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MapTiler: Map overlay, cut map tiles for Google Maps, GIS layers and mobile apps

maptiler.com

21–30 of 46 posts

Re: MapTiler: Map overlay, cut map tiles for Google Maps, GIS layers and mobile apps

#21
post #16
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Alas, I couldn't find what this has to do with OSM anywhere, The software generates map tiles out of OSM data, based on a few sample points I looked at.

That's what I thought originally - similar to Mapnik. But I've downloaded it and can't see any way to work from raw osm data.

The base is Openmaptiles (https://openmaptiles.org), to build from osm data you'd need to spin the infrastructure from docker. I posted the link to maptiler because in other threads people were looking for a simpler cloud instance (I'm at the sotm conference and they presented it)

Re: MapTiler: Map overlay, cut map tiles for Google Maps, GIS layers and mobile apps

#22
post #6

This is raster tiles, not vector.

There is a toggle on the demo page that flips to vector.

I also found that if I hold ctrl I can rotate at random and even go "3d" and see some of the building's heights (in London anyway).

I've got no interest or relation in this (apart from being a OSM contributor years ago), but this is one of the most convincing alternatives to google maps I've seen. The free-rotate on the vector tiles really makes a difference.

Re: MapTiler: Map overlay, cut map tiles for Google Maps, GIS layers and mobile apps

#23
post #17
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Openstreetmap is just the underlying data - absolutely anyone can come along and build a program to draw images from it. That's why OSM is so powerful, and what distinguishes it from Google maps etc.

That, and OSM helps you find things other than retail outlets.

Are you suggesting OSM has better point-of-interest search than Google Maps?

I love OSM, but this doesn't match my experience at all. Can you provide a bit more detail, maybe some examples of searches that OSM has better data for than Google?

Re: MapTiler: Map overlay, cut map tiles for Google Maps, GIS layers and mobile apps

#25
post #24

It's a pretty nice piece of software. Unfortunately the affordable version is far too restricted and the 'useful' version is stupidly expensive. Had it been less than $1000 I probably would have bought a license.

Market Size. You can't sell stuff for 39.99 if only 20 people in the world will buy it

Re: MapTiler: Map overlay, cut map tiles for Google Maps, GIS layers and mobile apps

#26
post #20

Unfortunately I bought a license for MapTiler and then I lost it when I reinstalled my pc. They preferred to do email ping-pong instead of giving me my license back. Apparently you have to "release" the license before reinstalling the pc. Because this is what you have to put up with if you try to be fair and actually pay for software...

Reminds me especially of computer games in general and some single player Assasins Creed title specifically which had always online copy protection. The copy protection server was DDOSed meaning players that bought the game couldn't play or would always be kicked out of the game once the server went down again.

On the other hand the pirates played the game without problems once they circumvented the proctection (a week?) after the game release.

Re: MapTiler: Map overlay, cut map tiles for Google Maps, GIS layers and mobile apps

#27
post #23
post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That, and OSM helps you find things other than retail outlets.

Are you suggesting OSM has better point-of-interest search than Google Maps? I love OSM, but this doesn't match my experience at all. Can you provide a bit more detail, maybe some examples of searches that OSM has better data for than Google?

At least here in Sweden you have much more detailed POI info in the countryside, like rune stoned and such. In Google Maps they can be impossible to find, and even the small path leading to them do not appear.

Re: MapTiler: Map overlay, cut map tiles for Google Maps, GIS layers and mobile apps

#28
post #11

I didn't realise open street map had made so much progress, the demo page looks really nice. The satellite view is not very detailed where I was checking but other than that I'm very impressed with the offering.

Great to hear you like it. You can also make your own design with the customization tool - https://www.maptiler.com/blog/2018/05/customize-your-map-in-...

Re: MapTiler: Map overlay, cut map tiles for Google Maps, GIS layers and mobile apps

#29
post #15
post #11

I didn't realise open street map had made so much progress, the demo page looks really nice. The satellite view is not very detailed where I was checking but other than that I'm very impressed with the offering.

Maptiler is not OpenStreeMap - they're one of the many companies who productize OSM. Which is exactly the way it's meant to be.

I didn't understand that part. If I remember right, the open street map website used to have a demo page of their own. In any case I'm very happy to see this.

Re: MapTiler: Map overlay, cut map tiles for Google Maps, GIS layers and mobile apps

#30
post #6

This is raster tiles, not vector.

It seems not to be 100% clear from the website, but MapTiler is a family of products.

One of them is called MapTiler Cloud [0], which is based on our own open-source project OpenMapTiles and data from OpenStreetMap and offers base maps in vectors and rasters.

Apart from it, there is a MapTiler Desktop [1] (and Engine [2]), which is a desktop software producing raster tiles (the support for vector tiles is work-in-progress).

[0] https://www.maptiler.com/cloud/ [1] https://www.maptiler.com/desktop/ *[2] https://www.maptiler.com/engine/

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