HackerReposA FIELD GUIDE TO OPEN SOURCE
ProSponsor the shelf♧ 0
← Back to top all-time
mapbox
mapbox-gl-js
TypeScript2014–2024
mapbox / mapbox-gl-js

mapbox-gl-js

Interactive, thoroughly customizable maps in the browser, powered by vector tiles and WebGL

Web DevelopmentCreative & MediaMaps & Geospatial
Explore on GitHubRead Hacker News discussions
24Distinct people
33Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
12.5KGitHub stars
REPOSITORY AT A GLANCE

What to know before exploring

What it is

Interactive, thoroughly customizable maps in the browser, powered by vector tiles and WebGL

GitHub

Where it is used

No documented product use was verified in the last source check.

What people are saying

No recommendation phrase was found in the indexed comments.

No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.

Also in these discussions

No other repository is repeatedly linked in the same discussions.

This week on Hacker News

Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 12:54:37 PM UTC.

No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.

Mentions over time

HN mentions by year33 dated mentions

Observed mentions: 2014-08-07 01:07:06 UTC to 2024-01-23 02:13:43 UTC.

0510152014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 2 mentions; 0 submissions, 2 comments20142015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 3 mentions; 0 submissions, 3 comments2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 3 mentions; 1 submissions, 2 comments20192020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 13 mentions; 2 submissions, 11 comments2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 9 mentions; 0 submissions, 9 comments2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 comments2024

Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.

View mention counts and date ranges
UTC ranges include their start and exclude their end. Select a period to filter the source evidence.
PeriodStart (UTC)End (exclusive, UTC)MentionsSubmissionsComments
20142014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC202
20152015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
20162016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101
20172017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
20182018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC303
20192019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC312
20202020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC13211
20212021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC909
20222022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101
20232023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC000
20242024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC101

From the project README

An excerpt from the repository, fetched Nov 13, 2026.

Read the project’s introduction
Mapbox GL JS is a JavaScript library for interactive, customizable vector maps on the web. It takes map styles that conform to the Mapbox Style Specification, applies them to vector tiles that conform to the Mapbox Vector Tile Specification, and renders them using WebGL. Mapbox GL JS is part of the cross-platform Mapbox GL ecosystem, which also includes compatible native SDKs for applications on Android, iOS, macOS, and React Native. Mapbox provides building blocks to add location features like maps, search, and navigation into any experience you create. To get started with GL JS or any of our other building blocks, sign up for a Mapbox account. In addition to GL JS, this repository contains code, issues, and test fixtures that are common to both GL JS and the native SDKs. For code and issues specific to the native SDKs, see the mapbox/mapbox-gl-native repository. Getting started with Mapbox GL JS Tutorials API documentation Examples Style documentation Open source styles Contributor documentation Browser Data Storage Caption: (Mapbox GL JS maps, left-to-right, top-to-bottom): Custom styled point clusters, custom style with points, hexbin visualization on a Dark style map with Popups, data-driven circles over a raster layer with satellite imagery, 3D terrain with custom Markers, Mapbox Movement data visualization. License Mapbox Web SDK Copyright © 2021 - 2023 Mapbox, Inc. All rights reserved. The software and files in this repository (collectively, “Software”) are licensed under the Mapbox TOS for use only with the relevant Mapbox product(s) listed at www.mapbox.com/pricing. This license allows developers with a current active Mapbox account to use and modify the authorized portions of the Software as needed for use only with the relevant Mapbox product(s) through their Mapbox account in accordance with the Mapbox TOS. This license terminates automatically if a developer no longer has a Mapbox account in good standing or breaches the Mapbox TOS. For the license terms, please see the Mapbox TOS at https://www.mapbox.com/legal/tos/ which incorporates the Mapbox Product Terms at www.mapbox.com/legal/service-terms. If this Software is a SDK, modifications that change or interfere with marked portions of the code related to billing, accounting, or data collection are not authorized and the SDK sends limited de-identified location and usage data which is used in accordance with the Mapbox TOS. [Updated 2023-01]
Read the full README on GitHub

