The open source project Versatiles aims to make it easier to create and use digital maps for the web. Versatiles is developed by data journalist and software developer Michael Kreil. The free and open map infrastructure is primarily targeted at media projects, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the open source community and aims to become an alternative to commercial map services such as Mapbox Or MapTyler To serve. According to Kreil, some media such as the SWR – where Kreil is currently employed as a data journalist – NDR, taz and Berliner Morgenpost are already using Versatiles to realize interactive map projects, for example to visualize census data or to display cannabis prohibition zones.
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Freely usable map infrastructure
In a lecture at the CCC event “Data Traces 2024”, Kreil gave an insight Current Status of Versatiles. A major motivation for Kreil is that commercial map providers often face high costs when projects are successful, which can be problematic for community projects and open source initiatives. Versatiles offers an alternative by providing free mapping infrastructure. According to Kreil, traffic costs will be fully covered, but funding Versatiles is a challenge, currently there is funding from the Babelsberg Media Innovation Center, but the long-term goal is to create a free and freely usable map infrastructure without commercial interests. Those interested can support the project on GitHub or find more information on the website Versites.org.
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Michael Kreil provides information on the current status of the project in “Data Traces 2024”.
Vector maps in containers
Technically, Versatiles is characterized by its own container format for vector map tiles. These tiles are pre-built and can be downloaded as containers. In this way, Kreil wants to enable flexible and high-performance card processing that is suitable for both large and small projects. The Versatiles server is written in both Rust and Node.js projects and ensures high-performance delivery of maps.
Versatiles is modular and consists of four parts: tile generation, map server, network infrastructure, and frontend. In the first step, a generator is generated Based on TileMaker Vector tiles required from OpenStreetMap data. These are stored in the Versatiles container. The second layer includes a server that renders the vector tiles. The third layer takes care of technical aspects like network, TLS certificates, caching, and load balancing. In the final stage, the frontend is loaded and rendered Using Maplibre Vector tiles in an interactive web map.
This modular approach aims to enable users to change and customize individual components if needed. Ready-made styles, fonts, and icons are available for quick integration. For further support, Versatiles provides a wide range of tools including tile generation scripts, configuration files, npm packages for various tasks, Docker images, etc. Node.js Server and rendering tools. These cover the entire process from data generation to front-end display and promise flexible customization for different needs and architectures.
Although the project has already come a long way, Kreil sees the current state of Versatiles as a “shell”. Improvements such as better documentation, additional developer tools, and new features like address search are planned in the future. During his presentation, Kreil invited the community to actively participate in further development and emphasized the importance of a strong community for the long-term success of the project.
(VJA)
