1 of 10

OS Open Zoomstack

Ordnance Survey's OS Open Zoomstack is an open vector basemap showing coverage of Great Britain from a national level, right down to street detail. Designed to make OS map data more accessible, customisable, and easier to use; OS Open Zoomstack reduces the time needed to install detailed feature-rich maps to visualise your data.

This product is updated every six months

A single data file

There’s no need to crunch thousands of data files – we’ve done it for you. The data is available in just one single file. It’s provided in easy-to-use formats to help you get started quickly.

High-definition mapping

Vector Map Tiles contain actual data and not just images, which can be interrogated and analysed. The high-definition mapping also renders quickly, giving a seamless experience.

National coverage

OS Open Zoomstack gives you consistent mapping content across the whole of Great Britain. Zoom out for an overview or zoom in to get street-level detail. From the Scilly Isles to Shetland you get a seamless mapping experience.

Variety of mapping features

By combining elements of OS OpenData, OS Open Zoomstack offers a variety of mapping features, from local buildings to contours, from greenspaces to foreshore. Whether you're mapping urban or rural environments you can find and customise the content you need.

Map with style

OS Open Zoomstack is supplied with four beautiful cartographic styles. You can also create your own look and feel by customising the cartography. Apply your own brand colours or get creative, OS Open Zoomstack allows you to create the maps you want.

OS Open Zoomstack can be used to

Create a base map in GIS for interactive web maps or mobile apps.
Integrate your own data to give it geographic context.
Customise the style and content to make your perfect map.

Access: Download
Data theme: Contextual
Data structure: Vector (Points, Lines, Polygons, Text)
Coverage: Great Britain
Scale: National scale to street scale (1:5 000 000 to 1:10 000)
Format: GeoPackage, Vector Tiles (MBTiles)
Ordering area: All of Great Britain
Publication months: June, December
OS Data Hub plan: OS OpenData Plan (FREE), Public Sector Plan, Premium Plan, Energy & Infrastructure Plan

How to get this product

Access to OS OpenData is free through the OS Data Hub.

OS Open Zoomstack Getting Started Guide

This getting started guide provides instructions for using OS Open Zoomstack in different software applications. Users with limited technical knowledge will be able to follow this guide.

OS Open Zoomstack is designed to make OS map data more accessible, customisable and easier to use. It’s a one-file-fits-all product that has reduced the time to install detailed maps by an order of magnitude, saving valuable time and effort.

The instructions contained in this document show you how to produce a feature-rich map that allows users to zoom in and out while being served high-quality, fast-rendering results.

Zoomstack is supplied in GeoPackage and Vector Tiles formats. For demonstrative purposes, this document focuses on the implementation of Zoomstack, using each of the formats in various GIS (Geographic Information System) software applications. It is important to note that many other GIS software applications can be used with the Zoomstack product.

Using the GeoPackage or Vector Tiles format in any of the GIS software products will produce a similar result. You could either work through this guide from beginning to end or you could navigate directly to the Zoomstack format relevant to you:

Zoomstack Vector Tiles Format
Zoomstack GeoPackage Format

Once you've produced the map, it is advisable to apply styles to give it that extra visual appeal. The instructions for doing so are also contained in this document.

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to instruct users about how to produce quality maps using Ordnance Survey's (OS) Zoomstack product. It provides:

An overview of the formats in which Zoomstack is supplied, specifically the Vector Tiles and GeoPackage formats.
Instructions on how to implement Zoomstack Vector Tiles in GIS software applications.
Instructions on how to implement Zoomstack GeoPackage in GIS software applications.

Target Audience

This document is intended for:

Users with no technical knowledge in GIS but are comfortable navigating the internet.
Users with technical knowledge in GIS.

Manually Applying Styles

Not all GIS software allows for a stylesheet to be applied directly to your data, so you may be required to manually input the cartographic styles. For this purpose, we have supplied the colour values for each of our four house styles; Outdoor, Road, Light and Night.

You can view the OS Open Zoomstack stylesheets on the Ordnance Survery GitHub repository here.

Zoomstack vector tiles

What are vector tiles?

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. They are packets of geographic data, packaged into tiles for transfer over the web. The information they contain can be used to deliver styled 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).

What are the benefits of vector tiles?

Vector tiles offer users the following benefits:

Styling - customise your map with full and dynamic design control.
File size - lightweight tiles that are efficient and super-fast to render in the client.
Pixel perfect - high resolution, beautiful mapping for all devices.
Open standard - created under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 US License.
Smooth - an improved, seamless user experience when zooming in and out of maps.
Advanced features - Vector Tiles contain actual geographic data (not just images) which can be interrogated and analysed.
Offline maps - store the tiles locally to take your maps offline.

