Global Terrain Coming Soon to MapBox Streets

We are designing a new feature for MapBox Streets - terrain visualization with global coverage. This will be provided as an optional layer in the MapBox Streets custom styles editor and will provide the same land use areas data from OpenStreetMap as the default, but with shaded hills and elevation contours.

To create the terrain visualizations we are working with a ton of data from NASA (the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission) and USGS (the National Elevation Dataset). GDAL is handling most of our data processing, and Mapnik is rendering the final result via VRTs and TileMill.

We’re aiming to release the first version of our terrain map within the next few weeks, so keep an eye on this blog or @MapBox on Twitter for updates. For now, enjoy these preview images.