiles on the <a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">osm.org</a> homepage soon!</p><p>&nbsp;</p>

OpenMapTiles 3.15, the open-source vector tiles map-generation tool, is out now. It enhances the road network, improves water features, and better cartography.

<p>OpenMapTiles has been updated bringing a raft of improvements to enable you to make better maps:&nbsp;</p><ul><li>New OpenStreetMap inspired map style</li><li>Natural Earth 5 data in basemaps</li><li>Improved land use and land cover polygons information on zoomed-out maps</li><li>PostgreSQL 14 compatibility</li></ul><p>If you want to get started with OpenMapTiles then MapTiler provides cloud and self-hosting solutions:</p><p style="text-align:center;"><a class="btn btn-primary m-o5" href="/cloud/">cloud hosting</a> <a class="btn btn-lighter m-o5" href="https://data.maptiler.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">self hosting</a></p><h2>OpenStreetMap inspired vector tiles as an OpenMapTiles style</h2><p>OpenMapTiles is now available with a new style that shows all the features. Inspired by OpenStreetMap Carto, this style is a cartographic design you are familiar with for a vector dataset you can use at all zoom levels.<img src="https://media.maptiler.com/img/2023_01_09_openmaptiles_3_14_new_osm_openmaptiles_style_shows_all_the_features_2_fe0d4d90fa.jpg" alt="2023-01-09-openmaptiles-3-14-new-osm-openmaptiles-style-shows-all-the-features-2.jpg" srcset="https://media.maptiler.com/img/thumbnail_2023_01_09_openmaptiles_3_14_new_osm_openmaptiles_style_shows_all_the_features_2_fe0d4d90fa.jpg 245w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/small_2023_01_09_openmaptiles_3_14_new_osm_openmaptiles_style_shows_all_the_features_2_fe0d4d90fa.jpg 500w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/medium_2023_01_09_openmaptiles_3_14_new_osm_openmaptiles_style_shows_all_the_features_2_fe0d4d90fa.jpg 750w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/large_2023_01_09_openmaptiles_3_14_new_osm_openmaptiles_style_shows_all_the_features_2_fe0d4d90fa.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="1000px">This new cartographic style is bound to the schema, meaning you can now see any additions or improvements as and when they are made. This does mean that any pull requests to update the schema also require a modification to the style.</p><p>We have proposed that this style is featured on osm.org as the best way to represent OpenStreetMap data on vector maps. The benefits of this would be:</p><ul><li>Multi-language maps, with language switching easily implemented.</li><li>Compatibility with 3D Mapping, with labels and features that don’t warp badly when added to the terrain.</li><li>The ability to see the changes you make on your local machine while you edit the schema (Using TileServer and the tools included)</li></ul><figure class="media"><div data-oembed-url="https://labs.maptiler.com/showcase/osm-viewer/#11.45/47.226/11.3951/-15.2/68"><div style="position: relative; padding-bottom: 100%; height: 0; padding-bottom: 56.2493%;"><iframe src="https://labs.maptiler.com/showcase/osm-viewer/#11.45/47.226/11.3951/-15.2/68" style="position: absolute; width: 100%; height: 100%; top: 0; left: 0;" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div></div></figure><p>We hope to see the style adopted by the OpenStreetMap Foundation soon!</p><h2>Natural Earth 5 data</h2><p>We’ve improved the OpenMapTiles base data of the more zoomed-out maps with Natural Earth 5 to give the latest information, including:</p><ul><li>New and improved county and state borders inside individual countries.</li><li>Updated placenames in multiple languages so you can create maps for specific audiences.</li><li>New and updated attributes, such as Wikidata IDs to link to other datasets</li></ul><h2>Better Landuse &amp; Landcover data</h2><p>Polygon areas, such as natural and urban areas, are now much better represented on medium-scale maps. You now get to see more forests, natural areas, and even residential areas at these scales as smaller polygons are shown at more zoomed-out levels. The result is a much more accurate picture of the extent of forestation or urbanization when getting an overview of an area.<img src="https://media.maptiler.com/img/2023_01_09_openmaptiles_3_14_new_osm_openmaptiles_style_shows_all_the_features_3_2d04ae2432.jpg" alt="2023-01-09-openmaptiles-3-14-new-osm-openmaptiles-style-shows-all-the-features-3.jpg" srcset="https://media.maptiler.com/img/thumbnail_2023_01_09_openmaptiles_3_14_new_osm_openmaptiles_style_shows_all_the_features_3_2d04ae2432.jpg 245w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/small_2023_01_09_openmaptiles_3_14_new_osm_openmaptiles_style_shows_all_the_features_3_2d04ae2432.jpg 500w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/medium_2023_01_09_openmaptiles_3_14_new_osm_openmaptiles_style_shows_all_the_features_3_2d04ae2432.jpg 750w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/large_2023_01_09_openmaptiles_3_14_new_osm_openmaptiles_style_shows_all_the_features_3_2d04ae2432.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="1000px"></p><h2>Postgres 14 compatible data for your maps</h2><p>The latest version of OpenMapTiles is the first to be generated with the OpenMapTiles Tools 7.0. This means the data is now compatible with PostgreSQL 14, so you can take advantage of more up-to-date software.</p><h2>Extra features</h2><p>Finally, we’ve added some extra features to OpenMapTiles. You can now find the following additional features from version 3.14 on the maps:</p><ul><li>Parcel locker</li><li>Shrubbery</li><li>Bus guideway</li><li>Quarry</li></ul><p><img src="https://media.maptiler.com/img/2023_01_09_openmaptiles_3_14_new_osm_openmaptiles_style_shows_all_the_features_4_1eb9d2b52a.jpg" alt="2023-01-09-openmaptiles-3-14-new-osm-openmaptiles-style-shows-all-the-features-4.jpg" srcset="https://media.maptiler.com/img/thumbnail_2023_01_09_openmaptiles_3_14_new_osm_openmaptiles_style_shows_all_the_features_4_1eb9d2b52a.jpg 234w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/small_2023_01_09_openmaptiles_3_14_new_osm_openmaptiles_style_shows_all_the_features_4_1eb9d2b52a.jpg 500w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/medium_2023_01_09_openmaptiles_3_14_new_osm_openmaptiles_style_shows_all_the_features_4_1eb9d2b52a.jpg 750w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/large_2023_01_09_openmaptiles_3_14_new_osm_openmaptiles_style_shows_all_the_features_4_1eb9d2b52a.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="1000px">Because all new features added to OpenMapTiles need to have a style, these extras can already be seen in OSM OpenMapTiles maps. This also means that any future additional features will also be visible in this style from the moment they are added!</p><p>We hope that this will drive more contributions to this amazing dataset.</p><p>You can find a complete list of changes in the GitHub release notes here: <a href="https://github.com/openmaptiles/openmaptiles/releases/tag/v3.14" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Release v3.14</a>.</p><p>Remember, you can use map hosting from the authors of this open-source project to serve both raster and vector tiles. Through MapTiler cloud you can design a custom map style fitting your app with a few clicks, and MapTiler has the lowest hosting costs, cheaper than maintaining your own map servers.</p><p style="text-align:center;"><a class="btn btn-primary m-o5" href="/cloud/">cloud hosting</a> <a class="btn btn-lighter m-o5" href="https://data.maptiler.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">self hosting</a></p>