With Zoomstack vector tiles you get one single MBTiles file that is around 3GB in size. It is light enough to be fast on the web and suitable for offline use. OS has pre-selected the right content for each zoom level and supply stylesheets to give you a great starting point. This can save a considerable amount of time and effort.

The instructions that follow are for installing Zoomstack Vector Tiles in Mapbox Studio, Cadcorp SIS Desktop, and QGIS. Please refer to the relevant section based on the GIS software you’re using. Note that the GIS software packages above were used for demonstrative purposes in this guide and that many other GIS software applications can be used with the Zoomstack product.

Mapbox Studio

Mapbox Studio is a web application for creating custom maps. It allows you to manage and create datasets, tilesets, and map styles to produce maps with the features and the look and feel you want.

We recommend using Google Chrome for the best results.

The following instructions demonstrate how to install Zoomstack Vector Tiles using Mapbox Studio:

Download the Vector Tiles (MBTiles).
Go to Mapbox.com and sign in.

If you don’t have a Mapbox Account, then create one by clicking on ‘Sign up for Mapbox’.

A Pay-As-You-Go account will be fine for this purpose – it is free to get started and doesn’t require any payment details.

Once signed in, click on Studio in the top right corner.

Click on the Tilesets tab in the top right corner.

Click on the New Tileset button.

Click on Select a file.

Navigate to the OS_Open_Zoomstack.mbtiles file and click Open and then click Confirm.

Mapbox Studio will then begin to upload and process your data and you will see a progress notification in the bottom right corner.

This will take a while, but you must stay on the page while it's processing.

You will see a notification in the bottom right. First it will say Uploading and then move on to Processing.

You may need to refresh the page eventually for it to complete the processing. We would recommend waiting 30 minutes before refreshing.

Once uploaded, it will appear in your list of Tilesets.

Using OS styles to get started in Mapbox Studio

OS has supplied Mapbox GL Styles created by our cartographic designers for use in Mapbox Studio. These stylesheets allow you to add colours to features contained in the Vector Tiles to produce a far more vivid and visually appealing map.

The steps that follow guide you through setting up Mapbox GL Styles in Mapbox Studio.

Download and unzip the OS Open Zoomstack Stylesheets folder. You can also view the stylesheets on GitHub.
Copy the Map ID for your new Tileset by doing the following:
- In Mapbox Studio, click on the Tilesets tab in the top right corner.

Scroll down until you see your new Tileset and click on the Menu button.

Click on the clipboard icon to copy the Map ID.

Open the folder of stylesheets that you downloaded in step 1 and navigate to Vector Tiles → Mapbox GL

Styles where you'll find four styles (Road, Outdoor, Light and Night).

Choose the style that you want to use and open the .json file (e.g. Outdoor.json) in a text editor.
Find this block of code near the top of the file (line 46) and paste your Map ID where it says ADD-SOURCE- URL-HERE:

Save the .json file.

Go back to Mapbox Studio and click on the Styles tab.

Click on the New style button.

Navigate to your newly saved style.json file (e.g. OS Outdoor.json) and click Open. The style will then load up in the Mapbox Studio style editor.

This is an example of what your map will look like if you chose the Outdoor style.

You may notice at this point that the symbols for Airports and Railway Stations aren’t appearing, so now we need to add them to our new map.

Open the folder of stylesheets that you downloaded in step 1 and navigate to Vector Tiles → Mapbox GL Styles where you'll find a folder called os-open-zoomstack-symbols.
Open this folder, then drag and drop the 7 SVG files into Mapbox Studio (directly into your browser window).
Click Confirm on the Upload images dialogue box.

Mapbox Studio will recognise the images and you should now see Airport and Railway Station symbols.

From this point on you can customise the content and style of your map (for example, you can turn layers on/off, delete them from your map, add new ones and change any of the style elements). You can learn more about how to use the Mapbox Studio style editor in this manual.

Once you are happy with your map, click Publish in the top right corner and your map is ready to use. For more detailed information, take a look at Mapbox Studio tutorials.

Cadcorp SIS Desktop 9

These instructions are based on Cadcorp SIS Desktop 9, released in November 2018.

