Our Mapping gets Even Better

Written 03/01/21

We've just put online a new release of our map tiles. We do new releases regularly, not least to pick up any changes in the data coming from OpenStreetMap (OSM) and the latest updates from Ordnance Survey's OpenData programme.

Since the last release we've added, thanks to the work of OSM mappers, 8,407km of tracks, 9,750km of paths, and a frankly stunning 582,647 new buildings. The latter is mainly in Ireland where the mapping community have been continuing a big push to get all the buildings in Ireland mapped by tracing them from aerial photography.

We're also now showing cattle grids on zooms 8 and 9 and there are various other minor updates but the two big changes both relate to Ireland.

Firstly we have considerably improved the contours: they're a lot more smooth and there's less oddities.

Secondly this release includes some more work to improved the "ornaments" - the black lines used to mark rocks - in Ireland. With the help of aerial photography and pattern recognition software we've make some big strides forward in this and the best illustration is in this area:

That's at zoom 7 but try zooming in to see more details. The ornaments you're seeing reflect the actual rock formations on the ground. We're very pleased with this enhancement which we think very few other mappers are doing, if any.

These tiles are live so if you're using our tile server you will be seeing the updated tiles now.

Ornaments in Ireland
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