The new version of OpenMapTiles is available in an OpenStreetMap style, showing all the features available.

<p>Planet Lite, our <a href="/news/2021/09/attribution-free-maps-for-videos-posters-and-games/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">copyright-free map of the entire world</a>, has been upgraded with enhanced features and issue fixes have been made to our lite version of MapTiler Planet. This latest release of the Lite version of MapTiler Planet has improved compatibility, boundaries, and some new features and upgrades.</p><h2>Switch between copyright-free and highly detailed maps</h2><p>The Planet Lite v1.1 schema is now compatible with the MapTiler Planet v3.14 schema. There are some compromises due to the different maximum zoom levels (10 compared to 15 for MapTiler Planet) and differing quantities of information. However, any features you have styled for Planet Lite data are transferable to MapTiler Planet, and the same is possible in reverse. This allows you to keep the familiar look of your maps for your users, no matter which dataset you are using, e.g.:</p><ul><li>Mountain peak elevations in feet in the USA.</li><li>Boundaries with country labels on either side at all zoom levels.</li><li>Lakes labels that follow along a center line.</li><li>Utilizing attributes in the transportation layer to style the whole network.</li></ul><p>Remember you can choose Planet Lite as the data source using the customize tools in MapTiler Cloud. The advanced editor can be used to create beautiful cartography too:</p><p style="text-align:center;"><a class="btn btn-primary m-o5" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://documentation.maptiler.com/hc/en-us/articles/4410631040529-How-to-get-a-map-without-OpenStreetMap-attribution">Get Started</a></p><h2>Improved Boundaries</h2><p>There was a massive enhancement in the boundary layer where you can now use Customize tools to highlight the specific view of disputed boundaries. There are also now unified naming for disputed borders, so you can apply your own style consistently.</p><p>Also, the USA now includes boundaries for counties that align perfectly with the level 2 boundaries in our Countries tileset.<img src="https://media.maptiler.com/img/2023_01_30_upgraded_attribution_free_maps_2_6146be9bba.jpg" alt="2023-01-30-upgraded-attribution-free-maps-2.jpg" srcset="https://media.maptiler.com/img/thumbnail_2023_01_30_upgraded_attribution_free_maps_2_6146be9bba.jpg 234w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/small_2023_01_30_upgraded_attribution_free_maps_2_6146be9bba.jpg 500w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/medium_2023_01_30_upgraded_attribution_free_maps_2_6146be9bba.jpg 750w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/large_2023_01_30_upgraded_attribution_free_maps_2_6146be9bba.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="1000px"></p><h2>Map Data upgrades</h2><p>We’ve made many other improvements to Planet Lite, such as adding more Wikidata and GeoNames IDs to place names. This allows you to connect to other datasets that use the same codes.</p><p>Highways in the USA now appear from zoom level 4, so you can show higher-level transit maps. There are also new features, such as extra rivers and lakes in Australia.<img src="https://media.maptiler.com/img/2023_01_30_upgraded_attribution_free_maps_3_8d68bd0592.jpg" alt="2023-01-30-upgraded-attribution-free-maps-3.jpg" srcset="https://media.maptiler.com/img/thumbnail_2023_01_30_upgraded_attribution_free_maps_3_8d68bd0592.jpg 245w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/small_2023_01_30_upgraded_attribution_free_maps_3_8d68bd0592.jpg 500w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/medium_2023_01_30_upgraded_attribution_free_maps_3_8d68bd0592.jpg 750w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/large_2023_01_30_upgraded_attribution_free_maps_3_8d68bd0592.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="1000px">The highway shields in the USA have also been enhanced to show more precise information.<img src="https://media.maptiler.com/img/2023_01_30_upgraded_attribution_free_maps_4_f9372d78b2.jpg" alt="2023-01-30-upgraded-attribution-free-maps-4.jpg" srcset="https://media.maptiler.com/img/thumbnail_2023_01_30_upgraded_attribution_free_maps_4_f9372d78b2.jpg 245w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/small_2023_01_30_upgraded_attribution_free_maps_4_f9372d78b2.jpg 500w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/medium_2023_01_30_upgraded_attribution_free_maps_4_f9372d78b2.jpg 750w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/large_2023_01_30_upgraded_attribution_free_maps_4_f9372d78b2.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="1000px"></p><p>You can find out more about <a href="/news/2021/09/attribution-free-map-for-videos-posters-and-games/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Planet Lite</a> or start using it straight away:&nbsp;</p><p style="text-align:center;"><a class="btn btn-primary m-o5" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://documentation.maptiler.com/hc/en-us/articles/4410631040529-How-to-get-a-map-without-OpenStreetMap-attribution">Get Started</a></p><p>Self-hosting? You can <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://data.maptiler.com/downloads/dataset/planet-lite/#0.22/0/0">download Planet Lite here</a><span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);color:rgb(107,124,146);">.</span></p>

Planet Lite, our copyright-free map of the entire world, has been upgraded with enhanced features and issue fixes have been made to our lite version of MapTiler Planet. This latest release of the Lite version of MapTiler Planet has improved compatibility, boundaries, and some new features and upgrades.