Download the Vector Tiles (MBTiles), and the accompanying Mapbox GL Styles. You will need the style files from the Mapbox GL Styles folder and the sprites.json and sprites.png files, from the sprites sub-folder.
Rename one of the downloaded Mapbox GL Style files to style.json and place it, and the sprites.json and sprites.png files, alongside the downloaded MBTiles file (OS_Open_Zoomstack.mbtiles).
Open Cadcorp SIS Desktop.
The easiest way to load the data is to simply drag-and-drop the MBTiles file into Cadcorp SIS Desktop.
Because the tiles use the WGS 84 Pseudo-Mercator coordinate reference system the default extents are much bigger than GB, so you'll have to zoom in.

Example view of Cambridge, using the Light style:

QGIS

These instructions are based on QGIS 3.4 – a Long Term Release version.

Download the Vector Tiles (MBTiles).
In QGIS, install the Vector Tile Reader Plugin.

Some versions of QGIS has a Vector Tiles Reader plugin that allows you to read Vector Tiles from a server, directory or local MBTiles file. Install the plugin as follows:

Load QGIS desktop.

From the top menu, click Plugins and then

Manage and Install Plugins…

In the dialogue box, search for Vector Tiles Reader, select it and click Install plugin.

This section shows you how to load Vector Tiles in QGIS.

After you’ve installed the Vector Tiles Reader plugin, go to the top menu, click Vector → Vector Tiles Reader → Add Vector Tiles Layer…

In the dialogue box, select the MBTiles tab and then click Browse.

Navigate to your data, OS_Open_Zoomstack.mbtiles, and click Open.

Then hold the CTRL key and select all the layers, select Base map defaults and click Add.

The data will then appear in your Layers Panel and render in your map window. This plugin is new, and you may find it a little slow - it helps the performance if you zoom in to street level as this will limit the number of features in your map window.

In the Layers Panel, drag and drop the layers into the following order as this is the order in which QGIS will draw them:

You'll find more information and help with the plugin, on GitHub.

Host your own Vector Tiles

There are many choices for hosting and serving your own Vector Tiles. Here is a list of the available options for Vector Tiles and some more here relating specifically to MBTiles.

If you want to export the MBTiles file to a directory of files, then you can use Tippecanoe or MBUtil.

Using OS Styles on Vector Tiles You Created

It is possible to use OS styles on Vector Tiles you’ve created. Follow the steps below to do this.

You will need to download the folder of stylesheets. You can also view the stylesheets on GitHub.
Once you’ve downloaded and unzipped the folder of stylesheets, navigate to Vector Tiles → Mapbox GL Styles where you will find four styles.

Choose the style that you want to use and open the .json file (e.g. OS Outdoor.json) in a text editor.

Find this chunk of code near the top of the file and paste your data source where it says ADD-SOURCE- URL-HERE:

You can find more information on the different source types here.

Save the .json file.

This style is now ready to use. If you want to customise the style, then Maputnik is a good open source map editor for this job.

Zoomstack GeoPackage format

GeoPackage is an open, standards-based, portable, platform-independent, compact format for transferring geospatial information. This allows Zoomstack to store geospatial data in a single file that is easy to distribute. It can hold large amounts of data and can support the different geometry types and indexes which make the data much easier to use. Quite simply it is a great Plug n Play format which works with a wide range of software implementations.

What are the benefits of GeoPackage?

GeoPackage offers users the following benefits:

The single file is easy to transfer and offers the end-user a rich experience.
Attribute names are not limited in length making it user friendly.
No file size limit so lots of data can be easily accommodated.
Supports both raster and vector making it versatile for any type of data.
OGC Standard.

Installing Zoomstack

The instructions that follow are for installing Zoomstack GeoPackage in various GIS software applications. Please refer to the relevant section based on the GIS software you’re using:

QGIS

These instructions are based on QGIS 3.4 – a Long Term Release.

Open QGIS and start a new project.
The easiest way to load the data is to simply drag and drop the unzipped GeoPackage (OS_Open_Zoomstack.gpkg) into QGIS, click Select All and Add layers to a group, then click OK.

In the Layers Panel, drag and drop the layers into the following order as this is the order in which QGIS will draw them:

It may take a little while for the data to render as this is a large file. You may find it quicker if you zoom in to street level as this will limit the number of features in your map window.

We would highly recommend using the stylesheets OS provides as this adds feature filters and styling. The following instructions show you how to use our QML stylesheets.

Using OS stylesheets to get started in QGIS

OS has supplied QML stylesheets for use in QGIS. The QML stylesheets allow you to add colours to features contained in the Vector Tiles to produce a far more vivid and visually appealing map.

The steps that follow will guide you through setting up QML stylesheets in QGIS.

