blog/Open Source

Stamen x Stadia: familiar maps, brand new data

| 09.26.23

Since 2011, Stamen has provided basemaps built upon OpenStreetMap (OSM), but it’s been several years since we updated the underlying data in them. We received a grant from the Knight Foundation a few years after their release to refresh Toner and Terrain, but it’s no small feat to keep a worldwide map updated with the...

Stamen x Stadia: the end of the road for Stamen’s legacy map tiles

| 09.18.23

As you may have heard, we’ve partnered with Stadia Maps to create updated and modernized versions of our venerable basemap styles on Stadia’s infrastructure. You can read more about the announcement here and learn about some of the amazing features in the new maps in our recent blog post “Here Comes the Future of Stamen...

Here comes the future of Stamen Maps

Since 2011, Stamen has provided free custom-designed basemaps for the whole world, for anyone to use, for any purpose. Long after other map providers went out of business, started requiring API keys, or charging for usage of their maps, we kept providing our maps for free. Why did we keep doing it, years after others...

State of the Map US 2023 logo

State of the Map recap

| 06.29.23

After three years of limited conference attendance, we had a blast at State of the Map US this year! The conference was held in Richmond, Virginia, so a long trip for those of us on the West Coast, but close to home for others, now that we are fully remote. It was great to come...

Stamen at State of the Map

| 06.07.23

This week, Stamen will be attending the State of the Map US conference in Richmond, Virginia! We’ve been attending these OpenStreetMap conferences (either the international State of the Map or this US-based version) for over a decade, and it’s always exciting to feel the energy of this lively community of open source mappers. The OpenStreetMap...

Connecting the Dots: How Data Products and Design Help Address Systemic Threats

The myriad and complex challenges of addressing climate change can feel overwhelming, but when you combine the wealth and power of data available with communication strategies, it becomes possible to imagine a future where we are valuing conservation, relying on renewables, promoting efficient industrial, consumer, and agricultural processes, and not pumping greenhouse gasses and pollutants...

the yellow brick garden of forking paths

What is Full Stack Cartography?

In a series of presentations and podcasts over the past year, Stamen cartographers Alan McConchie and Stephanie May have been exploring the world of contemporary online map making, and how Stamen Design has developed a uniquely collaborative way of working to build maps for a wide range of clients. In this short recorded conversation, we...

Pollinate Ep. 14- Stephanie May & Interdisciplinary Cartography

| 01.13.23

The modern cartographer needs a lot more than mapping software alone to be successful. Map solutions often require a breadth of knowledge across a team of capable people who know how to speak each other’s language. That’s something Stephanie May learned throughout her career in the geospatial industry. In this episode, the Director of Geospatial...

#30DayMapChallenge 2022

| 12.02.22

Every year in November, cartographers around the world take part in the 30 Day Map Challenge, spending their free time creating a new map each day, working through a list of different prompts posted by organizer Topi Tjukanov, and sharing their maps on social media at the #30DayMapChallenge hashtag.  This year, watching the stream of...

Stamen + MapLibre

We are happy to share that we have begun work on improving MapLibre Native with technical leadership by Wet Dog Weather and funding from AWS. MapLibre Native is an Open Source SDK for rendering maps on mobile and other devices. We at Stamen rely on map renderers to display the beautiful maps we create for...