Layers on openstreetmap.org © OpenStreetMap contributors.

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 Because the layers are running on different server infrastructure with different set-ups, one layer may be more out-of-date compared to another (recently mapped roads not showing up).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.

Operations Working Group



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