Once downloaded and unzipped, navigate in the folder to GeoPackage → QGIS Stylesheets (QML).
Next, copy the folder of SVGs called os-open-zoomstack-symbols into your QGIS SVG directory (a typical Windows file path is C:\Program Files\QGIS xxxx\apps\qgis\svg, where xxxx represents the version of QGIS you are running). QGIS may require a restart in order to pick these up.
To add a sea tint to your map, go to the top menu and select Project → Properties... → General and change the background colour depending on your chosen style:
- Outdoor: R169 G221 B239
- Road: R213 G239 B248
- Light: R197 G205 B208
- Night: R4 G19 B38
To apply the QML, double-click on a layer to open up the Layer Properties window. Then, from the left-hand panel, select the Symbology tab, click Style → Load Style…

Next, click the 3 dots along from File.

Then browse to your folder of stylesheets, navigate to GeoPackage → QGIS Stylesheets (QML) and select the corresponding QML file (e.g. land.qml for the land layer), then click OK and Load Style.

You will need to repeat this process for every layer until they are all styled, and you have a gorgeous map.

ESRI ArcMap

Installing Zoomstack GeoPackage in ESRI ArcMap

These instructions are based on ESRI ArcMap 10.6.1. ArcMap versions 10.2 and above will support GeoPackage and versions 10.3 and above also support the editing of GeoPackage.

Open ArcMap and click on the Add Data button.

Browse to the location of your unzipped GeoPackage.

Double click on the .gpkg file then either select one layer, or hold CTRL and select all layers and then click Add.

The data will now load into ArcMap. This may take a while as this is a large file, but once it is loaded you will see the data rendered with default styles.

Render speeds can be quite slow when all the layers are visible. If you are only interested in a few layers, then you can turn the others off – OS Open Zoomstack is fully customisable in that sense.

It is highly recommended you use the OS stylesheet provided as this adds the relevant layer ordering and feature filters. The following instructions show you how to use the LYR File.

Using OS stylesheets to get started in ESRI ArcMap

Firstly, we’ll add a sea tint to your map. To do this, right click on Layers and then Properties…. In the Data Frame Properties, select Frame and change the Background colour depending on your chosen style:
- Outdoor: R169 G221 B239
- Road: R213 G239 B248
- Light: R197 G205 B208
- Night: R4 G19 B38

Next, set the Coordinate System to British National Grid. Select the Coordinate System tab and search for 27700, select British National Grid and click OK.

Click the Add Data button

Then browse to your folder of stylesheets, navigate to GeoPackage → ESRI Stylesheets (LYR) and select the style of your choice, then click Add.

If you see the following Label Engine Warning, click Yes.

The LYR File will then load into your Table of Contents but there will be a red exclamation mark against each layer and initially no data will render.

Click on one of the red exclamation marks to open the Set Data Source dialogue box then navigate to your OS_Open_ZoomStack.gpkg, select the corresponding layer and click Add.

You will need to repeat this process for every layer until they are all styled.

Note that Roads are in a group which you will need to expand before setting the data sources.

Although designed in ArcMap, the LYR Files will also work in ArcGIS Pro in the same way as described above. Due to a difference in rendering engine, your map may appear slightly different.

Cadcorp SIS Desktop 9

These instructions are based on Cadcorp SIS Desktop 9, released in November 2018.

Open Cadcorp SIS Desktop.
The easiest way to load the data is to simply drag-and-drop the unzipped GeoPackage (OS_Open_Zoomstack.gpkg) into Cadcorp SIS Desktop.
Cadcorp SIS Desktop will automatically recognise the GeoPackage as OS Open Zoomstack, will load the Zoomstack layers (known as Overlays in Cadcorp SIS Desktop) in the correct order for drawing, will apply suitable scale thresholds to those Overlays, and will also apply default styling to the Overlays, using the Outdoor style.

Expanding the tree in the Maps control bar will show the loaded Overlays (those marked in italics are not visible in the current map view due to their scale-threshold):

Example view of Cambridge, using the Outdoor style:

MapInfo

Open MapInfo.
Click on the Open button.

In the following window, browse to the location of your GeoPackage and, using the dropdown, select GeoPackage as the file type.

Select OS_Open_ZoomStack.gpkg and click Open.

Select all the tables and click OK.

Your data will then render in your map view with default styles.

In your data folder, you will notice that TAB files have been created for each table.

Note that the GIS software packages above were used for demonstrative purposes in this guide and that many other GIS software applications can be used with the Zoomstack product.

