Upcoming: vector tile map support on Ona

One of the key items on the Ona road map this year is to improve our map view. We are happy to announce that Ona will soon be introducing a new way to visualize maps by enabling support for vector tile maps. Here is a sneak peek at what this will change on Ona maps.

What to expect with the switch to Vector tile maps?

Vector maps represent the latest advancement in web mapping where data is sent to the device and rendered in real-time allowing us to create visually stunning and richly interactive experiences. Vector maps are roughly one-fourth the size of the prior web mapping technology used on Ona. This translates to a few key benefits for Ona users:

• Ona users will be able to serve up larger datasets to maps. Since vector tiles file sizes are much smaller than equivalent raster tiles, higher resolution maps and more efficient caching will be possible. This also means maps will load faster since less bandwidth is needed to load map tiles resulting in cost savings where data bunldes are expensive.
• Users will see speed and performance improvements when interacting with data on the map. For example loading, zooming in and zooming out of the map will be faster.
• Users will see performance improvements when switching between tabs on the data view, for example from the map view to the table view and back.
• Finally, the switch will enable us build more powerful and informative map visualizations using data-driven styling. This will enable us to create visualizations and tap into a rich collection of map styles provided by the Mapbox community.

Since Mapbox GL already supports the current Ona visualizations, we are using the same technology to render interactive maps from vector tiles. Keep up to date with upcoming releases on Release Notes.