Very belated continuation of this conversation: Eric summarizes nicely why one would want to / need to generate one’s own tiles. And MBTiles looks like the file format to move them around. I’m still wondering: why would I buy prerendered MBTiles from a third party? Is it because there are people who need them who don’t know how to make them? Is this the sort of thing a clever cartographer gets paid for these days? -j Jon Jablonski [log in to unmask] Interdisciplinary Research Collaboratory UCSB Library > On Apr 5, 2021, at 11:47 AM, Eric Theise <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > Hi Jon, > > Generating your own vector tiles gives you enormous control over what features are included and therefore the size and performance of your tileset. Choosing what features to reveal and style and at what zoom level can be handled by the mapping library (e.g., Mapbox GL JS) but if you know you aren't going to need, say, building footprints and heights, leaving them out of the tiles altogether will have an effect on tile delivery. Alternately, if you need non-standard data (I'm thinking of a project I did using OpenStreetMap's seamark tags for maritime features), generating your own may be the best/only solution. > > I've worked quite a lot with OpenMapTiles. https://openmaptiles.org/ <https://openmaptiles.org/> > > Eric > > > On Mon, Apr 5, 2021 at 11:38 AM Jon Jablonski <[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote: > Huh. I didn’t know buying pre-rendered tiles was a thing. Is there an advantage (other than convenience) over rendering your own? > > > Jon Jablonski > [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> > Interdisciplinary Research Collaboratory > UCSB Library > > > >> On Apr 5, 2021, at 7:29 AM, Diaz, Tony A. <[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote: >> >> Hello, any good sources for finding GIS files for the Copper Canyon of Mexico? >> >> Especially looking for MBTiles files for the area, >> >> Thanks >> >> Tony Diaz >> California Institute of Technology >> Pasadena, CA >