Migrating to Vector Tiles
Lizzi Slivinski
Road Map
- The Case for Vector Tiles
- Developing a Migration Strategy
What are vector tiles?
VECTOR TILES
[Vector tiles] are packets of geographic data , packaged into pre-defined roughly-square shaped "tiles" for transfer over the web
Why All the Excitement?
- New Technology/Features
- Resolves Longstanding Problems
Traditional Data Formats
- Image Tiles
- Vector Formats
(ie. Geojson + Canvas/SVG/HTML)
Image Tiles
Interactivity
- Immutable
- Can’t interact with the data
Efficiency
- Only load visible data
Geojson + SVG/Canvas/HTML
Interactivity
- Dynamically styled
- Access to data
Efficiency
- Can overwhelm the browser
Vector Tiles
- Dynamic Styling
- Access to Data
Interactivity
- Increased Preformance
Efficiency
Making the Switch
GOALS
- Enhance Performance
- Maintain Interactivity/UX
- Dynamic Restyling
- GIS Functions - (Point in polygon, nearest features)
- Editing
- Minimize Reengineering—where possible
Weighing our options...
a) Update our code to
use another library
b) Extend a plugin to
meet our needs
Going Rogue—DIY Tiles
- Spatial Indexing
- Methods for Efficient Restyling & fluid retrieval of geometry
Written using native Leaflet functions and in ~424 lines of unminified code
Editing w/Leaflet Draw
What Worked
- Improved Performance
- Interactivity
- Low Switching Costs
What's Left
- Resolve Quirks
- Performance Enhancements
- Implementation
Conclusions
- Migration is hard, but vector tiles are worth it
- Lots of great software out there
- Strategize based on the issues your project is currently experiencing and your goals for the future