<p>As always, there have been many improvements in the latest update to OpenMapTiles, with the most significant changes found in the transportation layer this time. The update also has new data you can add to the map, changes to what is available to see at each zoom level, and improvements to almost every layer.</p><p>You can find a complete list of changes in the GitHub release notes here: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://github.com/openmaptiles/openmaptiles/releases/tag/v3.13">Release v3.13</a>.</p><p><strong>Huge thanks</strong> go to <strong>the community</strong> that actively <strong>discusses</strong>, contributes <strong>ideas</strong>, <strong>fixes</strong> bugs, creates new <strong>functionality</strong>, and generally <strong>improves</strong> OpenMapTiles.</p><p>If you want to get started with OpenMapTiles then MapTiler provide cloud and self hosting solutions:</p><p style="text-align:center;"><a class="btn btn-primary m-o5" href="/cloud/">CLOUD HOSTING</a> <a class="btn btn-lighter m-o5" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://data.maptiler.com/">SELF HOSTING</a></p><h2>New tags to enable better route maps</h2><p>The key enhancements to this layer have been the addition of several new tags that help differentiate roads. These changes enable you to represent the data better, particularly when showing routes.</p><h3>The Expressway tag</h3><p>Expressways are mainly used in the USA, with some examples in the United Kingdom and France. Highlighting these routes often shows the fastest connections, which are not always the large multi-lane roads.<img src="https://media.maptiler.com/img/2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_2_01b5b1180a.jpg" alt="2022-02-02-openmaptiles-3-13-better-route-maps-2.jpg" srcset="https://media.maptiler.com/img/thumbnail_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_2_01b5b1180a.jpg 245w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/small_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_2_01b5b1180a.jpg 500w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/medium_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_2_01b5b1180a.jpg 750w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/large_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_2_01b5b1180a.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="1000px"><i>An expressway is highlighted in green, with other major roads in yellow and motorways in orange.</i></p><h3>The Busway tag</h3><p>Busways represent bus or public transport routes and are found in the data worldwide. Highlighting bus routes is vital to creating access maps and providing routing information for public transport users.<img src="https://media.maptiler.com/img/2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_3_97ddf6d26b.jpg" alt="2022-02-02-openmaptiles-3-13-better-route-maps-3.jpg" srcset="https://media.maptiler.com/img/thumbnail_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_3_97ddf6d26b.jpg 245w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/small_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_3_97ddf6d26b.jpg 500w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/medium_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_3_97ddf6d26b.jpg 750w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/large_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_3_97ddf6d26b.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="1000px"><i>Busways in Amsterdam highlighted in green.</i></p><h3>The toll tag</h3><p>You can now highlight paid motorways on your maps by using this tag. This information is important to show on the map, particularly if you have specified alternative routes that don’t include tolls. Showing toll roads enables users to see why they are not recommended routes in this scenario.<img src="https://media.maptiler.com/img/2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_4_7e811f53da.jpg" alt="2022-02-02-openmaptiles-3-13-better-route-maps-4.jpg" srcset="https://media.maptiler.com/img/thumbnail_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_4_7e811f53da.jpg 245w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/small_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_4_7e811f53da.jpg 500w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/medium_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_4_7e811f53da.jpg 750w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/large_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_4_7e811f53da.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="1000px"><i>A map highlighting motorways, those in green don’t have tolls and those in red require a toll to be paid for use.</i></p><h3>The Access tag</h3><p>Access is a new tag that you can use to define who can use a road. This tag enables you to style private roads with no public access differently from others. Access=no in the vector tiles from OpenMapTiles uses both the access=no and access=private from OpenStreetMap.<img src="https://media.maptiler.com/img/2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_5_4b2680fa5d.jpg" alt="2022-02-02-openmaptiles-3-13-better-route-maps-5.jpg" srcset="https://media.maptiler.com/img/thumbnail_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_5_4b2680fa5d.jpg 245w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/small_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_5_4b2680fa5d.jpg 500w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/medium_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_5_4b2680fa5d.jpg 750w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/large_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_5_4b2680fa5d.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="1000px"><i>The private roads around Edinburgh Castle are shown highlighted in red.</i></p><h3>The Network tag</h3><p>The network tag is now available in the transportation layer, not just in the transportation_name, to help improve the styling of roads in different places. This change means that you can create different styles for roads in the same category, such as us-interstate and gb-motorway. This feature is great for making maps with roads styled differently to match their national mapping agency’s color scheme, for example.<img src="https://media.maptiler.com/img/2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_6_0fba2732f5.jpg" alt="2022-02-02-openmaptiles-3-13-better-route-maps-6.jpg" srcset="https://media.maptiler.com/img/thumbnail_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_6_0fba2732f5.jpg 245w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/small_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_6_0fba2732f5.jpg 500w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/medium_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_6_0fba2732f5.jpg 750w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/large_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_6_0fba2732f5.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="1000px"><i>The motorways in the UK have been styled differently from those in other countries. Here they are shown in blue which the National Mapping agency, Ordnance Survey, uses.</i></p><h3>Concurrent route labels</h3><p>Many roads have two independent labels, for example, Interstate road I40 and the historic Route 66. This enhancement allows you to use both pieces of information on a single map.<img src="https://media.maptiler.com/img/2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_7_580a79a4bb.jpg" alt="2022-02-02-openmaptiles-3-13-better-route-maps-7.jpg" srcset="https://media.maptiler.com/img/thumbnail_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_7_580a79a4bb.jpg 245w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/small_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_7_580a79a4bb.jpg 500w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/medium_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_7_580a79a4bb.jpg 750w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/large_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_7_580a79a4bb.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="1000px"><i>This map style above, </i><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://github.com/ZeLonewolf/openstreetmap-americana"><i>OSM Americana</i></a><i> by Brian Sperlongano, shows both the new designation I40 and the historic Route 66 in the labeling.</i></p><h3>Motorway Junctions</h3><p>In OpenMapTiles 3.13, a new attribute to the transportation_name layer has been added to serve just the junction nodes for motorways, allowing them to be styled differently than the junctions on other roads. These junctions are the most important so being able to style them independently means that they stand out and override other features on the map if necessary.