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
460
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
530
Fast by default: everyday algorithmic thinking for developers [RU]
mourner
1
450
Fast by default: everyday algorithmic thinking for developers
mourner
1
480
Mapbox GL: How vector maps work
mourner
0
400
Random cool stuff I've been hacking on (mostly spatial indices)
mourner
0
580
Как работают современные интерактивные карты на WebGL
mourner
1
520
Leaflet, WebGL & the Future of Web Mapping
mourner
5
3.3k
How Simplicity Will Save GIS
mourner
10
4.3k
Other Decks in Programming
See All in Programming
Domain-centric? Why Hexagonal, Onion, and Clean Architecture Are Answers to the Wrong Question
olivergierke
1
490
Swift Concurrency - 状態監視の罠
objectiveaudio
2
480
Reduxモダナイズ 〜コードのモダン化を通して、将来のライブラリ移行に備える〜
pvcresin
2
690
CSC509 Lecture 01
javiergs
PRO
1
430
(Extension DC 2025) Actor境界を越える技術
teamhimeh
1
240
Breaking Up with Big ViewModels — Without Breaking Your Architecture (droidcon Berlin 2025)
steliosf
PRO
1
350
CSC305 Lecture 05
javiergs
PRO
0
210
止められない医療アプリ、そっと Swift 6 へ
medley
1
130
CSC509 Lecture 04
javiergs
PRO
0
300
CSC305 Lecture 06
javiergs
PRO
0
210
私達はmodernize packageに夢を見るか feat. go/analysis, go/ast / Go Conference 2025
kaorumuta
2
500
Pull-Requestの内容を1クリックで動作確認可能にするワークフロー
natmark
2
480
Featured
See All Featured
個人開発の失敗を避けるイケてる考え方 / tips for indie hackers
panda_program
114
20k
What's in a price? How to price your products and services
michaelherold
246
12k
Improving Core Web Vitals using Speculation Rules API
sergeychernyshev
19
1.2k
How to Think Like a Performance Engineer
csswizardry
27
2k
Git: the NoSQL Database
bkeepers
PRO
431
66k
Chrome DevTools: State of the Union 2024 - Debugging React & Beyond
addyosmani
7
890
[RailsConf 2023] Rails as a piece of cake
palkan
57
5.9k
Building a Modern Day E-commerce SEO Strategy
aleyda
43
7.7k
Mobile First: as difficult as doing things right
swwweet
224
10k
The Cost Of JavaScript in 2023
addyosmani
53
9k
Gamification - CAS2011
davidbonilla
81
5.5k
Bootstrapping a Software Product
garrettdimon
PRO
307
110k
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