OS Open Zoomstack Technical Specification

This technical specification provides detailed technical information about OS Open Zoomstack. It is targeted at technical users and software developers.

OS Open Zoomstack is a comprehensive vector basemap showing coverage of Great Britain at a national level, right down to street-level detail. Described as a “game changer” by users, it's one map, in one file that can be used for GIS, web, mobile or for offline use.

Zoomstack is supplied in GeoPackage and Vector Tiles formats.

This document supports the and provides you with detailed technical information relating to the product.

This document is intended for:

Users with technical knowledge in GIS. Supply Formats
GeoPackage (zipped) – Approximately 3.8GB zipped and 11.8 unzipped
Vector Tiles (MBTiles) – Approximately 2.6GB Coverage

This data covers content for Great Britain (England, Wales and Scotland).

Comparison between vector tiles and GeoPackage

Why are they slightly different?

We have designed the data schemas slightly differently due to the way they are used and applied within a range of software. These differences are:

Projection – This is the most noticeable difference. The GeoPackage is in British National Grid (EPSG: 27700) whilst Vector Tiles is in Web Mercator (EPSG: 3857).
Number of layers - They contain a different number of layers (21 for GeoPackage, 18 for Vector Tiles) as we endeavoured to make the data as performant as possible, across a range of technologies. The nature of a Vector Tiles pyramid means that many different geometries can exist in the same layer and only be rendered at given zoom levels – a concept not apparent in many GIS software. Therefore, we made decisions to split layers out based on their spatial resolutions (e.g. roads are split into 3 layers; national, regional and local).
Depicting the extent of Great Britain – The GeoPackage contains a Land layer to depict the extent of Great Britain whereas the Vector Tiles contain a Sea layer which is the inverse but gives the same visual appearance.

List of Layers

The table below provides the list of layers and a brief description for each one.

Layer

Description

Description of the cartographic styles

There are four pre-made styles available for Zoomstack. These can be downloaded from GitHub, and instructions for applying them are available in the associated . This section contains a brief overview of the four available styles to help you choose.

Road

This style focuses on transport networks, specifically highlighting the Great British road network. High in contrast with lots of detail and colour, this style will fit many uses and satisfy those who are familiar with traditional OS maps.

Outdoor

Designed for outdoor leisure and used within our OS Maps desktop and mobile application. Borrowing certain design elements from our traditional paper maps this style focuses on terrain and land cover, has a minimal colour palette and contains familiar symbology.

Light

Designed specifically for data visualisation, this style has a subtle palette and is simple and clear. Use it to add geographic context and make your own data shine.

Night

Night mode mapping that is designed for dark environments. This style is at its best on a mobile device where dark pixels can help save battery power and make the screen easier to use in low lighting conditions.

Sea Extent and Name Languages

Vector Tile Sea Extent

If you’re creating an interactive web map, you may wish to restrict the ability to pan beyond the extent of the sea polygon. The necessary coordinates for this are:

-11.3, 49.4 - Southwest coordinates
3.5, 61.5 - Northeast coordinates

Name Languages

The names layer is multi-lingual. For settlement names (Cities, Towns, Villages, etc.) the name1 attribute will contain the accepted or English name and name2 will contain the Welsh, Gaelic or English name.

The name1language and name2language attributes let you select which names to display. For example, if you want to show all the Welsh language names then you can use these attributes to filter them out and render them on your map.

These are the attribute values in the language fields:

cym = The name is in the Welsh language.
eng = The name is in the English language.
gla = The name is in the Scottish Gaelic language.
NULL = The language type is not set if there is only one name, or if there are two names, and the language of one or both of the names is not recorded as English, Welsh or Gaelic.

Vector Tiles Schema

Layers

The tables below indicate an X where a feature type or layer is present at the indicated zoom level.

