MapLibre Tile Sources

MapLibre GL JS does not ship with map data. You provide a style that references sources — URLs or inline data that MapLibre fetches and renders. MapLibre works equally well for a store locator with 200 addresses, a city transit map, and a global basemap — the right source type depends on geographic scale and level of detail, update frequency, infrastructure constraints, and use case.

This skill is about choosing that source type. For getting a configured source to render see maplibre-source-wiring.

When to Use This Skill

• Setting up a new MapLibre map and choosing where your data comes from
• Deciding between GeoJSON and tiles for a dataset of a given size
• Working out whether you need tile infrastructure at all
• Planning how a basemap and your own data fit together

How styles and sources work

A style (a style JSON, style document, or style object) is the configuration you pass to MapLibre. It contains the specific rendering rules governed by the MapLibre Style Specification, maintained with parity for MapLibre GL JS and MapLibre Native.

You can use a style URL from a provider — that URL references a style with sources, layers, glyphs, and sprite. Or you can build your own style and configure each yourself.