Top left: Standard layer (OpenStreetMap Carto). Top right and bottom left: Cycle Map and Transport Map layers – tiles courtesy of Andy Allan. Bottom right: Humanitarian layer – tiles style by Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team hosted by OpenStreetMap France.
Layers on openstreetmap.org
On openstreetmap.org you can switch between different “layers” offering different views of the same mapping data. Do this by clicking the layers icon (fourth button from top on right sidebar, highlighted on the image below).
The layers we currently have are:
- “Standard” (OpenStreetMap Carto) is the default layer on osm.org
- “Cycle Map” (OpenCycleMap by Thunderforest),
- “Transport Map” (Transport by Thunderforest) and
- “Humanitarian“
These views are rendered in different ways (being turned from raw data into a map image), although all of these use Mapnik software. Because the layers are running on different server infrastructure with different set-ups, one layer may be more out-of-date compared to another (recently mapped roads not showing up).
Call for more featured tile layers
We are interested in new featured layers that highlight different aspects of OpenStreetMap. In particular it would be nice to have submissions for layers that:
- aren’t based on the Mapnik software stack,
- are topographic maps,
- are walking-focused maps, or
- are non-raster maps, along with help integrating them to the website
No one style needs to meet all the above points, but they’re some areas we currently lack.
Criteria for layers
Proposed new tile layers that will be featured on the OSM website should follow the guidelines set out in the new tile layers policy.
Contact
If you interested, please find the contact email in the layers policy page.
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The OpenStreetMap Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation, formed to support the OpenStreetMap Project. It is dedicated to encouraging the growth, development and distribution of free geospatial data for anyone to use and share. The OpenStreetMap Foundation owns and maintains the infrastructure of the OpenStreetMap project, is financially supported by membership fees and donations, and organises the annual, international State of the Map conference. It has no full-time employees and it is supporting the OpenStreetMap project through the work of our volunteer Working Groups. Please consider becoming a member of the Foundation.
OpenStreetMap was founded in 2004 and is a international project to create a free map of the world. To do so, we, thousands of volunteers, collect data about roads, railways, rivers, forests, buildings and a lot more worldwide. Our map data can be downloaded for free by everyone and used for any purpose – including commercial usage. It is possible to produce your own maps which highlight certain features, to calculate routes etc. OpenStreetMap is increasingly used when one needs maps which can be very quickly, or easily, updated.