airports

Feature Types

Attributes

Zoom level: 0 - 4

boundaries

Feature Types

Attributes

Zoom level: 0 - 4

buildings

Feature Types

Attributes

Zoom level: 0 - 4

Contours

Feature Types

Attributes

Zoom level: 0 - 4

etl

Feature Types

Attributes

Zoom level: 0 - 4

foreshore

greenspaces

names

national_parks

railwaystations

rail

roads

sea

sites

surfacewater

urban_areas

waterlines

woodland

GeoPackage Schema

Layers

airports

Geometry type: Point

Attributes

Attribute Types

Feature Types

boundaries

Geometry type: LineString

Attributes

Attribute Types

Feature Types

contours

Geometry type: LineString

Attributes

Attribute Types

Feature Types

district_buildings

Geometry type: Polygon

etl

Geometry type: LineString

foreshore

Geometry type: Polygon

greenspace

Geometry type: Polygon

land

Geometry type: Polygon

local_buildings

Geometry type: Polygon

names

Geometry type: Point

national_parks

Geometry type: Polygon

railway_stations

Geometry type: Point

rail

Geometry type: LineString

roads_local

Geometry type: LineString

roads_national

Geometry type: LineString

roads_regional

Geometry type: LineString

sites

Geometry type: MultiPolygon

surfacewater

Geometry type: Polygon

urban_areas

Geometry type: Polygon

waterlines

Geometry type: LineString

woodland

Geometry type: Polygon

Zoomstack vector tiles

What are vector tiles?

OS supplies data in the Mapbox Vector Tile Specification, packed in a single MBTiles file (which is based on the SQLite database).

What are the benefits of vector tiles?

Vector tiles offer users the following benefits:

Styling - customise your map with full and dynamic design control.
File size - lightweight tiles that are efficient and super-fast to render in the client.
Pixel perfect - high resolution, beautiful mapping for all devices.
Open standard - created under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 US License.
Smooth - an improved, seamless user experience when zooming in and out of maps.
Advanced features - Vector Tiles contain actual geographic data (not just images) which can be interrogated and analysed.
Offline maps - store the tiles locally to take your maps offline.

Mapbox Studio

Mapbox Studio is a web application for creating custom maps. It allows you to manage and create datasets, tilesets, and map styles to produce maps with the features and the look and feel you want.

We recommend using Google Chrome for the best results.

The following instructions demonstrate how to install Zoomstack Vector Tiles using Mapbox Studio:

Download the Vector Tiles (MBTiles).
Go to Mapbox.com and sign in.

If you don’t have a Mapbox Account, then create one by clicking on ‘Sign up for Mapbox’.

A Pay-As-You-Go account will be fine for this purpose – it is free to get started and doesn’t require any payment details.

Once signed in, click on Studio in the top right corner.

Click on the Tilesets tab in the top right corner.

Click on the New Tileset button.

Click on Select a file.

Navigate to the OS_Open_Zoomstack.mbtiles file and click Open and then click Confirm.

Mapbox Studio will then begin to upload and process your data and you will see a progress notification in the bottom right corner.

This will take a while, but you must stay on the page while it's processing.

You will see a notification in the bottom right. First it will say Uploading and then move on to Processing.

You may need to refresh the page eventually for it to complete the processing. We would recommend waiting 30 minutes before refreshing.

Once uploaded, it will appear in your list of Tilesets.

Using OS styles to get started in Mapbox Studio

The steps that follow guide you through setting up Mapbox GL Styles in Mapbox Studio.

Download and unzip the OS Open Zoomstack Stylesheets folder. You can also view the stylesheets on GitHub.
Copy the Map ID for your new Tileset by doing the following:
- In Mapbox Studio, click on the Tilesets tab in the top right corner.

Scroll down until you see your new Tileset and click on the Menu button.

Click on the clipboard icon to copy the Map ID.

Open the folder of stylesheets that you downloaded in step 1 and navigate to Vector Tiles → Mapbox GL

Styles where you'll find four styles (Road, Outdoor, Light and Night).

Choose the style that you want to use and open the .json file (e.g. Outdoor.json) in a text editor.
Find this block of code near the top of the file (line 46) and paste your Map ID where it says ADD-SOURCE- URL-HERE:

Save the .json file.

Go back to Mapbox Studio and click on the Styles tab.

Click on the New style button.

Click on the Upload button.

Navigate to your newly saved style.json file (e.g. OS Outdoor.json) and click Open. The style will then load up in the Mapbox Studio style editor.

This is an example of what your map will look like if you chose the Outdoor style.

You may notice at this point that the symbols for Airports and Railway Stations aren’t appearing, so now we need to add them to our new map.

Open the folder of stylesheets that you downloaded in step 1 and navigate to Vector Tiles → Mapbox GL Styles where you'll find a folder called os-open-zoomstack-symbols.
Open this folder, then drag and drop the 7 SVG files into Mapbox Studio (directly into your browser window).
Click Confirm on the Upload images dialogue box.

Mapbox Studio will recognise the images and you should now see Airport and Railway Station symbols.

Once you are happy with your map, click Publish in the top right corner and your map is ready to use. For more detailed information, take a look at Mapbox Studio tutorials.

Cadcorp SIS Desktop 9

These instructions are based on Cadcorp SIS Desktop 9, released in November 2018.