<img src="https://media.maptiler.com/img/2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_8_260c70a4e8.jpg" alt="2022-02-02-openmaptiles-3-13-better-route-maps-8.jpg" srcset="https://media.maptiler.com/img/thumbnail_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_8_260c70a4e8.jpg 245w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/small_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_8_260c70a4e8.jpg 500w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/medium_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_8_260c70a4e8.jpg 750w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/large_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_8_260c70a4e8.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="1000px"><i>Junction numbers are highlighted in bold on this map, with both east and westbound locations for each one.</i></p><h2>Adding new data</h2><p>As well as these new ways of representing roads, there is new data in version 3.13.</p><p>Firstly, sticking with the transport theme, you can now label shipways such as ferry routes on your maps.<img src="https://media.maptiler.com/img/2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_9_9a6d6d9a36.jpg" alt="2022-02-02-openmaptiles-3-13-better-route-maps-9.jpg" srcset="https://media.maptiler.com/img/thumbnail_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_9_9a6d6d9a36.jpg 245w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/small_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_9_9a6d6d9a36.jpg 500w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/medium_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_9_9a6d6d9a36.jpg 750w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/large_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_9_9a6d6d9a36.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="1000px">Like the ferries, you can now see labeled cable cars on the maps. These labels are helpful for winter sports and general transportation in mountainous regions like the Alps.</p><p>Staying in the mountains, the customary_ft tag has been added into the mountain_peak layer. This addition means you can now label the height of the peaks in feet instead of meters (in the USA). When it comes to labeling mountains, you can do one of the following:</p><ol><li>The whole world in meters.</li><li>The whole world in feet.</li><li>The USA in feet and the rest of the world in meters. (Shown in the map below, which crosses the USA / Canada border)</li></ol><p><img src="https://media.maptiler.com/img/2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_10_91b644c78e.jpg" alt="2022-02-02-openmaptiles-3-13-better-route-maps-10.jpg" srcset="https://media.maptiler.com/img/thumbnail_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_10_91b644c78e.jpg 245w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/small_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_10_91b644c78e.jpg 500w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/medium_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_10_91b644c78e.jpg 750w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/large_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_10_91b644c78e.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="1000px"><i>A map showing Canadian mountains labeled in meters and US mountains labeled in feet.</i></p><p>The mountain_peak layer has had a few more additions to help maps show other mountain top features. We added line objects like cliffs, aretes, and ridges to help define mountains better but kept the name mountain_peak to preserve compatibility with previous versions of the dataset.<img src="https://media.maptiler.com/img/2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_11_c8bbd482df.jpg" alt="2022-02-02-openmaptiles-3-13-better-route-maps-11.jpg" srcset="https://media.maptiler.com/img/thumbnail_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_11_c8bbd482df.jpg 245w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/small_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_11_c8bbd482df.jpg 500w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/medium_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_11_c8bbd482df.jpg 750w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/large_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_11_c8bbd482df.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="1000px"><i>The dotted lines highlighted in green show the lines of cliff edges, aretes, and ridges in the mountains.</i></p><h2>Precision improvements</h2><p>Waterways between zoom levels 6 to 8 are now generated from OpenStreetMap instead of Natural Earth. As the water areas in OpenMapTiles are from OpenStreetMap, there is more consistency to the mapping. Previously the Natural Earth rivers, which are more suited to zoomed out maps, could stray out of the water polygons, leading to confusing maps.<img src="https://media.maptiler.com/img/2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_12_63e5ed5b77.jpg" alt="2022-02-02-openmaptiles-3-13-better-route-maps-12.jpg" srcset="https://media.maptiler.com/img/thumbnail_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_12_63e5ed5b77.jpg 245w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/small_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_12_63e5ed5b77.jpg 500w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/medium_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_12_63e5ed5b77.jpg 750w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/large_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_12_63e5ed5b77.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="1000px"><i>The new, more precise, waterways from OpenStreetMap are shown in dark blue with the previous Natural Earth ones shown in Red. You can see how they now stay within the river areas.</i></p><h2>Zoom level changes</h2><p>Along with all the work to bring you new features and classes, we have been working on changing the zoom levels that certain layers appear on. These changes are made to help you create brilliant maps that have the information you need without being overloaded.</p><p>Firstly the tracks and paths have been updated, with the most important paths and tracks moved to zoom levels 12 and 13. This means they are viewable on more zoomed-out maps where you can see more of the long-distance routes they show. The park layer can now be added to zoom levels 4 and 5, giving a much more natural, green look to these more zoomed-out maps.<img src="https://media.maptiler.com/img/2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_13_e3847d703b.png" alt="2022-02-02-openmaptiles-3-13-better-route-maps-13.png" srcset="https://media.maptiler.com/img/thumbnail_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_13_e3847d703b.png 166w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/small_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_13_e3847d703b.png 500w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/medium_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_13_e3847d703b.png 750w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/large_2022_02_02_openmaptiles_3_13_better_route_maps_13_e3847d703b.png 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="1000px"><i>Green park land can now be seen on maps showing much larger areas.</i></p><p>International airports are now visible from zoom level 8 instead of zoom level 10, so these can now appear on maps of much larger areas.</p><p>There are a lot of new labeling points with class values of state or province, which can be used from zoom level 2 to 5 (depending on density) up to zoom 14. These new labels could only be added after their relevant borders were also added to the same zoom levels as well.</p><h2>Quality Control and Performance Enhancement</h2><p>The OpenMapTiles 3.13 update has also included a lot of effort to ensure you get the best data in a timely fashion by implementing tests and streamlining our procedures.</p><p>In a move to make the importing of borders data more straightforward, we now import them with Imposm 3. This has removed one of the steps we need to go through to get the data, simplifying the process.</p><p>Version 3.13 also brings much more quality control with several new testing regimes being implemented. The import process now checks all the tables are in place before beginning, integrity checks are performed on updates to ensure they won’t break existing data before it is added.</p><p>Finally, unit tests are performed afterward to make sure nothing has broken throughout the process. There have also been improvements in how errors are reported, so it is easier to find out what went wrong if an error occurs.</p><h2>Summary</h2><p>Overall, the data in OpenMapTiles 3.13 is much more stable and reliable than ever before. With the new additions and changes to zoom levels, you can now use OpenMapTiles to make advanced route maps and much more detailed, beautiful-looking maps.</p><p>Remember, you can use map hosting from the authors of this open-source project to serve both raster and vector tiles. Through MapTiler cloud you can design a custom map style fitting your app with a few clicks, and MapTiler has the lowest hosting costs, cheaper than maintaining your own map servers.</p><p style="text-align:center;"><a class="btn btn-primary m-o5" href="/cloud/">CLOUD HOSTING </a><a class="btn btn-lighter m-o5" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://data.maptiler.com/">SELF HOSTING</a></p>

