Cinnabar is a classic look and should be your go-to for general mapping applications. Give OpenStreetMap data a refined basemap skin using the Tangram graphics library and Mapzen's versatile Vector Tiles.
This style is a High Road influenced evolution of the Traditional style Stamen created for Mapzen's Open Android app in 2014. Please use and adapt the open source scene file in your own projects!
Looking for help? There is a mini tutorial after the preview image below walking thru Vector Tiles API key signup and building a Leaflet map using Tangram and this repo's scene file.
Mapzen offers the Cinnabar style in three flavors:
Looking for a different style? We offer a range of styles including Refill (high contrast black & white cartography) and Zinc (soft gray cartography).
Live Cinnabar demo: http://tangrams.github.io/cinnabar-style
So how do you actually use this stuff? Tangram styles are called "scenes" and are written in YAML. The scene file (e.g.: cinnabar-style.yaml) requires a vector tile source. To use Mapzen's vector tile service you must first obtain a free developer API key and update your scene file with that key.
Mapzen Vector Tiles are a free, shared tile service. As such, there are generous limitations on requests to prevent individual users from degrading the overall system performance.
Using Tangram and Mapzen's Vector tiles inside the popular Leaflet mapping framework is easy. We'll make it even easier soon to do this via a Leaflet provider, but in the meantime...
url: //vector.mapzen.com/osm/all/{z}/{x}/{y}.topojson?api_key=vector-tiles-{your-api-key-here}
Want to modify the style to fit your needs? Clone or downloaded the repo locally. Then...
Start a web server in the repo's directory:
python -m SimpleHTTPServer 8000
If that doesn't work, try:
python -m http.server 8000
Then navigate to: http://localhost:8000, which loads the index.html file.
You should be all set, happy mapping! But please let us know at hello@mapzen.com or via Twitter @mapzen if you encounter any funk and we'll help you get up and running.