Integrated shading
Roads, paths, contour lines, and other vector layers are shaded to blend naturally with the terrain. This makes them feel part of the map surface rather than floating above it.
vulcanmaps
See the difference
Compare the standard Mapbox Outdoor style with shaded terrain maps. Realistic shading and surface texturing create a stronger sense of place and reveal subtle details about the landscape. Map functionality and interactive content remain unchanged.
Detailed terrain textures
Global and up-to-date land cover data defines the base coloring. Combined with texture derived from satellite imagery, the result gives rich visual detail about the environment.
Dynamic shadows
Shadows emphasize terrain shape. With dynamic shading, shadow intensity adjusts automatically, keeping shaded areas visible and balanced even when zoomed in.
Integrated shading
Roads, paths, contour lines, and other vector layers are shaded to blend naturally with the terrain. This makes them feel part of the map surface rather than floating above it.
Detailed terrain textures
Global and up-to-date land cover data defines the base coloring. Combined with texture derived from satellite imagery, the result gives rich visual detail about the environment.
Dynamic shadows
Shadows emphasize terrain shape. With dynamic shading, shadow intensity adjusts automatically, keeping shaded areas visible and balanced even when zoomed in.
Easy to integrate
Add shaded maps by simply replacing the default Mapbox Outdoor style. The tiles are provided as optimized WebP rasters up to zoom level 15 — offering high visual quality with efficient file size and fast loading. They’re encoded to support the basemap and dynamic shading directly within the Mapbox style. The maps can be tested for free, and the dataset is available for self-hosting.
const map = new mapboxgl.Map({
style: 'https://vulcanmaps.blob.core.windows.net/styles/style.json',
...
});
Custom designs
The Vulcanmaps rendering engine uses a ray-tracing and global-illumination model to produce soft shadows and natural lighting. It’s optimized for global map rendering and outputs ready-to-use raster tilesets. Terrain data is generated from global elevation models, satellite imagery, and land cover datasets.
By adjusting lighting parameters and color palettes, you can create a distinct map design that matches your application's visual identity.