What's new in the latest version of the very successful open-source project OpenMapTiles used by 250 millions users every month.

<p>Do you need a map in your video, poster, or in a game but you don’t want to distract your audience with a visible attribution? We have a solution for you!&nbsp;</p><h2>When can I remove copyright?</h2><p>By default, all our maps require © MapTiler and © OpenStreetMap attribution. The OpenStreetMap attribution is not required for MapTiler Lite because we are using different data sources. For the Planet Lite, you need to show only © MapTiler in the corner of the map.</p><p>If your use case requires it, the © MapTiler copyright can also be completely removed <strong>upon written permission</strong>. Contact us for more information.</p><p style="text-align:center;"><a class="btn btn-primary m-o5" href="/attribution-free-map/#contact">CONTACT US FOR EXEMPTION</a></p><h2>Copyright-free map of the entire world</h2><p>Our default maps have fine details like buildings, streets, POIs, playgrounds, and many others. We get these data from the OpenStreetMap project which we proudly attribute according to the license.</p><figure class="media"><div data-oembed-url="https://vimeo.com/876434458?share=copy"><div style="position: relative; padding-bottom: 100%; height: 0; padding-bottom: 56.2493%;"><iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/876434458?background=1" style="position: absolute; width: 100%; height: 100%; top: 0; left: 0;" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div></div></figure><p>However, your use case might require a map that shows no visible attribution. Therefore we collected data from various sources that require no attribution and put it into a global map called Planet Lite. This map shows physical, natural, and cultural features like land cover, water streams, borders, cities, residential areas, major roads, country, district, and city names. In Planet Lite, we offer maximum details till zoom level 10 (approx. 1:500 000), which is enough for general-purpose maps.MapTiler Lite is processed using the standard <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://docs.maptiler.com/schema/planet/">MapTiler Planet schema</a>. That means it is compatible with all styles we offer in MapTiler Cloud and MapTiler Server.</p><p style="margin-left:40px;">We also have other sources of data that might get attribution exemption, like satellite imagery or elevation data. For details, <a href="/#contact">contact us</a>.</p><p>MapTiler Lite can be used via <a href="/cloud/">Maps API</a> or <a href="/data/">self-hosted</a>.</p><h2>Maps on the web, in mobile apps, videos, or printed</h2><p>The map can be used on websites using standard JavaScript libraries like Leaflet, OpenLayers, or [MapTiler SDK] (https://www.maptiler.com/sdk-javascript/), in mobile apps on iOS and Android, or in the game engines.</p><p>For video export, we partnered with a third party and together we offer <a href="/cloud/geolayers/">a plugin</a> for Adobe After Effects. Styling of the map is possible directly inside of the plugin.</p><p>For high-res printing, we created a <a href="/qgis-plugin/">QGIS plugin</a>. This open-source tool is available for free directly via the QGIS plugin repository and offers multiple printing options. Map styles are loaded from MapTiler Cloud where you can customize them or you can fine-tune them directly in QGIS before you make the final print export.<img src="https://media.maptiler.com/img/2021_09_06_attribution_free_map_for_videos_posters_and_games_3_f9d6ce3b66.png" alt="2021-09-06-attribution-free-map-for-videos-posters-and-games-3.png" srcset="https://media.maptiler.com/img/thumbnail_2021_09_06_attribution_free_map_for_videos_posters_and_games_3_f9d6ce3b66.png 245w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/small_2021_09_06_attribution_free_map_for_videos_posters_and_games_3_f9d6ce3b66.png 500w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/medium_2021_09_06_attribution_free_map_for_videos_posters_and_games_3_f9d6ce3b66.png 750w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/large_2021_09_06_attribution_free_map_for_videos_posters_and_games_3_f9d6ce3b66.png 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="1000px">To learn more about our Planet Lite, visit our web or <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://support.maptiler.com/i864-get-a-map-without-the-openstreetmap-attribution">read the how-to</a>.&nbsp;</p><p style="text-align:center;"><a class="btn btn-primary m-o5" href="/attribution-free-map/">LEARN MORE</a></p>

Attribution free maps of the entire world for videos, posters, and games.

