Upgrade to Pro
— share decks privately, control downloads, hide ads and more …
Speaker Deck
Features
Speaker Deck
PRO
Sign in
Sign up for free
Search
Search
How Vector Maps Work (2019)
Search
Vladimir Agafonkin
April 08, 2019
Programming
1
480
How Vector Maps Work (2019)
Vladimir Agafonkin
April 08, 2019
Tweet
Share
More Decks by Vladimir Agafonkin
See All by Vladimir Agafonkin
Fast by Default: Algorithmic Optimization in Practice (dotJS 2019)
mourner
0
2.1k
Fast by Default: Algorithmic Optimization in Practice (JSCamp 2019)
mourner
0
600
Fast by default: everyday algorithmic thinking for developers [RU]
mourner
1
510
Fast by default: everyday algorithmic thinking for developers
mourner
1
500
Mapbox GL: How vector maps work
mourner
0
440
Random cool stuff I've been hacking on (mostly spatial indices)
mourner
0
590
Как работают современные интерактивные карты на WebGL
mourner
1
530
Leaflet, WebGL & the Future of Web Mapping
mourner
5
3.4k
How Simplicity Will Save GIS
mourner
10
4.4k
Other Decks in Programming
See All in Programming
LLMで複雑な検索条件アセットから脱却する!! 生成的検索インタフェースの設計論
po3rin
4
1k
re:Invent 2025 トレンドからみる製品開発への AI Agent 活用
yoskoh
0
550
Jetpack XR SDKから紐解くAndroid XR開発と技術選定のヒント / about-androidxr-and-jetpack-xr-sdk
drumath2237
1
220
안드로이드 9년차 개발자, 프론트엔드 주니어로 커리어 리셋하기
maryang
1
150
[AI Engineering Summit Tokyo 2025] LLMは計画業務のゲームチェンジャーか? 最適化業務における活⽤の可能性と限界
terryu16
1
150
Patterns of Patterns
denyspoltorak
0
400
The Art of Re-Architecture - Droidcon India 2025
siddroid
0
150
大規模Cloud Native環境におけるFalcoの運用
owlinux1000
0
230
從冷知識到漏洞,你不懂的 Web,駭客懂 - Huli @ WebConf Taiwan 2025
aszx87410
2
3.2k
Navigating Dependency Injection with Metro
l2hyunwoo
1
200
認証・認可の基本を学ぼう後編
kouyuume
0
260
Denoのセキュリティに関する仕組みの紹介 (toranoana.deno #23)
uki00a
0
200
Featured
See All Featured
Practical Orchestrator
shlominoach
190
11k
How Software Deployment tools have changed in the past 20 years
geshan
0
30k
WENDY [Excerpt]
tessaabrams
9
35k
Effective software design: The role of men in debugging patriarchy in IT @ Voxxed Days AMS
baasie
0
180
Visual Storytelling: How to be a Superhuman Communicator
reverentgeek
2
400
WCS-LA-2024
lcolladotor
0
400
Bioeconomy Workshop: Dr. Julius Ecuru, Opportunities for a Bioeconomy in West Africa
akademiya2063
PRO
0
34
KATA
mclloyd
PRO
33
15k
Improving Core Web Vitals using Speculation Rules API
sergeychernyshev
21
1.3k
Hiding What from Whom? A Critical Review of the History of Programming languages for Music
tomoyanonymous
0
320
Public Speaking Without Barfing On Your Shoes - THAT 2023
reverentgeek
1
280
AI Search: Implications for SEO and How to Move Forward - #ShenzhenSEOConference
aleyda
1
1k
Transcript
how vector maps work Vladimir Agafonkin
None
April 2008
a typical GIS talk
rain.in.ua
so I’m doing maps now, how hard could this be?
None
maps huh? •a bunch of square pictures •drag them with
a mouse •put some icons on top
PFF
Let’s build a mapping library from scratch!
no way you could do that
None
creating a web map in 2008
None
You’re wasting time
None
building from scratch; didn’t tell anyone
None
Web Maps Lite
None
None
born as a protest against bloat, clutter and complexity
None
None
None
None
None
None
None
None
None
None
the number one mapping library in the world* *because the
guy didn’t know shit about maps
•extremely lightweight and simple •extremely easy to get started •huge
community, tons of plugins •stable as a mountain •works everywhere (i.e. legacy browsers)
raster tiles era
OpenLayers
• maps as background • mostly static • top-down, north-oriented
• a rigid set of zoom levels • some simple vectors/icons on top • conceptually the same as 14 years ago Web maps status quo:
None
None
Mapbox vision for maps: living, breathing, fluid, rich, powerful experiences
that make you feel connected to the world Games did it for decades; why not maps?
Evolution of The Elder Scrolls 2002 2006 2011
Evolution of web maps 2002 2006 2011
None
Digital maps before: exclusively web tech Digital maps now: native
mobile apps + web
Browsers before: display a bunch of text and images Browsers
now: anything is possible
vector maps raster maps
let’s build a vector maps platform from scratch!
None
None
None
None
None
None
None
vector maps era
maps.me
why vector maps?
smooth zoom and rotation
None
None
3D features
None
None
None
full control over data presentation in real time
None
None
any object on the map can be interactive
None
None
data-driven styling
None
None
real-time data analysis
None
mourner.github.io/ road-orientation-map
performance: rendering millions of features
None
None
visual map editor
mapbox.com/studio
None
None
None
None
None
None
None
None
less bandwidth
simulation vs cartography?
None
None
github.com/mapbox/ mapbox-gl-js (JS) github.com/mapbox/ mapbox-gl-native (C++14) iOS, Android, QT, Node,
OSX, Linux, Windows
None
None
why isn’t WebGL everywhere yet?
Let’s build something with OpenGL!
OpenGL — 3D API?
OpenGL is a low-level 2D API
None
OpenGL: a technology for drawing triangles really fast
None
drawing lines
None
anti-aliasing
6 triangles
vertex attributes
2 triangles
line joins & line caps
None
drawing polygons
drawing polygons
github.com/mapbox/earcut (JS) github.com/mapbox/earcut.hpp (C++)
drawing text
font textures
unicode-intervals /Arial Regular/0-255.pbf /Arial Regular/256-511.pbf /Arial Regular/512-767.pbf
None
SDF signed distance fields
None
None
None
github.com/mapbox/potpack
mapbox/tiny-sdf
mapbox/ mapbox-gl-rtl-text icu4c C + Emscripten = JavaScript coming soon:
WebAssembly
placing labels
None
mourner/rbush mourner/rbush-knn mourner/kdbush mourner/flatbush mourner/geokdbush mourner/geoflatbush
loading and processing data
mapbox/pbf (JS) mapbox/protozero (C++)
6-7 times faster than JSON.parse Protocol Buffers: 3-4 times smaller
than JSON (gzip)
github.com/mapbox/ vector-tile-spec
mapbox/geojson-vt (JS) mapbox/geojson-vt-cpp (C++)
mapbox/supercluster (JS) mapbox/supercluster-hpp (C++)
mapbox/polylabel (JS, C++)
main thread (UI) processing loading data web workers processing loading
data processing loading data
continuous testing
1082 render tests
mapbox/pixelmatch (JS) mapbox/pixelmatch-cpp (C++)
AppVeyor
hey, what’s there on the server side?
None
the essence of software engineering is mitigation of complexity
vastly bigger scope, same goal: let people build amazing maps
Díky moc! agafonkin.com