Create maps faster by building on public tilesets
As part of our recent feature rollout for TileStream Hosting, we introduced map sharing – a feature that allows you to use any publicly available map tileset and share your own with others. When creating a map in TileStream, you can add layers from your own maps, from the baselayers freely available from MapBox, or from maps made by anyone who wants to offer public maps. Let’s see this new feature in action by walking through a recent map we created for the DC-based nonprofit A Wider Circle.
The map builder lets you add your own map layers together to create a composited, interactive map. Here we have four map layers for A Wider Circle – three interactive point maps and one base layer that extends the MapBox World Light baselayer to a lower zoom level.
A Wider Circle’s map maker tool in TileStream
What’s really exciting is that now you can select multiple layers from multiple sources for your custom map. Let’s add in two more layers from MapBox – the full World Light baselayer and a new DC Bright baselayer.
Adding in layers from MapBox
Combining your map tiles with other people’s tiles or with MapBox baselayer maps uses the same fast compositing technology as all maps hosted in TileStream, so it won’t impact loading speed. Your multi-layered map will still be very fast – typically faster than Google maps.