<p>The most visible change in our open-source map publishing project OpenMapTiles 3.12 is in rendering buildings on zoom level 13, adding new features to the water layer and a few South- and East-Asian languages.&nbsp;</p><p>Also, a lot of effort was invested into improving the quality of tools which made the workflow of the project much more simple, straightforward, and user-friendly.</p><h2>Generalized urban settlement</h2><p>The most visible change in OpenMapTiles 3.12 is the reworked building layer on the zoom 13. The brand-new algorithm creates blocks of buildings before it generalizes them. This leads to more accurate visualization over cities and villages.</p><figure class="media"><div data-oembed-url="https://vimeo.com/877535153?share=copy"><div style="position: relative; padding-bottom: 100%; height: 0; padding-bottom: 56.2493%;"><iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/877535153?background=1" style="position: absolute; width: 100%; height: 100%; top: 0; left: 0;" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div></div></figure><p><i>Generalized building on zoom level 13 shows much accurate data in cities</i></p><h2>More detailed airport maps</h2><p>To render airfields even more precisely, airport gates have been added to the schema. Moreover, there were additional bugfixes and cleanups related to airports.<img src="https://media.maptiler.com/img/2021_01_28_openmaptiles_3_12_improved_city_centers_3_fbf0f5ebdf.png" alt="2021-01-28-openmaptiles-3-12-improved-city-centers-3.png" srcset="https://media.maptiler.com/img/thumbnail_2021_01_28_openmaptiles_3_12_improved_city_centers_3_fbf0f5ebdf.png 245w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/small_2021_01_28_openmaptiles_3_12_improved_city_centers_3_fbf0f5ebdf.png 500w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/medium_2021_01_28_openmaptiles_3_12_improved_city_centers_3_fbf0f5ebdf.png 750w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/large_2021_01_28_openmaptiles_3_12_improved_city_centers_3_fbf0f5ebdf.png 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="1000px"><i>Gates at Charles-de-Gaulle airport&nbsp;</i></p><h2>Enhanced water layer with swimming pools</h2><p>&nbsp;</p><figure class="media"><div data-oembed-url="https://vimeo.com/876423596?share=copy"><div style="position: relative; padding-bottom: 100%; height: 0; padding-bottom: 56.2493%;"><iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/876423596?background=1" style="position: absolute; width: 100%; height: 100%; top: 0; left: 0;" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div></div></figure><p>New types of water bodies have been added to the water layer, namely swimming pools, salt ponds, and basins (leisure=swimming_pool, landuse=basin, and landuse=salt_pond as they are represented in the OpenStreetMap).<i>Salt ponds in the SF Bay Area are now visible in OpenMapTiles 3.12</i></p><p>Drinking water (OSM tag amenity=drinking_water) has been added into the POI layer.</p><h2>Better rendering of protected areas</h2><p>Some time ago, the OpenStreetMap community decided to change tagging of protected areas to boundary=protected_area. To keep up with them, it is now rendered in the park layer.<img src="https://media.maptiler.com/img/2021_01_28_openmaptiles_3_12_improved_city_centers_5_055f1f7596.png" alt="2021-01-28-openmaptiles-3-12-improved-city-centers-5.png" srcset="https://media.maptiler.com/img/thumbnail_2021_01_28_openmaptiles_3_12_improved_city_centers_5_055f1f7596.png 245w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/small_2021_01_28_openmaptiles_3_12_improved_city_centers_5_055f1f7596.png 500w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/medium_2021_01_28_openmaptiles_3_12_improved_city_centers_5_055f1f7596.png 750w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/large_2021_01_28_openmaptiles_3_12_improved_city_centers_5_055f1f7596.png 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="1000px"><i>National parks in the Alps</i></p><h2>Languages of India, Romanized Japanese and Korean</h2><figure class="media"><div data-oembed-url="https://vimeo.com/877538743?share=copy"><div style="position: relative; padding-bottom: 100%; height: 0; padding-bottom: 56.2493%;"><iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/877538743?background=1" style="position: absolute; width: 100%; height: 100%; top: 0; left: 0;" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="" mozallowfullscreen="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div></div></figure><p>There are new supported languages including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Hiragana Japanese + Romanized Japanese and Korean. In total, the OpenMapTiles project currently supports 70 languages.<i>English, Hindi, and Tamil labels on the map of India</i></p><h2>Simple highlighting of national borders</h2><p>New preprocessing of national borders now joins borders into one piece and marks the state on the left and on the right. This change allows easy manipulation with border data in the style editor — e.g. for highlighting borders of a selected country.<img src="https://media.maptiler.com/img/2021_01_28_openmaptiles_3_12_improved_city_centers_7_95048d7677.png" alt="2021-01-28-openmaptiles-3-12-improved-city-centers-7.png" srcset="https://media.maptiler.com/img/thumbnail_2021_01_28_openmaptiles_3_12_improved_city_centers_7_95048d7677.png 245w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/small_2021_01_28_openmaptiles_3_12_improved_city_centers_7_95048d7677.png 500w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/medium_2021_01_28_openmaptiles_3_12_improved_city_centers_7_95048d7677.png 750w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/large_2021_01_28_openmaptiles_3_12_improved_city_centers_7_95048d7677.png 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="1000px"></p><h2>Technical improvements under the hood</h2><p>The main <i>“invisible”</i> technical enhancement of OpenMapTiles 3.12 is the lower number of required Docker images needed for run. Instead of importing each layer separately, they are now unified into OpenMapTiles-Tools with just four main docker containers (postgis, openmaptiles-tools, import-data and generate-tiles).</p><p>All workflows are now under GitHub Action testing process. These tests provide integrity tests and performance tests of all changes.<img src="https://media.maptiler.com/img/2020_05_14_the_future_of_openmaptiles_project_2_d645576e1b.png" alt="2020-05-14-the-future-of-openmaptiles-project-2.png" srcset="https://media.maptiler.com/img/thumbnail_2020_05_14_the_future_of_openmaptiles_project_2_d645576e1b.png 121w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/small_2020_05_14_the_future_of_openmaptiles_project_2_d645576e1b.png 386w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/medium_2020_05_14_the_future_of_openmaptiles_project_2_d645576e1b.png 580w," sizes="100vw" width="580px"><br>The Makefile has been extensively upgraded and cleaned up. This improvement makes easier to run checks on more areas and definition files.</p><p>There is also remarkably improved processing of Wikidata, which now uses a SPARQL endpoint for retrieving Wikidata instead of downloading and parsing the whole database dump.</p><p>To rise performance and create more precision results, a number of SQL-related changes were done.</p><p>See all improvements in the official <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://github.com/openmaptiles/openmaptiles/releases/tag/v3.12">changelog</a>.</p><h2>Thanks to the community members involved</h2><p>We would like to send a big thanks to our community members who are involved over a long period, namely Yuri, Frederic, Zeev, Jorge, Taro, Sergii, Jan-Phillipp, and others for <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://github.com/openmaptiles/openmaptiles/graphs/contributors?from=2019-10-31&amp;to=2020-11-27&amp;type=c">contributing into 3.12</a>.</p><h2>Get new release via Maps API or download Data</h2><p>Data with above described changes are available on <a href="/cloud/">MapTiler Cloud</a> via Maps API or as a downloadable data package in <a href="/data/">MapTiler Data</a>.</p>

The new version of the very sucessful open-source project OpenMapTiles used by 250 millions users every month was just released.

