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:

1. Download the Vector Tiles (MBTiles).

2. 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.

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

1. Click on the Tilesets tab in the top right corner.

1. Click on the New Tileset button.

1. Click on Select a file.

1. 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.

1. Download and unzip the OS Open Zoomstack Stylesheets folder. You can also view the stylesheets on GitHub.

2. 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.

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

1. Click on the clipboard icon to copy the Map ID.

1. 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).

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

2. 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:

1. Save the .json file.

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

1. Click on the New style button.

1. 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.

1. 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.

2. Open this folder, then drag and drop the 7 SVG files into Mapbox Studio (directly into your browser window).

3. Click Confirm on the Upload images dialogue box.

1. 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.

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

1. 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.

2. 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).

3. Open Cadcorp SIS Desktop.

4. The easiest way to load the data is to simply drag-and-drop the MBTiles file into Cadcorp SIS Desktop.

5. 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:

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

1. Download the Vector Tiles (MBTiles).

2. 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.

1. 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.

1. 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.

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

2. Open QGIS and start a new project.

3. 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.

1. 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.

2. Once downloaded and unzipped, navigate in the folder to GeoPackage → QGIS Stylesheets (QML).

3. 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.

4. 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

5. 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…

1. Next, click the 3 dots along from File.

1. 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.

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

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.

2. Open ArcMap and click on the Add Data button.

1. Browse to the location of your unzipped GeoPackage.

1. 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

2. 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

1. 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.

1. Click the Add Data button

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

1. 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.

1. 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.

1. 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.

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

2. Open Cadcorp SIS Desktop.

3. The easiest way to load the data is to simply drag-and-drop the unzipped GeoPackage (OS_Open_Zoomstack.gpkg) into Cadcorp SIS Desktop.

4. 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:

2. Open MapInfo.

3. Click on the Open button.

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

1. Select OS_Open_ZoomStack.gpkg and click Open.

1. 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.