Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How Mapbox Is Winning Over Developers to Challenge Google's Mapping Dominance

forbes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 114 posts

Re: How Mapbox Is Winning Over Developers to Challenge Google's Mapping Dominance

#81

Post by lukeqsee »

plopz wrote: post #67
lukeqsee wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Do you know of any tile service offering colored, shaded elevation reliefs? Does that imply variation in coloration based on elevation? (Just making sure I understand your question.) We have limited support for basic hillshading and are actively looking into contour lines. Coloration for various elevations is something we do not currently offer (nor am I aware of any other providers), but it is something we would b…

Yes, color for elevation and shading for slope. Another use case that I've been searching for is a tile set not of images, but of just elevation data. So that I could implement something similar to google earth's lat/lng/elevation info wherever your mouse cursor is.

We don’t have a current offering, but if you want, please email me at luke@stadiamaps.com. We’re actively investigating ways to integrate more datasets (such as elevation) and we would be happy to learn more about what you need.

If we can’t offer something, we’ll at least be able to point you in the right direction!

Re: How Mapbox Is Winning Over Developers to Challenge Google's Mapping Dominance

#82

Post by aw3c2 »

plopz wrote: post #61
lukeqsee wrote: post #33

There are more alternatives to Google & Mapbox that mostly use OpenStreetMap as a backing data source: https://openmaptiles.org (only map tiles) https://stadiamaps.com (map tiles, static maps & routing) https://www.thunderforest.com (only maps) https://geocoder.opencagedata.com (only geocoding) https://geocode.earth (only geocoding) A laundry listing: https://switch2osm.org/providers/ Tile providers are very thankful…

Do you know of any tile service offering colored, shaded elevation reliefs? I've been trying to find something for our meteorologists to use and the best I've found is https://maps-for-free.com

Give http://services.imagico.de/relief.php?lang=en a try.

Which zoom levels do you need? What coverage?

Re: How Mapbox Is Winning Over Developers to Challenge Google's Mapping Dominance

#83

Post by skate22 »

zerebubuth wrote: post #65
skate22 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any chance mapzen would open source the code used to make metro extracts? The formats your team had to offer were so much nicer than working with raw OSM data

I'm glad you found them useful! The code which made all the metro extracts was embedded as a Chef recipe, although I'm sure you could just extract the bits which do stuff from the Chef wrappers: https://github.com/mapzen/chef-metroextractor

Cool! Thanks you!!

Re: How Mapbox Is Winning Over Developers to Challenge Google's Mapping Dominance

#85

Post by Const-me »

plopz wrote: post #75
Const-me wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't need a web service for that. The data is free, search for "SRTM" and download the continents you need. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shuttle_Radar_Topography_Missi...

Sure but I have no expertise on how to take those files and turn them into a tiles that correspond with the same basemap image tiles. Also ideally the service would incorporate more than just SRTM, including for example the USGS high res DEM where available.

> how to take those files and turn them into a tiles that correspond with the same basemap image tiles.

The format is very simple to make sense of. Each file is an array of 16 bit integer values in meters, and it maps 1x1 degrees areas. Each file contains 1201x1201 or 3601x3601 samples depending on resolution. The first/last row/columns of adjacent files overlap that’s why non-round numbers.

Both SRTM and tiles use Mercator projection, i.e. mapping them together is very simple, too. In the embedded software I’ve developed, I’ve layered SRTM-derived data on top of OSM tiles, worked quite well and wasn’t too hard to implement. Even though due to very slow target hardware (500MHz CPU, 256MB RAM, slow flash storage), I had to invent more optimized format for SRTM data (dense array of 32x32 tiles taking exactly 2kb/each, aligned by disk sector), and implement an offline converter.

> including for example the USGS high res DEM where available

I haven’t personally compared them, but before picking SRTM for that embedded GIS project I’ve read about them, and concluded SRTM is more reliable. Also the resolution is more or less the same, SRTM offers 25m horizontal resolution, that’s pretty high, IMO.

Re: How Mapbox Is Winning Over Developers to Challenge Google's Mapping Dominance

#86

Post by tboyd47 »

jstandard wrote: post #79
tboyd47 wrote: post #68

More crucially, they are winning over executives of medium-to-large internet businesses with superior sales and marketing. Individual engineers at these places do not have the power to make decisions about which map software to use, which are often six- or seven-figure contracts. Mapbox offers a service that is comparable to Google Maps in terms of price, quality and flexibility. From a technical standpoint, there ar…

What are your main use cases?

Showing apartment listings and houses on desktop and mobile web.

Re: How Mapbox Is Winning Over Developers to Challenge Google's Mapping Dominance

#87

Post by efraim »

ape4 wrote: post #29

Am I crazy, I can't see a live demo page.

You're not crazy. Go to products -> maps, click on one of the themes, click on View live map. Like this one for example https://www.mapbox.com/maps/streets/

It's like they don't want to show it.

Re: How Mapbox Is Winning Over Developers to Challenge Google's Mapping Dominance

#88

Post by andrei_says_ »

mwj wrote: post #51
lukeqsee wrote: post #33

There are more alternatives to Google & Mapbox that mostly use OpenStreetMap as a backing data source: https://openmaptiles.org (only map tiles) https://stadiamaps.com (map tiles, static maps & routing) https://www.thunderforest.com (only maps) https://geocoder.opencagedata.com (only geocoding) https://geocode.earth (only geocoding) A laundry listing: https://switch2osm.org/providers/ Tile providers are very thankful…

Hmmm I evaluated a lot of those (mainly OSM-based) geocoders recently. Unfortunately the quality of results is orders of magnitude worse than Google. The only ones that even came close were Mapbox, Mapquest and Here.

I’m curious, how close? Would you consider mapbox instead of google maps? In what cases is it not close enough?

Re: How Mapbox Is Winning Over Developers to Challenge Google's Mapping Dominance

#89

Post by EQmapbox »

plopz wrote: post #61
lukeqsee wrote: post #33

There are more alternatives to Google & Mapbox that mostly use OpenStreetMap as a backing data source: https://openmaptiles.org (only map tiles) https://stadiamaps.com (map tiles, static maps & routing) https://www.thunderforest.com (only maps) https://geocoder.opencagedata.com (only geocoding) https://geocode.earth (only geocoding) A laundry listing: https://switch2osm.org/providers/ Tile providers are very thankful…

Do you know of any tile service offering colored, shaded elevation reliefs? I've been trying to find something for our meteorologists to use and the best I've found is https://maps-for-free.com

I recently wrote a guide (https://blog.mapbox.com/styling-mapbox-terrain-rgb-c75d1cd71...) about extruding the contour lines within the Mapbox Terrain vector tiles (https://www.mapbox.com/vector-tiles/mapbox-terrain/#contour) that could be helpful to you as soon as I update it to match our recently re-released Studio product.

Check out https://www.mapbox.com/help/access-elevation-data/ for more background and let us know @Mapbox if you have questions!

Note - I work at Mapbox

Re: How Mapbox Is Winning Over Developers to Challenge Google's Mapping Dominance

#90

Post by EQmapbox »

wastedhours wrote: post #53
dabernathy89 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mapbox also gives unlimited map views for native mobile apps. Pricing is instead based on monthly active users (50k free).

Not if your app is paid though, and then the $499 only covers you to 250 seats (!). I like what they're doing, and wanted to use them for a web app with restricted access, but certainly not going to pay $499pcm for a side project.

Happy to chat custom pricing, I work at Mapbox with many of the solo / independent developers. I'm @EqMapbox on twitter.
Post reply on HN