<p>The possibility to select your favorite mobile map SDK, JavaScript library for your web and server for raster tiles increase your freedom of choice with the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://openmaptiles.com/">OpenMapTiles project</a>. Three new map styles from one of the leaders in map industry, CARTO, demonstrates this power of diversity while using OpenMapTiles.</p><h2>Open-source stack, usable on multiple&nbsp;SDKs</h2><p>Whenever you work on a map, you need to define how each geographical feature will look like. This definition is described using a styling language and it says, for example, that rivers should be rendered starting zoom level 10, with blue color and it should be 8px bold line.</p><p>The styling languages differ in the syntax used for defining the final look and in the implementation by various software tools (mobile SDKs, raster servers, web APIs).</p><p>These are the most popular styling languages today:</p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://docs.maptiler.com/gl-style-specification/"><strong>GL JSON</strong></a>, which is the main styling language of OpenMapTiles, is based on JSON file format defined originally by Mapbox and adopted by ESRI and others - and it supports Mapbox mobile SDKs, ArcGIS Pro and OpenMapTiles Server or TileServer GL raster server.</p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://mapzen.com/documentation/tangram/yaml/"><strong>Tangram YAML</strong></a> uses the markup style popular in Python programming language and can be used with Tangram SDK and Tangram Paparazzi.</p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://tilemill-project.github.io/tilemill/docs/manual/carto/"><strong>CartoCSS</strong></a> is similar to CSS used to style websites and is implemented with tools using Mapnik map renderer (the primary OpenStreetMap.org toolkit for rendering raster map tiles) and is also usable with the Carto mobile SDK. There is no native vector tile viewer for web implementing CartoCSS directly.</p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/sld"><strong>OGC SLD</strong></a> standard based on XML. This language is hard to write directly by humans, so it is typically created by converting from other styling languages or using a visual editor - such as desktop GIS tools like QGIS.</p><p>All of these styling languages are compatible with the OpenMapTiles.</p><h3>JavaScript for web applications</h3><p>For displaying map data in a web browser as slippy maps, different JavaScript libraries can be used. They provide APIs for building geographic web application similar to Google Maps or Bing Maps but allow you to load the map data from your own server or provider of choice.</p><p><a href="/sdk-javascript/"><strong>MapTiler SDK JS</strong></a> is the easiest way for developers to integrate maps with their web applications. Supports both raster tiles and vector format used by OpenMapTiles.</p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://openmaptiles.org/docs/website/openlayers/"><strong>OpenLayers</strong></a> supports vector as well as raster tiles and is most advanced in handling coordinate systems and map projections.</p><p><strong>Mapbox GL JS</strong> is another web mapping library. Supports both raster tiles and vector format used by OpenMapTiles.</p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://openmaptiles.org/docs/website/leaflet/"><strong>Leaflet</strong></a> is the lightweight and simple JavaScript library, which can be used either for viewing raster tiles or <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://docs.maptiler.com/leaflet/vector-tiles-in-leaflet-js/">Vector tiles in Leaflet JS</a>.</p><p><strong>Tangram</strong> is another rendering client for web applications which supports OpenMapTiles vector tile schema.</p><p>To inspect different JavaScript libraries next to each other, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://labs.maptiler.com/carto-basemap-styles/">see the comparison</a>. All of them are ready for HiDPI retina displays.</p><h3>Multiple mobile map&nbsp;SDKs</h3><p>For bringing your map into a mobile device you need an SDK, which is a kit allowing the development of applications for the mobile operating system. With OpenMapTiles, you have a choice of several SDK for different platforms.</p><p>GL JSON is closely tied to mobile SDKs which support both <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://docs.maptiler.com/maplibre-gl-native-android/">Android</a> and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://docs.maptiler.com/maplibre-gl-native-ios/">iOS</a> and in addition the Unity game engine.</p><p>Tangram YAML is connected to <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://mapzen.com/documentation/tangram/Android-API/"><strong>Tangram SDK</strong></a>, which allows you to create mobile apps for iOS and Android.</p><p>CartoCSS can be best used in <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://carto.com/docs/carto-engine/mobile-sdk/"><strong>Carto mobile SDK</strong></a>, which has in-built support for Android, iOS and Windows Phone platforms.</p><h3>Raster tiles on the server&nbsp;side</h3><p>The freedom of choice is also kept on the server side with a variety of servers rendering raster as well as vector tiles.</p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://openmaptiles.com/server/"><strong>OpenMapTiles Server</strong></a> or <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://tileserver.org/"><strong>TileServer GL</strong></a> provides both raster and vector tiles from a GL style.</p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://mapnik.org/"><strong>Mapnik library</strong></a> is the toolkit used for rendering maps on the main OpenStreetMap site.</p><p><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://github.com/tangrams/paparazzi"><strong>Tangram Paparazzi</strong></a> has its roots in Tangram-ES but serves raster tiles.</p><h3>Desktop GIS</h3><p>Users of desktop GIS software are not left behind. The compatibility with ESRI’s <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://developers.arcgis.com/arcgis-runtime/"><strong>ArcGIS Runtime SDK</strong></a> compatibility is achieved for OpenMapTiles.&nbsp;</p><p>Opening raster tiles in <strong>QGIS</strong> is straightforward and there is also a <a href="/how-to/maps-in-desktop-gis/">plugin for loading vector tiles</a> under development. <img src="https://media.maptiler.com/img/2018_05_09_openmaptiles_gives_you_freedom_of_sdks_2_bc32fd284f.jpg" alt="2018-05-09-openmaptiles-gives-you-freedom-of-sdks-2.jpg" srcset="https://media.maptiler.com/img/thumbnail_2018_05_09_openmaptiles_gives_you_freedom_of_sdks_2_bc32fd284f.jpg 245w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/small_2018_05_09_openmaptiles_gives_you_freedom_of_sdks_2_bc32fd284f.jpg 500w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/medium_2018_05_09_openmaptiles_gives_you_freedom_of_sdks_2_bc32fd284f.jpg 750w," sizes="100vw" width="750px"><i>Voyager, Positron and Dark Matter styles for OpenMapTiles © CARTO</i></p><h2>New styles: Voyager, Positron and Dark&nbsp;Matter</h2><p>With the release of three new map styles, CARTO shows the commitment to the OpenMapTiles project. The styles are available for web and mobile, both raster and vector. The styles are based on OpenMapTiles data schema, use the project’s vector tiles and are implemented in three different styling languages while keeping the same look and feel across the different software tools.</p><ol><li>Voyager - colored map with clear road hierarchy</li><li>Positron - light gray map for further displaying of data</li><li>Dark Matter - dark gray map for displaying data of bigger size</li></ol><p>The code is fully open-source and can be found <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://github.com/CartoDB/basemap-styles">on GitHub</a>.</p><p>You can see our implementation of these styles with several others beautiful styles such as Streets and Topo in <a href="/cloud/">MapTiler Cloud hosting</a>.</p>

With MapTiler, you can publish your maps using mutliple opne-source SDKs, JavaScript libraries, and style them the way you want.

