Updated Mapzen House Styles – Better labels, new v1.0 vector data

Our Mapzen house styles have been updated for v1.0 Mapzen vector tiles. Learn more about our v1.0 vector tile updates in yesterday’s blog post.

Along with the latest data updates, we’ve updated the styles to leverage Tangram’s new labeling powers. In the image below you can see the vast improvements on label priority, placement, and positioning.

Refill Before and After

Explore all our house styles below:

( These maps are interactive! Open full screen ➹ )

Get the styles in mapzen.js

Back in July we announced mapzen.js as an easy way to embed Mapzen house styles into web pages. mapzen.js wraps Leaflet, Tangram, and Mapzen house styles into a general toolkit.

For example:

var map = L.Mapzen.map('map', {
  scene: L.Mapzen.BasemapStyles.Refill
})

See the mapzen.js Get Started guide for full examples.

mapzen.js house styles

The API reference lists out all named Mapzen house styles and is currently:

  • Bubble Wrap
    • L.Mapzen.BasemapStyles.BubbleWrap
  • Refill
    • L.Mapzen.BasemapStyles.Refill
    • L.Mapzen.BasemapStyles.RefillMoreLabels
    • L.Mapzen.BasemapStyles.RefillNoLabels
  • Walkabout
    • L.Mapzen.BasemapStyles.Walkabout
    • L.Mapzen.BasemapStyles.WalkaboutMoreLabels
    • L.Mapzen.BasemapStyles.WalkaboutNoLabels
  • Tron
    • L.Mapzen.BasemapStyles.Tron
    • L.Mapzen.BasemapStyles.TronMoreLabels
    • L.Mapzen.BasemapStyles.TronNoLabels
  • Cinnabar
    • L.Mapzen.BasemapStyles.Cinnabar
    • L.Mapzen.BasemapStyles.CinnabarMoreLabels
    • L.Mapzen.BasemapStyles.CinnabarNoLabels
  • Zinc
    • L.Mapzen.BasemapStyles.Zinc
    • L.Mapzen.BasemapStyles.ZincMoreLabels
    • L.Mapzen.BasemapStyles.ZincNoLabels

Get src files on the Mapzen CDN

As John alluded to in his Pools and Polls – Coloring Choropleths post last month, it’s possible to build data visualizations in Tangram over Mapzen house styles as a basemap (or in map sandwiches).

Tangram’s scene import syntax (documentation) allows one scene file to import another:

import: https://mapzen.com/carto/refill-style-no-labels/refill-style-no-labels.yaml

Scene files and related assets are available for use in Tangram and Leaflet directly via the Mapzen CDN.

Template

  • https://mapzen.com/carto/{stylename}/{stylefile}.{format}

Where {stylename} and {stylefile} are generally the same and will converge over time.

And where {format} is mostly yaml but Tangram scene file bundles can also be specified as zip. Only Tron supports ZIP scene bundles at the time of writing.

Mapzen CDN house styles

  • Bubble Wrap
    • https://mapzen.com/carto/bubble-wrap-style/bubble-wrap.yaml
  • Refill
    • https://mapzen.com/carto/refill-style-more-labels/refill-style-more-labels.yaml
    • https://mapzen.com/carto/refill-style-no-labels/refill-style-no-labels.yaml
    • https://mapzen.com/carto/refill-style/refill-style.yaml
  • Walkabout
    • https://mapzen.com/carto/walkabout-style-more-labels/walkabout-style-more-labels.yaml
    • https://mapzen.com/carto/walkabout-style-no-labels/walkabout-style-no-labels.yaml
    • https://mapzen.com/carto/walkabout-style/walkabout-style.yaml
  • Tron
    • https://mapzen.com/carto/tron-style/tron-style.zip
    • https://mapzen.com/carto/tron-style-more-labels/tron-style-more-labels.zip
    • https://mapzen.com/carto/tron-style-no-labels/tron-style-no-labels.zip
  • Cinnabar
    • https://mapzen.com/carto/cinnabar-style-more-labels/cinnabar-style-more-labels.yaml
    • https://mapzen.com/carto/cinnabar-style-no-labels/cinnabar-style-no-labels.yaml
    • https://mapzen.com/carto/cinnabar-style/cinnabar-style.yaml
  • Zinc
    • https://mapzen.com/carto/zinc-style-more-labels/zinc-style-more-labels.yaml
    • https://mapzen.com/carto/zinc-style-no-labels/zinc-style-no-labels.yaml
    • https://mapzen.com/carto/zinc-style/zinc-style.yaml

Versions

Looking to peg to a specific version of a style? We have you covered!

Template

  • https://mapzen.com/carto/{stylename}/{version}/{stylefile}.{format}

Where {version} is optional and can be major (eg: 1), major + minor (1.0), or major + minor + patch (1.0.0).

Partial listing of Refill versions:

  • https://mapzen.com/carto/refill-style/1/refill-style.yaml
  • https://mapzen.com/carto/refill-style/1.0/refill-style.yaml
  • https://mapzen.com/carto/refill-style/1.0.0/refill-style.yaml

Cartography timeline

Feedback

Have any feedback on the cartography in Mapzen house styles? Please direct feedback to Nathaniel Vaughn Kelso, our Chief Cartographer, at hello@mapzen.com!