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Birk Skyum edited this page Jan 12, 2023 · 1 revision

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MapLibre GL JS

MapLibre GL JS is an open-source library for publishing maps on your websites or webview based apps. Fast displaying of maps is possible thanks to GPU-accelerated vector tile rendering.

It originated as an open-source fork of mapbox-gl-js, before their switch to a non-OSS license in December 2020. The library's initial versions (1.x) were intended to be a drop-in replacement for the Mapbox’s OSS version (1.x) with additional functionality, but have evolved a lot since then.

LicenseVersionCIPRs

Call for Bounties💰 If you have ideas for new features in MapLibre, you can now nominate them for the MapLibre Bounty Program at https://maplibre.org/news/2022-10-16-call-for-bounties/

Getting Started

Include the JavaScript and CSS files in the <head> of your HTML file.

<script src='https://unpkg.com/maplibre-gl@latest/dist/maplibre-gl.js'></script>
<link href='https://unpkg.com/maplibre-gl@latest/dist/maplibre-gl.css' rel='stylesheet' />

Include the following code in the <body> of your HTML file.

<div id='map' style='width: 400px; height: 300px;'></div>
<script>
var map = new maplibregl.Map({
  container: 'map',
  style: 'https://demotiles.maplibre.org/style.json', // stylesheet location
  center: [-74.5, 40], // starting position [lng, lat]
  zoom: 9 // starting zoom
});
</script>

Enjoy the map!


Documentation

Full documentation for this library is available here.

Check out the features through examples.

Showcases
Display a map Third party vector tile source
Animate a series of images Create a heatmap layer
3D buildings Visualize population density

Migrating from mapbox-gl to maplibre

The libraries are very similar but diverge with newer features happening from v2 in both libraries where Mapbox turned proprietary.

The overall migration happens by uninstalling mapbox-gl and installing maplibre-gl in your node packages (or see below for CDN links), and replacing mapboxgl with maplibregl throughout your TypeScript, JavaScript and HTML/CSS.

-    var map = new mapboxgl.Map({
+    var map = new maplibregl.Map({

-    <button class="mapboxgl-ctrl">
+    <button class="maplibregl-ctrl">

Compatibility branch

Maplibre v1 is completely backward compatible with Mapbox v1. This compatibility branch (named 1.x) is tagged v1 on npm, and its current verison is 1.15.3.

CDN Links

MapLibre GL JS is distributed via unpkg.com. For more informations please see MapLibre GL is on unpkg.com.

-    <script src="https://api.mapbox.com/mapbox-gl-js/v#.#.#/mapbox-gl.js"></script>
-    <link
-      href="https://api.mapbox.com/mapbox-gl-js/v#.#.#/mapbox-gl.css"
-      rel="stylesheet"
-    />

     
+    <script src="https://unpkg.com/maplibre-gl@#.#.#/dist/maplibre-gl.js"></script>
+    <link
+      href="https://unpkg.com/maplibre-gl@#.#.#/dist/maplibre-gl.css"
+      rel="stylesheet"
+    />

Want an example? Have a look at the official MapLibre GL JS Documentation.

Use MapLibre GL JS bindings for React (https://visgl.github.io/react-map-gl/docs/get-started/get-started#using-with-a-mapbox-gl-fork) and Angular (https://github.com/maplibre/ngx-maplibre-gl). Find more at awesome-maplibre.


Contribution

Getting Involved

Join the #maplibre slack channel at OSMUS: get an invite at https://slack.openstreetmap.us/ Read the CONTRIBUTING.md guide in order to get familiar with how we do things around here.

Community Leadership

You can find the official status of the backing community and steering committee in the COMMUNITY.md document.

Avoid Fragmentation

If you depend on a free software alternative to mapbox-gl-js, please consider joining our effort! Anyone with a stake in a healthy community-led fork is welcome to help us figure out our next steps. We welcome contributors and leaders! MapLibre GL already represents the combined efforts of a few early fork efforts, and we all benefit from "one project" rather than "our way". If you know of other forks, please reach out to them and direct them here.

MapLibre GL is developed following Semantic Versioning (2.0.0).


Sponsors

We thank everyone who supported us financially in the past and special thanks to the people and organizations who support us with recurring donations!

Read more about the MapLibre Sponsorship Program at https://maplibre.org/sponsors/.

Platinum:

Logo AWS

Silver:

Logo Meta

Stone:

MIERUNE Inc.

Backers and Supporters:


Thank you Mapbox 🙏🏽

We'd like to acknowledge the amazing work Mapbox has contributed to open source. The open source community is sad to part ways with them, but we simultaneously feel grateful for everything they already contributed. mapbox-gl-js 1.x is an open source achievement that now lives on as maplibre-gl. We're proud to develop on the shoulders of giants, thank you Mapbox 🙇🏽‍♀️.

Please keep in mind: Unauthorized backports are the biggest threat to the MapLibre project. It is unacceptable to backport code from mapbox-gl-js, which is not covered by the former BSD-3 license. If you are unsure about this issue, please ask!


License

MapLibre GL is licensed under the 3-Clause BSD license.