<p>The new release of open-source project OpenMapTiles 3.8, which offers world maps based on OpenStreetMap, brings evolutionary steps rather than revolution. However, a significant number of small-scale changes in the transport layer, water, and other features improves the map look significantly. &nbsp;</p><h2>Transportation layer</h2><p>Navigating through multi-level stack interchange could be challenging. Having a map representing all the layers is very helpful at that moment. Therefore, we imported the so-called z-index into OpenMapTiles 3.8 and made a map style which transparently navigates you visually through all roads even in the complicated crossings called spaghetti junction. The downside of this solution is the size which rises about four times compared to the same style without multilevel crossing. It increases computing requirements for saving into a database, downloading, parsing and rendering and therefore it is not switched on in the base styles. What stays turned on by default is another new attribute: bridge polygon.</p><p>Turn-by-turn navigation is easier with 83 000 imported one-way roads and flexibility to use different types of transportation has been extended by adding tube entrances and other stations.<img src="https://media.maptiler.com/img/2018_04_30_openmaptiles_3_8_2_aeac58f156.jpg" alt="2018-04-30-openmaptiles-3-8-2.jpg" srcset="https://media.maptiler.com/img/thumbnail_2018_04_30_openmaptiles_3_8_2_aeac58f156.jpg 245w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/small_2018_04_30_openmaptiles_3_8_2_aeac58f156.jpg 500w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/medium_2018_04_30_openmaptiles_3_8_2_aeac58f156.jpg 750w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/large_2018_04_30_openmaptiles_3_8_2_aeac58f156.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="1000px"><i>The intersection which was first nicknamed as Spaghetti Junction: Gravelly Hill Interchange in Birmingham, England.</i></p><h2>Water features</h2><p>The water layer was enriched by layered features as well. With the new OpenMapTiles release, water bridges and functioning aqueducts are presented in the data as well as in the styles. The same is true for underground watercourses, where streams flowing in culverts or caves are now rendered as a dashed line, which is a common representation of this kind of features.</p><p>In the previous versions, there were missing labels for some bigger water features, namely seas. Since version 3.8, there should be a label for the Caribbean Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Caspian Sea, Sea of Japan, Celtic Sea and the Chukchi Sea. Also, bigger bays like Bay of Biscay or Gulf of California are now displayed.<img src="https://media.maptiler.com/img/2018_04_30_openmaptiles_3_8_3_4fbc773086.jpg" alt="2018-04-30-openmaptiles-3-8-3.jpg" srcset="https://media.maptiler.com/img/thumbnail_2018_04_30_openmaptiles_3_8_3_4fbc773086.jpg 245w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/small_2018_04_30_openmaptiles_3_8_3_4fbc773086.jpg 500w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/medium_2018_04_30_openmaptiles_3_8_3_4fbc773086.jpg 750w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/large_2018_04_30_openmaptiles_3_8_3_4fbc773086.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="1000px"><i>There is a culvert under the famous Nieuwmarkt square in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.</i></p><h2>Other changes</h2><p>One of the significant features which made it to OpenMapTiles 3.8 is sand and beach in the landcover layer. It is also possible to distinguish religions in the places of worship. Some people were confused by borders around leased territories and therefore it is now switched off by default in the styles. This is the case of the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base or Baikonur Cosmodrome, where the second one is leased to Russian government until 2050, but it is located in the heart of neighboring Kazakhstan. The leased area has an oval shape measuring 85 and 90 kilometers in diameter.</p><blockquote><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baikonur_Cosmodrome" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">From Wikipedia</a>: The spaceport is currently leased by the Kazakh Government to Russia until 2050, and is managed jointly by the Roscosmos State Corporation and the Russian Aerospace Forces.</p></blockquote><p>List of all changes can be found as usual on <a href="https://github.com/openmaptiles/openmaptiles/milestone/11?closed=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">GitHub</a> altogether with the source code. You can visually go through all changes on <a href="/maps/">MapTiler Cloud hosting</a> or download the data and styles from <a href="https://openmaptiles.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">OpenMapTiles.com</a>.<img src="https://media.maptiler.com/img/2018_04_30_openmaptiles_3_8_4_0aa4fe491f.jpg" alt="2018-04-30-openmaptiles-3-8-4.jpg" srcset="https://media.maptiler.com/img/thumbnail_2018_04_30_openmaptiles_3_8_4_0aa4fe491f.jpg 234w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/small_2018_04_30_openmaptiles_3_8_4_0aa4fe491f.jpg 500w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/medium_2018_04_30_openmaptiles_3_8_4_0aa4fe491f.jpg 750w,https://media.maptiler.com/img/large_2018_04_30_openmaptiles_3_8_4_0aa4fe491f.jpg 1000w," sizes="100vw" width="1000px"><i>Baikonur Cosmodrome leased to Russia until 2050, is located in the heart of Kazakhstan.</i></p>

The new release of open-source project OpenMapTiles 3.8 brings evolutionary steps rather than revolution.

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Tomas is a GIScience enthusiast with interest in Python programming and databases. He cares about geodata and how to process them. As a hobby, he assembles and develops sensors for measuring weather conditions. In his free time, he travels and does sports.

Tomas Pohanka

OpenStreetMap data prepared for advanced cartography

OpenMapTiles 3.14: New OpenStreetMap Style shows all the features

Upgraded Attribution free maps

OpenMapTiles 3.13: Better route maps

Attribution free maps for videos, posters, and games

OpenMapTiles 3.12: improved city centers

OpenMapTiles gives you freedom of SDKs

OpenMapTiles 3.8 with improved transportation layer and new water features