OpenMapTiles terminology and definitions

3D terrain uses elevation data to give a map relief, so hills and valleys have height instead of being drawn flat.

Attribution is the credit line a map displays to acknowledge the data and the schema it was built from.

Cartography is the practice of designing maps, deciding what to show at each scale and how to draw it so the map stays readable.

A choropleth map shades predefined areas by a data value, so each region's color represents a statistic.

GeoJSON is a JSON format for geographic features, storing geometry and properties together in plain text.

A LineString is a geometry type made of an ordered list of coordinates that join up into a connected line.

Map rendering is the work of turning map data and a style into the picture on screen, either on a server or in the client as you use the map.

A maps API is a hosted service that delivers map tiles, styles, fonts, and sprites over HTTP so you do not have to run a tile server.

maxzoom is the highest zoom level for which a tile source actually contains tiles, or the level at which a style layer stops drawing.

MBTiles is an open format that stores a whole tileset inside a single SQLite database file.

minzoom is the lowest zoom level at which a tileset holds tiles or a style layer is drawn.

Open maps are maps built from openly licensed data, schemas, styles and software, so you can host and change every part of the stack yourself.

OpenStreetMap is a free, openly licensed geographic database of the world, built and maintained by a global community of contributors.

PostGIS is an extension that adds geographic types, spatial indexes, and spatial functions to PostgreSQL.

Raster tiles are map images cut into a fixed grid and addressed by zoom level, column and row, either pre-rendered or rendered on request.

A Shapefile is an Esri vector data format that stores points, lines or polygons as a set of files sharing one base name.

A style JSON is the document that tells a map renderer which data sources to load and how to draw every layer of the map.

A style layer is a single block inside a map style (style.json) that decides how one layer of map data is drawn.

Vector data describes geographic features as points, lines and polygons with coordinates and attributes, rather than as a grid of pixels.

Vector tiles are map tiles that carry geometry and attributes instead of a finished image, so the client draws the map itself.

WMTS (Web Map Tile Service) is an OGC standard for serving map tiles over the web and describing them in a capabilities document.

A zoom level is one step in the tile pyramid, defining the geographic scale and detail represented by a single map tile.