Message But middle ground approaches generally are possible. For example in OpenLayers you can mix raster and vector layers (of …

17 September 2026

But middle ground approaches generally are possible. For example in OpenLayers you can mix raster and vector layers (of multiple types; even GeoJSON and I think SVG). Or on the server side you could “thin” out the tiles by stripping all the info the user doesn’t need. Like different languages based on the accept-language header or something. But that’s more interesting to tile hosts than OSM editors I think.

14:48

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Luc14:04wonder if there could be a good middle ground, where you render the things to a vector image format like SVG, instead of dumb PNGs that indeed multiply for ever I

Ian Wagner14:46That’s basically what MVT is though (and soon MLT). It’s just an efficient binary format. Renderers like MapLibre GL JS use hardware acceleration where availabl

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Ian Wagner14:50But yeah, you colud have certain base layers as a PNG “background” and only send over vector layers for things like linear features and text.I

Ian Wagner14:51Text rendering is the worst thing about raster tiles. It’s actually pretty great for things like landcover. Even buildings and some linear features can be OK. B