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Vector Tiles Are Coming to OpenStreetMap

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

On the OpenStreetMap blog, an announcement that vector tiles will be coming to OSM later this year. This is a significant, if belated technical change: other map platforms moved to vector mapping years ago (Google announced the change in 2013). But there are reasons for the delay:

Vector tiles have become industry standard in interactive maps that, unlike openstreetmap.org, don’t get updated often, and where you can simply recalculate your whole database occasionally.

But the map displayed on openstreetmap.org are quite uniquely different! They get updated incrementally and constantly, a minute after you edit; it’s a critical part of the feedback loop to mappers—and how the author of this blog post got hooked in the first place. This is why we have to invest in our own vector tile software stack.

The switch to vector tiles, the post goes on to say, will enable all sorts of dynamic changes to the map: “3d maps, more efficient data mixing and matching and integration of other datasets, thematic styles, multilingual maps, different views for administrative boundaries, interactive points of interest, more accessible maps for vision-impaired users, and I’m sure many other ideas that no one has come up with yet.”

The Opposite of Cartographic Generalization

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

In the above video, the Ticket to Know YouTube channel looks at the idea of cartographic generalization—where a map at smaller scale must necessarily remove detail to preserve legibility, to the extent that cities with very large populations (like Baltimore, Guangzhou or Yokohama) get left off the map because they’re near even larger or more significant cities get left off the map. As well as its opposite: where tiny population centres get put on the map because they’re in empty spaces (which maps have always hated). His example is Alice Springs; mine would have been a Canadian Arctic settlement like Churchill, Manitoba, population 870, which tends to appear even on globes.

Satellite Imagery of the Eruption Near Grindavík

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

Satellite image of the smoke plume and lava flow from the eruption of the Fagradalsfjall volcano near Grindavík, Iceland, taken on 8 Feb 2024 and processed by Marco Langbroek.

The Copernicus-2A satellite imaged the smoke plume and lava flow from the eruption of the Fagradalsfjall volcano near Grindavík, Iceland yesterday; Marco Langbroek processed natural-colour and short-wave infrared imagery to achieve the above image, which he posted to Bluesky. [Kottke]

Previously: Earthquake Swarms and an Imminent Eruption in Iceland.

Discounted Map Books at the University of Chicago Press

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

The annual University of Chicago Press book sale is frequently hazardous to one’s bank account. This year’s is especially dangerous for map lovers: I count more than 20 cartographic titles with discounts varying between 29 and 76 percent (the PDF catalog shows the discount more clearly), including several I’ve previously reviewed (Picturing America, The Red Atlas, A History of America in 100 Maps, The Writer’s Map, Phantom Islands, Elsewhere). The fact that I already have most of these books—admittedly most as review copies—keeps me relatively safe (which is good: I’m still recovering from last year’s sale).

The NJ Transit App Is Apparently Terrible

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

The Verge’s Victoria Song moved from New York City to New Jersey and discovered the awfulness of the NJ Transit app.

Many of my friends who’d migrated to Jersey warned me about the NJ Transit app. It’s not good, they said. I didn’t take them too seriously. I was forged in the fires of the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s continually broken website circa 2001. After a seven-year stint in Tokyo navigating the labyrinthian Tokyo subway and bus system, what public transit app could ever befuddle me?

Hubris is a bitch.

(It’s reportedly okay for trains; the bus—which is what she’s taking—seems to be Another Matter.)

Edney on Arno Peters

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

Matthew Edney has written a long blog post on Arno Peters and his map.

I’ve been struggling for months now on how to deal with Arno Peters and his world map. Every time I turn to the subject, I just get bogged down by the complexity of the scattered and multifaceted literature, by the insanity of much of Peters’ map work, and by the different responses to his work. […] After at least three tries to say something new, and floundering each time, I am presenting this blog entry simply as an attempt to organize the information about Peters in a way that makes sense to me, which is to say historically. Think of it as a long bibliographical essay based on what I have to hand (so not comprehensive, especially in the German-language literature). I’m not sure that it says anything necessarily new or significant. So please join me as I go through a series of cuts at Peters and his map work.