Download the Vector Tiles (MBTiles), and the accompanying Mapbox GL Styles. You will need the style files from the Mapbox GL Styles folder and the sprites.json and sprites.png files, from the sprites sub-folder.
Rename one of the downloaded Mapbox GL Style files to style.json and place it, and the sprites.json and sprites.png files, alongside the downloaded MBTiles file (OS_Open_Zoomstack.mbtiles).
Open Cadcorp SIS Desktop.
The easiest way to load the data is to simply drag-and-drop the MBTiles file into Cadcorp SIS Desktop.
Because the tiles use the WGS 84 Pseudo-Mercator coordinate reference system the default extents are much bigger than GB, so you'll have to zoom in.

Example view of Cambridge, using the Light style:

QGIS

These instructions are based on QGIS 3.4 – a Long Term Release version.

Download the Vector Tiles (MBTiles).
In QGIS, install the Vector Tile Reader Plugin.

Some versions of QGIS has a Vector Tiles Reader plugin that allows you to read Vector Tiles from a server, directory or local MBTiles file. Install the plugin as follows:

Load QGIS desktop.

From the top menu, click Plugins and then

Manage and Install Plugins…

In the dialogue box, search for Vector Tiles Reader, select it and click Install plugin.

This section shows you how to load Vector Tiles in QGIS.

After you’ve installed the Vector Tiles Reader plugin, go to the top menu, click Vector → Vector Tiles Reader → Add Vector Tiles Layer…

In the dialogue box, select the MBTiles tab and then click Browse.

Navigate to your data, OS_Open_Zoomstack.mbtiles, and click Open.

Then hold the CTRL key and select all the layers, select Base map defaults and click Add.

In the Layers Panel, drag and drop the layers into the following order as this is the order in which QGIS will draw them:

You'll find more information and help with the plugin, on GitHub.

Host your own Vector Tiles

There are many choices for hosting and serving your own Vector Tiles. Here is a list of the available options for Vector Tiles and some more here relating specifically to MBTiles.

If you want to export the MBTiles file to a directory of files, then you can use Tippecanoe or MBUtil.

Using OS Styles on Vector Tiles You Created

It is possible to use OS styles on Vector Tiles you’ve created. Follow the steps below to do this.

You will need to download the folder of stylesheets. You can also view the stylesheets on GitHub.
Once you’ve downloaded and unzipped the folder of stylesheets, navigate to Vector Tiles → Mapbox GL Styles where you will find four styles.

Choose the style that you want to use and open the .json file (e.g. OS Outdoor.json) in a text editor.

Find this chunk of code near the top of the file and paste your data source where it says ADD-SOURCE- URL-HERE:

You can find more information on the different source types here.

Save the .json file.

This style is now ready to use. If you want to customise the style, then Maputnik is a good open source map editor for this job.

Zoomstack GeoPackage format

What are the benefits of GeoPackage?

GeoPackage offers users the following benefits:

The single file is easy to transfer and offers the end-user a rich experience.
Attribute names are not limited in length making it user friendly.
No file size limit so lots of data can be easily accommodated.
Supports both raster and vector making it versatile for any type of data.
OGC Standard.

Installing Zoomstack

The instructions that follow are for installing Zoomstack GeoPackage in various GIS software applications. Please refer to the relevant section based on the GIS software you’re using:

QGIS

These instructions are based on QGIS 3.4 – a Long Term Release.

Download and unzip the
Open QGIS and start a new project.
The easiest way to load the data is to simply drag and drop the unzipped GeoPackage (OS_Open_Zoomstack.gpkg) into QGIS, click Select All and Add layers to a group, then click OK.

In the Layers Panel, drag and drop the layers into the following order as this is the order in which QGIS will draw them:

It may take a little while for the data to render as this is a large file. You may find it quicker if you zoom in to street level as this will limit the number of features in your map window.

We would highly recommend using the stylesheets OS provides as this adds feature filters and styling. The following instructions show you how to use our QML stylesheets.

Using OS stylesheets to get started in QGIS

OS has supplied QML stylesheets for use in QGIS. The QML stylesheets allow you to add colours to features contained in the Vector Tiles to produce a far more vivid and visually appealing map.

The steps that follow will guide you through setting up QML stylesheets in QGIS.

