Getting Started with Vector Tiles

This guide will help you get started using vector tiles (MBTiles) – lightweight tiles that are efficient and quick to render, letting you create customised, high-resolution, beautiful mapping.

This guide explains what vector tiles are, lists the key features and benefits of the format, and details the applications that support vector tiles. Installing vector tiles in GIS software provides step-by-step instructions on installing vector tiles data in QGIS and Cadcorp. Using OS styles to get started in Mapbox Studio details how to install vector tiles in Mapbox. The remaining two pages provide information on hosting and serving your own vector tiles and using OS styles on Vector Tiles you have previously created.

In response to customer feedback on preferred data formats, a growing number of OS products have been made available in vector tile format, including OS Open Zoomstack, OS VectorMap Local, Code-Point with Polygons, Boundary-Line, OS Terrain 50, OS Open Roads and OS MasterMap Greenspace Layer, to name a few. We also have the OS Vector Tile API on the OS Data Hub if you want to connect directly to OS-hosted vector tiles.

What are vector tiles?

Vector tiles are clipped tiles, or grid squares, composed of layers of vector features which are optimised for caching, scaling, and producing map imagery quickly. They serve in a similar way to raster tiles but have the added functionality of being customisable by users.

A vector tile represents a specific area of the Earth’s surface and contains geographic information about the coverage area. Each tile can contain many layers of features, such as buildings, roads, rivers, greenspaces, etc. Vector tiles are packets of geographic data which have been packaged into tiles for transfer over the web. The information they contain can be used to deliver styled vector data and web maps to the end-user.

OS supplies data in the Mapbox Vector Tile Specification, packed in a single MBTiles file (which is based on the SQLite database). This is a Mapbox-specific vector tile format. Other specifications are available; however, this document will reference MBTiles only.

Key features and benefits of vector tiles

Vector tiles offer users the following key features and benefits:

• User customisation and styling functionality – customise your map with full and dynamic design control.

• Small file size – lightweight tiles that are efficient and quick to render in your client application.

• Pixel perfect maps – high-resolution, beautiful mapping for all devices (web and mobile devices).

• Snapping ability – due to the data being vector, data can be snapped to and traced.

• Smooth zooming and scaling effect – a seamless user experience when zooming in and out of maps.

• Advanced features – vector tiles contain geographic data (not just images) which can be interrogated and analysed.

• Offline maps – store the tiles locally to take your maps offline (for example, on mobile devices).

• Data will be supplied in Web Mercator projection (EPSG:3857).

Related guides

The Ordnance Survey websites hosts several informative blog posts that contain useful information about vector tiles:

• OS blog post: The benefits of vector tiles

• OS blog post: Creating your own vector tiles

• OS blog post: An interactive house prices map with OS data

Index

This getting started guide is broken down into the following sub-pages:

• Using OS styles to get started in Mapbox Studio

• Hosting and serving your own Vector Tiles

• Supporting documents