Google Maps Is Adding Generative AI

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

Uh-oh. Generative AI is coming to Google Maps. Google is using large-language models to give suggestions on where to go based on its vast horde of reviews, ratings and other contributor data. “Starting in the U.S., this early access experiment launches this week to select Local Guides, who are some of the most active and passionate members of the Maps community. Their insights and valuable feedback will help us shape this feature so we can bring it to everyone over time.” Other LLMs have a tendency to push out magnificently wrong answers; it’ll be interesting to see what results Google will get with this specific set of data. (The chances of spectacularity are not zero.)

Middle-earth in Braille

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

A photograph of a braille/tactile map of Middle-earthAmong the tactile and braille maps sold by Adaptations, the store run by San Francisco-based LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, is this bundle of braille/tactile maps of Middle-earth. “The maps have raised lines, textures, and braille. There are 7 maps of Middle Earth, each focusing on different features (regions, settlements, mountains, forests, rivers and bodies of water). There are also two detailed maps: the Shire and Mordor.”

Apple Maps Lists Australian Restaurant as ‘Permanently Closed’—It Isn’t

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

ABC News (Australia) reports on how Apple Maps erroneously listed a Queensland restaurant as permanently closed, costing it thousands of dollars in lost business. What’s noteworthy is the difficulty the restaurant owner had in correcting the error. Apple accepts error reports via its browser and apps, and the owner is an Android and Windows user, but it seems to be more than that: a 9to5Mac commenter found it easier to correct map errors via their personal Apple ID than as a small business owner, whereas Google Maps makes it easier for businesses. The ABC News report goes on to note that this is not an isolated incident. [9to5Mac/AppleInsider]

Montreal’s Interactive Construction Site Map

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

Montreal has launched an interactive map of its many, many construction sites. Per CBC News: “Ahuntsic-Cartierville borough Mayor Émilie Thuillier says the map will help Montrealers see in real time where a construction site is, what the reason for it is and what company is responsible for it. The map also tells users when the work began and when it’s scheduled to end.” Apparently there are problems with illegal construction barriers and abandoned traffic cones: if they’re not on the map, that will be a tell.

‘Cartographically Speaking, Water Sucks’

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

Last October, on her Huge If True YouTube channel, Cleo Abram explored the state of deep ocean mapping, why it lags behind our mapping of, say, Mars, and what’s being done to chart the ocean floor at a higher resolution than currently exists (e.g. the Seabed 2030 project). All told this is a good and enthusiastic primer for the relatively uninitiated (though I do have to quibble with the statement that Marie Tharp’s maps have “largely been forgotten by history,” but then I’ve seen rather a lot about Marie Tharp’s maps and am a bit of an outlier).

The Ocean Drainage Basin Maps of Robert Szucs

Published on by Jonathan Crowe
A map showing ocean drainage basins in the United States by Robert Scuzs of Grasshopper Geography.
Robert Szucs (Grasshopper Geography)

Smithsonian magazine takes a look at the ocean drainage basin maps of Robert Szucs, whose work we first saw in 2016. A lot has happened since then: he’s since produced hundreds of maps (and variations thereof) of the ocean drainage basins of various regions, countries and continents, and sells prints on his Grasshopper Geography website. The ocean drainage maps operate at a less precise level than the river basin maps, but there are plenty of examples of both. [MetaFilter]

Previously: River Basins in Rainbow Colours.

Field’s Favourites for 2023

Published on by Jonathan Crowe

Another end-of-year tradition is Kenneth Field posting a roundup of his favourite maps of the year. The 2023 iteration is the usual mix of the very good (e.g. Eric Knight’s Tien Shan and Anton Thomas’s Wild World) and the extremely original, such as Chicago’s L depicted in snake form, or a river map designed for a receipt printer.

Previously: Field’s Favourites for 2022; Maps at Year’s End.