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How does Protomaps' Basemap compare to OpenMapTiles?

Open lucascdn opened this issue 4 months ago • 1 comments

Over the past few weeks I've been exploring ways to create my own local/regional map, trying out different tools and learning quite a bit in the process.

The first tool I came across was openmaptiles/planetiler-openmaptiles. Since I'm comfortable with Java, it was a great fit.

Then I came across this project, and I found the profile code even more approachable. Same for licensing.

That got me wondering: what are the high level differences between OpenMapTiles and Protomaps' Basemap? Beyond the schema differences, are there any major architectural or design choices that set them apart? Would you say the two projects have feature parity, more or less?

lucascdn avatar Aug 18 '25 18:08 lucascdn

are there any major architectural or design choices that set them apart?

There are fewer layers in the Protomaps basemap, which makes ordering/sorting of features easier.

Other than that you can look at https://github.com/protomaps/basemaps/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md which explains design/licensing differences.

bdon avatar Aug 21 '25 08:08 bdon

It is possible to use an OpenMapTiles map style with Protomaps? Can it be adapted or does it need to be rebuilt as a Flavor?

clementmas avatar Nov 24 '25 09:11 clementmas

It isn't possible, and Flavors only control colors, not the relationship between layers/tags and map symbology.

bdon avatar Dec 01 '25 09:12 bdon