What Hacker News says

33 sources
somishere·Apr 22, 2022
Not exactly the same, but I did some work a while back retrofitting 8bit pngs as DEMs with non-linear elevation profiles (in the days when Mapbox only supported 8bit dem uploads). This allowed for fine detail in the range I was most interested in and coarser detail elsewhere. I was also working below sea level, so the standard models weren't suitable. I used gdal and node for the encode to PNG (from high res geotiffs) and then leant on mapbox expressions for the custom decode on the front end. Looked cool and file size was reasonable. Tho I'm certain much cooler things are now possible with 16 bit encode and the new terrain API. Edit: a link to a mapbox-gl-js discussion on the use of custom dems/encodings (after which anything is possible): https://github.com/mapbox/mapbox-gl-js/issues/10775
In The smallest 256x256 single-color PNG file, and where you've seen it (2015)
thinkingemote·Dec 13, 2021
> too bad it doesn't come with some code Mapbox changed the license of their code last year I think to a proprietary one. https://github.com/mapbox/mapbox-gl-js/blob/main/LICENSE.txt It requires a mapbox user license with billing enabled to use this code, let alone make modifications. But the source is viewable on github. Mapbox also has one of the first tech unions established, but I do not think they have any position on the license. Any insiders know?
In Reimagining projections for the interactive maps era
slibhb·Apr 3, 2021
From https://github.com/mapbox/mapbox-gl-js > Mapbox gl-js version 2.0 or higher (“Mapbox Web SDK”) must be used according to the Mapbox Terms of Service. This license allows developers with a current active Mapbox account to use and modify the Mapbox Web SDK. Developers may modify the Mapbox Web SDK code so long as the modifications do not change or interfere with marked portions of the code related to billing, accounting, and anonymized data collection. The Mapbox Web SDK only sends anonymized usage data, which Mapbox uses for fixing bugs and errors, accounting, and generating aggregated anonymized statistics. This license terminates automatically if a user no longer has an active Mapbox account. Seems their client code does some things related to "billing, accounting, and anonymized data collection" and they don't want programmers to d
Read the rest
isable or modify that code. Is that right? Anyone who has followed this have more information? I haven't used mapbox in a few years but I think it's great technology.
In MapLibre GL is a free and open-source fork of mapbox-gl-JS
jraph·Jan 14, 2021
> I wasn't aware that VS Code was "proprietary malware"? I'm sorry to see you are discovering this. VS Code is under this proprietary license [1]. As for the malware part: > Data Collection. The software may collect information about you and your use of the software, and send that to Microsoft. Microsoft may use this information to provide services and improve our products and services. You may opt-out of many of these scenarios, but not all, as described in the product documentation located at https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/supporting/faq#_how-to-di.... There may also be some features in the software that may enable you and Microsoft to collect data from users of your applications. (emphasis mine). Indeed you can rebuild your copy or get Codium without the telemetry under the MIT license, and the software is really good, but it is a
Read the rest
crippled version and does not make VS Code free software. (edit: it's not pure / pointless theory! I'm sure there is an agenda behind VS Code not being really free. I would not be surprised if more and more "convenient" or important features were released as proprietary, and they also control the extension center (the market place), which is one of the main reasons Theia [5] exists. Beware not to lock yourself down in this ecosystem too much.) > Just because the OS itself isn't open source[a] doesn't mean that Microsoft doesn't open source a whole crap ton of stuff Microsoft is huge. The ratio between their proprietary code and the code that they open source is probably tiny. More importantly, they only release developer-related things, never things that target end users, except their telemetry-riddled Calculator [3]. > It is open source.[2] (ahem source available (sorry, FSF)) Hum. The reference for Open Source is the Open Source Initiative, not the FSF [2]. The FSF defines Free Software. These are almost equivalent things but still have two separate definitions. Microsoft is not an open source software company. They just happen to be a huge software company and every huge software company open source a lot of code when it is strategic. I'm not judging, it's a fact. I'm happy to use some of their quality open source software targeted to the developer community like TypeScript, but an Open Source company would release their important code and be based on a business model around this. And, no, we can't even really call Windows a source-available software. They share its source code to big entities so they can audit it, probably under NDA, and not everybody can access it. Actually you can find leaked code, but it is just this: leaked code. Mapbox-gl-js is a source-available software which is not open source (anymore) [4]. [1] https://code.visualstudio.com/License/ [2] https://opensource.org/osd [3] https://github.com/microsoft/calculator/ [4] https://github.com/mapbox/mapbox-gl-js [5] https://theia-ide.org/
In Apple removes first-party firewall exemption in macOS 11.2 beta 2
tuukkah·Dec 8, 2020
The quotes are directly from Mapbox. "Usage of v2 is billed by Map Load to the Mapbox account owner. The license terms make no distinction between data sources." https://github.com/mapbox/mapbox-gl-js/issues/10162 > Mapbox GL JS v1.x.x: A map load occurs whenever a Mapbox GL JS Map object is initialized on a webpage and you request a Mapbox-hosted map tile. > Mapbox GL JS v2.x.x: A map load occurs whenever a Mapbox GL JS Map object is initialized on a webpage. https://docs.mapbox.com/help/glossary/map-loads/
In Mapbox-gl-js is no longer under the 3-Clause BSD license

Showing the 15 most recent of 33 sources. Enable JavaScript to search and browse every indexed mention.

MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME

A few shortcuts

/
Search the collection
?
Open this guide
Esc
Close dialogs and navigation

Your saved repositories and interests stay in this browser.