Invented by Mapbox, VectorTiles are a combination of the ideas of finite-sized tiles and vector geometries. Mapbox maintains the official implementation spec for VectorTile codecs. The specification is free and open source.
VectorTiles are advantageous over raster tiles in that:
- They are typically smaller to store
- They can be easily transformed (rotated, etc.) in real time
- They allow for continuous (as opposed to step-wise) zoom in Slippy Maps
Raw VectorTile data is stored in the protobuf format. Any codec implementing
the spec must
decode and encode data according to this .proto
schema.
For more detailed information on VectorTiles, our data types, and usage instructions for this library, see the Scaladocs.
This codec uses ScalaPB to auto-generate
its .pbf -> Scala
bridge code. All auto-generated files are placed into the src_managed
folder
during the compilation
phase. The package name for the generated protocol is geotrellis.vectortile.internal
.