Layers (Version 2) ​

Intro ​

Every feature in a map tile belongs to one layer as defined in the MVT vector tile specification.

Every feature may have any number of tags expressed as key-value pairs. Keys are always strings; values may be strings, integers or decimal numbers. In order to capture the full range of data in OpenStreetMap, feature tags in Protomaps are a schemaless system; some keys may only be present in a subset of features.

To aid cartographic design, certain special keys prefixed with pmap: are included.

The organization of features with layers and tags is specific to Protomaps services; this means that map styles are not directly portable with other systems such as OpenMapTiles or Mapzen tiles. The organization of features as described here, independent of any particular implementation, download, or service, is published under a CC0 license.

Name Tags ​

name: tags are always included. Keys that begin with name such as name:en or name:es for multilingual names are also included.

Basemap Layers ​

natural ​

This layer contains ▩ polygons of physical features like forests, wetlands and glaciers.

Conditions ​

• natural in wood, glacier, scrub, sand, wetland, bare_rock

• landuse in forest, meadow

• boundary in national_park,protected_area

Keys ​

natural, boundary, landuse

landuse ​

This layer contains ▩ polygons of manmade features like parks, schools and farms as well as abstract residential areas.

Conditions ​

• aeroway: aerodrome, runway

• area:aeroway: taxiway, runway

• amenity: hospital, school, kindergarten, university, college

• landuse: recreation_ground, industrial, brownfield, railway, cemetery, commercial, grass, orchard, farmland

• leisure: park, garden, golf_course, residential, dog_park, playground, pitch

• man_made: pier

• place: neighbourhood

• railway: platform

• highway = pedestrian AND area=yes

• highway = footway AND area=yes

• man_made = bridge AND area=yes

Keys ​

landuse, leisure, aeroway, area:aeroway, amenity, highway, man_made, place, railway, sport

water ​

This layer contains ▩ polygons of lakes, oceans, wide rivers, and manmade bodies of water such as pools and reservoirs.

Conditions ​

• has water

• has waterway

• natural = water

• landuse = reservoir

• leisure = swimming_pool

Keys ​

natural, landuse, leisure, water, waterway

buildings ​

This layer contains ▩ polygon features for manmade buildings.

Conditions ​

• has building

Keys ​

height,building:part,layer

physical_line ​

This layer contains ⟋ lines of physical features such as embankments and waterway centerlines.

Conditions ​

• has waterway AND waterway not in riverbank, reservoir

• natural in strait, cliff

Keys ​

• waterway,natural

• pmap:kind IN waterway, natural

roads ​

This layer contains ⟋ line features of manmade roads.

Conditions ​

• has highway AND highway not in construction, proposed

Keys ​

• highway,bridge,tunnel,layer,oneway,ref

• pmap:level in 1, 0, -1 for bridges, ground level or tunnels

• pmap:kind in highway, major_road, medium_road, minor_road, other

transit ​

This layer contains ⟋ line features for railways, runways and other features used by non-private vehicles.

Conditions ​

• has railway AND railway not in abandoned,construction,platform,proposed

• aerialway = cable_car

• route = ferry

• aeroway in runway, taxiway

Keys ​

• railway,route,aeroway,service,aerialway,network,ref,highspeed,layer

• pmap:kind in aeroway,railway,ferryway,aerialway,other

boundaries ​

This layer contains ⟋ lines for human-defined administrative boundaries such as countries and states.

Conditions ​

• boundary=adminstrative AND natural!=coastline AND maritime!=yes

Keys ​

• pmap:min_admin_level

places ​

This layer contains • points for neighborhoods, cities, countries and neighborhoods, useful for labeling.

Conditions ​

• has place

Keys ​

• place, country_code_iso3166_1_alpha_2, population, capital

• pmap:kind in neighbourhood,city,country,state

• pmap:rank in 1,2

physical_point ​

This layer contains • points for natural features such as mountain peaks or labels for seas.

Conditions ​

• place in sea, ocean

• natural=peak

Keys ​

place,natural,ele

pois ​

This layer contains • points for points of interests such as transit stations and amenities.

Conditions ​

• has amenity

• has shop

• has tourism

• railway=station

Keys ​

amenity,shop,railway,cuisine,religion,tourism