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Introducing Mapbox GL

mapbox.com

31–40 of 44 posts

Re: Introducing Mapbox GL

#31
The vector map demo on the page has a serious issue with street names not showing up until you zoom way in, so far in that you can't see the context of the street anymore.

I assume this is for performance purposes, but it makes the map feel much less usable than Apple Maps in my opinion.

For comparison:

Apple Maps: http://i.imgur.com/jqPHej2.png vs Mapbox Maps: http://i.imgur.com/rVH775b.png

Re: Introducing Mapbox GL

#32
post #3

This is really cool. It seems that instead of using mipmaps to generate a map, they are using a combination of curves and 2D shapes. This is very smart since the data is not only more compact but can also be visualised in a very fluid manner. The bottleneck is now the GPU instead of the data connection. Give me the ability to download a city's map on Android and I'm dropping google maps like a brick.

Google Maps also uses GPU-rendered vector geometry for their maps on Android (since 2010) and iPhone:

http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/16/google-maps-5-0-hits-andr...

Re: Introducing Mapbox GL

#33
post #16

Well, damn. I just spent five months writing a GLES iOS renderer for mapnik-vector-tiles as a master thesis project. I said, "as far as we know, nothing like this has ever been done before". Good thing the presentation was last week I guess...

MapBox is hiring. https://www.mapbox.com/jobs/

Re: Introducing Mapbox GL

#34

Hard coded compiler version? Could not find compiler set in environment variable CC: gcc-4.8. I'm running gcc-4.9. I got it working by doing: ln -s /usr/bin/gcc ~/bin/gcc-4.8 ln -s /usr/bin/g++ ~/bin/g++-4.8 I'm not saying this is good practice, but it works. Also need to make sure python means python2.

From looking at the build code, you should be able to just set CC=gcc-4.9 and CXX=g++-4.9 in your environment.

This is a pretty standard practice and the reason that it's set to "gcc-4.8" rather than "gcc" by default is because it requires real C++11 support in order to compile.

Re: Introducing Mapbox GL

#35

The vector map demo on the page has a serious issue with street names not showing up until you zoom way in, so far in that you can't see the context of the street anymore. I assume this is for performance purposes, but it makes the map feel much less usable than Apple Maps in my opinion. For comparison: Apple Maps: http://i.imgur.com/jqPHej2.png vs Mapbox Maps: http://i.imgur.com/rVH775b.png

You do realize that this 100% configurable by stylesheets? The entire point is, that their maps are stylable by the user (i.e. the app developer).

Re: Introducing Mapbox GL

#36

The vector map demo on the page has a serious issue with street names not showing up until you zoom way in, so far in that you can't see the context of the street anymore. I assume this is for performance purposes, but it makes the map feel much less usable than Apple Maps in my opinion. For comparison: Apple Maps: http://i.imgur.com/jqPHej2.png vs Mapbox Maps: http://i.imgur.com/rVH775b.png

You do realize that this 100% configurable by stylesheets? The entire point is, that their maps are stylable by the user (i.e. the app developer).

Of course. I've used Mapbox before and messed around with customizing the stylesheets. But the reality is that creating your own stylesheets is a level of effort and attention to detail that most projects/startups can't afford to take on, at least not at first.

The default stylesheets should look good and work well out of the box. Then if you have the time and manpower to customize them further great.

Re: Introducing Mapbox GL

#37
post #2

>Maps render at a super high framerate You might want to use a nice HTML5 video instead of a .gif, then. It didn't make for a good first impression.

Running the 5.2 MB .gif through Gfycat reduces the size to a 566kb .webm file, for example [1].

[1] http://www.gfycat.com/PartialBlissfulEarthworm#

Re: Introducing Mapbox GL

#38
Does anyone know if they are planning perspective (affine) transformation? Specifically, relief maps drawn at the correct (or exaggerated) elevation, with the labels still drawn upright?

Re: Introducing Mapbox GL

#39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do realize that this 100% configurable by stylesheets? The entire point is, that their maps are stylable by the user (i.e. the app developer).

Of course. I've used Mapbox before and messed around with customizing the stylesheets. But the reality is that creating your own stylesheets is a level of effort and attention to detail that most projects/startups can't afford to take on, at least not at first. The default stylesheets should look good and work well out of the box. Then if you have the time and manpower to customize them further great.

One of the design goals with GL was to support cascading styles, so you can start with the predefined world map and just provide deltas of the things you want to change. For example: "Hide the buildings, set the text font to X, swap the stacking order of layers A and B, and override the default park color to blue".

Re: Introducing Mapbox GL

#40
post #32
post #3

This is really cool. It seems that instead of using mipmaps to generate a map, they are using a combination of curves and 2D shapes. This is very smart since the data is not only more compact but can also be visualised in a very fluid manner. The bottleneck is now the GPU instead of the data connection. Give me the ability to download a city's map on Android and I'm dropping google maps like a brick.

Google Maps also uses GPU-rendered vector geometry for their maps on Android (since 2010) and iPhone: http://www.engadget.com/2010/12/16/google-maps-5-0-hits-andr...

Yes. Mapbox is 1) completely open source and 2) completely flexible design-wise.
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