Offline OpenStreetMap Vector Map Continents/Regions + Satellite Photos

Documentation

• Getting Started — "How do I add zoomable maps for my region?" in FAQ.IIAB.IO
• Implementers — IIAB Maps (wiki) has the latest implementer-focused instructions and explanations!
• Developers — Check out the Jupyter Notebook version 2020 notes (original) posted April 2022, and its predecessor "Recipe for Generating Map Regions" posted earlier in January 2021.

How do I add detailed Zoomable Maps for my region?

1. Log in to IIAB's Admin Console (http://box.lan/admin) > Install Content > Get Map Regions to select the OpenStreetMap continent-or-region you want (choosing among the dozen checkboxes).

   In a manner similar to downloading/installing Kiwix ZIM files, or RACHEL/OER2Go content modules — the Install Selected Region button then starts a download process, which can take quite some time — depending upon the size of the region, and your internet/download speed.

   (Progress can be monitored by clicking Utilities in the header, and then Display Job Status in the left column.)

2. Or if you prefer the command-line, run:

   sudo iiab-install-map-region <CONTINENT-or-REGION>.mbtiles

   (Specifying any of a dozen OpenStreetMap continent-or-region .mbtiles files from our catalog.)

History and Architecture

1. MapTiler (https://OpenMapTiles.com and https://OpenMapTiles.org) published a 2017-07-03 version of OpenStreetMap (OSM) data and converted it into MVT Mapbox Vector Tile format, for many dozens of regions around the world. (This is an open standard which puts all of a region's vector tiles into a single SQLite database, in this case serialized as PBF and then delivered in a single .mbtiles file.)
2. Sentinel (https://s2maps.eu) has made available free satellite images to zoom level 13 (19 x 19 m pixels). These are combined with the OSM data in Internet-in-a-Box (IIAB) maps. These two sources create highly zoomable regional vector map datasets — each such .mbtiles file has a very minimal footprint — yet displays exceptional geographic detail. IIAB's space-constrained microSD cards (typically running in a Raspberry Pi) greatly benefit!
   1. Install satellite photo square regions (100x100 km, 300x300 km, or 1000x1000 km) using IIAB's Admin Console > Install Content > Get Map Regions — or use the original approach of pasting a lat/long bounding box into the command-line.
3. Thankfully the MBTiles file format can be used to store either bitmap/raster tilesets or vector tilesets. So 3 essential data files are needed = 1 city search database + 2 .mbtiles files, one each for OSM and Satellite data:
   1. cities1000.sqlite (25-26 MB) so users can search for and locate any of 127,654 cities/settlements worldwide, whose population is larger than 1000. _#3206
   2. The world's landmasses are covered by detail.mbtiles -> <regional selection of OSM data>.mbtiles (typically 2-30 GB, depending on region) at zoom levels 11-14 and overzoomable to level 18 — encoded as MVT/PBF vector maps.
   3. Satellite imagery of the World is covered by satellite.mbtiles -> satellite_z0-z9_2020.mbtiles (1.2 GB) at zoom levels 0-9, encoded as JPEG bitmap/raster imagery. (IIAB also allows you to add to this file, supplementing it with satellite photos for specific regions you care about most.)

5 Important Repos

• github.com/iiab/maps (right here!)
• github.com/iiab/maptools > README
• github.com/iiab/maps-assets > README
• IIAB's roles/osm-vector-maps > README ("What's New with IIAB Maps?")
• github.com/iiab/iiab-admin-console
  • github.com/iiab/iiab-factory (historical, see below)

2018 Design Decisions

• github.com/iiab/iiab-factory/blob/master/content/vector-tiles/Design-Decisions.md (original)

Future

Usability Engineering begins here — thanks all who can assist — improving this for schools worldwide!

• Teachers want Accents to work when searching for cities in OpenStreetMap #662 (Can multilingual folk confirm this is really/sufficiently fixed?)
• 2022 progress status/summary: #3077

How do we evolve this into a continuously more friendly Internet-in-a-Box product?