Before continuing, you will need to You can also on GitHub.
Once downloaded and unzipped, navigate in the folder to GeoPackage → QGIS Stylesheets (QML).
Next, copy the folder of SVGs called os-open-zoomstack-symbols into your QGIS SVG directory (a typical Windows file path is C:\Program Files\QGIS xxxx\apps\qgis\svg, where xxxx represents the version of QGIS you are running). QGIS may require a restart in order to pick these up.
To add a sea tint to your map, go to the top menu and select Project → Properties... → General and change the background colour depending on your chosen style:
- Outdoor: R169 G221 B239
- Road: R213 G239 B248
- Light: R197 G205 B208
- Night: R4 G19 B38
To apply the QML, double-click on a layer to open up the Layer Properties window. Then, from the left-hand panel, select the Symbology tab, click Style → Load Style…

Next, click the 3 dots along from File.

Then browse to your folder of stylesheets, navigate to GeoPackage → QGIS Stylesheets (QML) and select the corresponding QML file (e.g. land.qml for the land layer), then click OK and Load Style.

You will need to repeat this process for every layer until they are all styled, and you have a gorgeous map.

ESRI ArcMap

Installing Zoomstack GeoPackage in ESRI ArcMap

These instructions are based on ESRI ArcMap 10.6.1. ArcMap versions 10.2 and above will support GeoPackage and versions 10.3 and above also support the editing of GeoPackage.

Download and unzip the
Open ArcMap and click on the Add Data button.

Browse to the location of your unzipped GeoPackage.

Double click on the .gpkg file then either select one layer, or hold CTRL and select all layers and then click Add.

The data will now load into ArcMap. This may take a while as this is a large file, but once it is loaded you will see the data rendered with default styles.

Render speeds can be quite slow when all the layers are visible. If you are only interested in a few layers, then you can turn the others off – OS Open Zoomstack is fully customisable in that sense.

It is highly recommended you use the OS stylesheet provided as this adds the relevant layer ordering and feature filters. The following instructions show you how to use the LYR File.

Using OS stylesheets to get started in ESRI ArcMap

Before continuing, you will need to You can also on GitHub.
Firstly, we’ll add a sea tint to your map. To do this, right click on Layers and then Properties…. In the Data Frame Properties, select Frame and change the Background colour depending on your chosen style:
- Outdoor: R169 G221 B239
- Road: R213 G239 B248
- Light: R197 G205 B208
- Night: R4 G19 B38

Next, set the Coordinate System to British National Grid. Select the Coordinate System tab and search for 27700, select British National Grid and click OK.

Click the Add Data button

Then browse to your folder of stylesheets, navigate to GeoPackage → ESRI Stylesheets (LYR) and select the style of your choice, then click Add.

If you see the following Label Engine Warning, click Yes.

The LYR File will then load into your Table of Contents but there will be a red exclamation mark against each layer and initially no data will render.

Click on one of the red exclamation marks to open the Set Data Source dialogue box then navigate to your OS_Open_ZoomStack.gpkg, select the corresponding layer and click Add.

You will need to repeat this process for every layer until they are all styled.

Note that Roads are in a group which you will need to expand before setting the data sources.

Although designed in ArcMap, the LYR Files will also work in ArcGIS Pro in the same way as described above. Due to a difference in rendering engine, your map may appear slightly different.

Cadcorp SIS Desktop 9

These instructions are based on Cadcorp SIS Desktop 9, released in November 2018.

Download and unzip the
Open Cadcorp SIS Desktop.
The easiest way to load the data is to simply drag-and-drop the unzipped GeoPackage (OS_Open_Zoomstack.gpkg) into Cadcorp SIS Desktop.
Cadcorp SIS Desktop will automatically recognise the GeoPackage as OS Open Zoomstack, will load the Zoomstack layers (known as Overlays in Cadcorp SIS Desktop) in the correct order for drawing, will apply suitable scale thresholds to those Overlays, and will also apply default styling to the Overlays, using the Outdoor style.

Expanding the tree in the Maps control bar will show the loaded Overlays (those marked in italics are not visible in the current map view due to their scale-threshold):

Example view of Cambridge, using the Outdoor style:

MapInfo

version 15.2.2 and above supports reading, editing and creating GeoPackage Feature Tables.

Download and unzip the
Open MapInfo.
Click on the Open button.

In the following window, browse to the location of your GeoPackage and, using the dropdown, select GeoPackage as the file type.

Select OS_Open_ZoomStack.gpkg and click Open.

Select all the tables and click OK.

Your data will then render in your map view with default styles.

In your data folder, you will notice that TAB files have been created for each table.

Note that the GIS software packages above were used for demonstrative purposes in this guide and that many other GIS software applications can be used with the Zoomstack product.