Company
Date Published
Author
Chris Loer, Engineer
Word count
862
Language
English
Hacker News points
None

Summary

Felt has enhanced its mapping capabilities by transitioning to MapLibre GL JS, an open-source fork of Mapbox GL JS, which allows for smoother and more modern rendering of map tiles. This change addresses the limitations of their previous raster-based system by offering vector-based rendering on the GPU, ensuring crisp and clear visuals across all zoom levels without the pixelation associated with raster maps. The integration was streamlined through Felt's proprietary styling grammar, the Felt Style Language (FSL), which facilitated a seamless migration to MapLibre without significant changes to the application logic or existing maps. This upgrade aims to elevate user interaction by providing continuous zoom operations and maintaining the scale of map elements seamlessly, contributing to a more immersive mapping experience. Users are encouraged to explore these improvements by revisiting their maps and experimenting with new data to see the enhanced performance of Felt 1.0.