Mapzen builds open-source mapping tools

[PeterC]

Update
Mapzen ceased all operations and turned off its hosted APIs and all related support and services on February 1, 2018.

"Your two options are to switch to another hosted API that offers similar functionality, or to run your own servers with the open-source projects that powered Mapzen services." They provided very full advice and instructions for migration.  See also this post.

Original post
Mapzen is an open-source mapping lab that builds open-source mapping tools and collaborates on open geodata initiatives.

They have

• Tangram - a flexible mapping engine, designed for real-time rendering of 2D and 3D maps
• Mapzen Turn-by-Turn - an open-source routing service for client-side routing applications
• Mapzen Search - a geographic search engine for places based entirely on open-source tools and powered by entirely open data (for more see this post)
• Who’s On First and Mapzen Places - a structured gazetteer

"We're focused on core components of geo platforms, including search, rendering, navigation, and data. We take a radical approach to working on these components—we build them all in the open. We build these things and provide them as a service, but these are tools that developers at any level can easily set up and use themselves, for free. We don’t want to lock users into proprietary platforms, relying on black boxes they can’t take apart. That’s why we work on individual components, modular building blocks that anyone can use for better maps. We build things so you can build things."

Their approach might fit very well into what we want to do, being open and collaborative. AS an example of their approach see this description of the development of Mapzen Search - as an R&D open-source geocoder became a commercial service, now handling millions of requests. ("A geocoder is a magic tool that can translate textual addresses into lat/lon pairs and vice-versa. It also understands venues and names of cities, regions, and countries.")

Mapzen charges for usage, but they have a generous free tier.

Mapzen do other interesting things, such as:

• Tangram Heightmapper to generate 3D models from height data
• Mapzen Terrain Tiles service for worldwide elevation data
• Mapzen Vector Tiles service with worldwide coverage of OpenStreetMap base layer data (powered by Tilezen, Mapzen's open source tiles project)