Web Maps API — our JavaScript library for putting CloudMade maps online — has been a hugely popular tool that has enabled web developers to create unique map experiences like these.  Web Maps API v2 has served our users very well, being praised for its performance and ease of use. But there’s a problem: it wasn’t designed with mobile devices in mind. Last years there was an overwhelming progress in what mobile browsers are capable of thanks to technologies like HTML5. What if online maps could work as smoothly as native apps on mobile?

There’s one more thing to consider: CloudMade developer community has a lot of talented people in it that could help with the development of the library, but so far Web Maps API was not a part of our open source efforts.

Today we’re announcing the first public release of Leaflet — a new open source JavaScript library for interactive maps for both mobile and desktop browsers, developed by CloudMade to form the core of its next generation Web Maps API.

Leaflet is built from the ground up to work efficiently and smoothly on both platforms. It’s very fast, lightweight while still having a strong browser support, and really easy to use. It also has a clean, simple and readable OOP-based code, and it’s hosted on the world’s best open source collaboration platform — GitHub, so contributing is a snap.

It’s still in the beta stage of development, so it lacks a couple of features and has some rough edges, but it’s moving fast — try it and give us some feedback, either by tweeting to @LeafletJS or reporting bugs and discussing features on the issues page.

Find out more on the Leaflet official website.

Here’s what we’ve added:

1. Easier to work in areas with lots of land use

It’s now a lot easier to work more accurately with land use and other areas, with the ability to turn their filling on or off to provide a clearer view of what you are putting a perimeter around when viewing the satellite imagery or background images.

2. Easier to align roads to satellite imagery

A new Hide/ Show Elements button has been added to the bottom of the editing window allowing you to quickly turn on / off elements to better see the background objects.  This is really useful when trying to align roads to satellite imagery.

3. More control when adding lines and areas

A much requested feature that you’ve all been waiting for.  Now you can press ESC to cancel any editing made to shapes of lines and press ‘Enter’ to end editing with line types.  This is really useful when adding new roads.

4. Mac Users: no more annoying zoom in / zoom out

If you have a magic mouse from Apple or use a MacBook touchpad you might have experienced sudden jumps in zoom level.  If you have suffered this problem, you can now disable the ‘scroll’ function to prevent the map from accidentally zooming in or out.

We hope you’ll find these updates useful – please continue to email us feedback, it’s incredibly useful to help us evolve and improve Mapzen. Here’s how you can get in touch

• Leave a post in the Mapzen forums
• Report a bug on the Mapzen issue tracker
• Send us a mail to mapzen@cloudmade.com
• Get in touch with Nick, Yuliya or Anton through Mapzen

The next Mapzen blog post will look at some new features coming up in the April release of Mapzen Beta.  Until then, if you don’t have a Mapzen account already, you can sign up for one and start using Mapzen here – happy mapping!

OffMaps – Offline maps on your iPhone or iPod touch

OffMaps is the smash hit iPhone application that lets you take your maps with you when you’re overseas and roaming. It’s also the perfect companion for iPod Touch users who’ve been buying OffMaps in droves.

OffMaps uses many of CloudMade’s iPhone SDK’s features including geocoding, local search, walking and vehicle directions to create a best selling user experience.

Dopplr – Social iPhone Travel Gudie

Dopplr is a must-have service for regular travellers and their free iPhone app is a must have for iPhone owners who travel regularly. Dopplr iPhone makes use of CloudMade’s Style Editor to add beautifully customised maps to the application.

CBS – Do Cameras Make Intersections More Dangerous?

Its not just iPhone apps that can benefit from CloudMade’s geo platform. Global broadcaster CBS have just started using Web Maps Studio – a suite of tools designed to make it easy for web developers to add customised maps, content and more to websites. The CBS Red Light Cameras site took only hours to put together and demonstrates how easy it is to use Web Maps Studio to create a customized, great looking sites that overlay content on maps.

Oakland Crimespotting – How safe is your neighbourhood?

Oakland Crimespotting is a fascinating site that lets Oakland residents – or anyone else – view crime statistics for the city. The site uses a custom map style, created using the Style Editor to give visitors a unique experience. The site’s creators, choose to using CloudMade’s Specialist Toolkit – a range of tools and APIs that let advanced geo developers create highly customised map based applications.

Find out more about building applications that use CloudMade’s geo platform.

We’ve just released the Alpha version of Mapzen, our OpenStreetMap community editing tool which lets anyone easily contribute to the map, and are actively recruiting people to help test and provide feedback on it. To be a part of this program please sign up here.

We’re only able to handle a certain number of Alpha testers so if we’re unable to accept you to the program don’t worry, Mapzen Beta will be available for everyone later on this year.

CloudMade has developed Mapzen to help reduce the time it takes to create and edit OpenStreetMap so you can spend more time doing what you like best, mapping. It’s the first community mapping tool that let’s anyone easily contribute to OpenStreetMap.

Here’s a quick overview of some features:

• Intuitive user interface and workflow dramatically reduce editing time
• Graphical menus mean no more searching for obscure tags
• Multi level undo and save modes mean no more fear of ruining the map
• Built with social networks in mind so sharing mapping experiences with Facebook and Twitter friends is simple
And much more….

We’ve also been busy working on Mapzen POI Collector for iPhone which will be in the Apple App Store in a few weeks time, so make sure you sign up here to be informed when it’s available. Adding places of interest (POIs) to OpenStreetMap on location is now a simple 5-click process and there are hundreds of categories to choose from, everything from trees, volcanoes and gas stations to ATMs, vets, picnic spots and aerial way stations, so most interests should be covered. Let us know if there’s something you’re crying out for and we’ll do our best to get it into the next release.

More updates coming soon…

Style Editor is CloudMade’s online cartography tool for creating customized map styles.  Application developers can use Style Editor to quickly create their own map styles that give applications a unique look & feel.  Style Editor gives you complete control over which objects are displayed on the map, and how they will appear on your map at each zoom level.  Developers use CloudMade’s Style Editor to design customized maps built for a particular use.   For example, if you were building a cycling application that helps users get from point A to point B by bicycle, you’d want to highlight the cycle paths and roads better suited for cyclists while de-emphasising main roads and motorways.

Style Editor now has a style gallery for discovering new map styles

The most important improvements in Style Editor 1.1 is the addition of the style gallery.  Style gallery will allow you to quickly discover public map styles created by CloudMade and our community.  Style Editor also allows for private styles available only to the author, which you can view by pressing the My Styles tab on the Style Editor toolbar.  By default the map styles are sorted by popularity.  You may also chose to look for CloudMade styles which were created by professional cartographers including some by Stamen Design by clicking on the CloudMade tab.  Or you can browse the featured styles (Featured tab) which showcase a mix of CloudMade and community styles that our cartographers deem fantanstic!

The Style Editor tool bar allows for quick discovery of public maps styles for editing or direct use

Another cool new feature in style gallery is the ability to sort map styles based on color.  To the top of the Style Editor toolbar is a Color Filter control.  This control will filter map styles in the gallery based on where you drag the Color Filter bar.  The default setting on the far left shows all colors.  By dragging the Color Bar towards the right, you can select only the map styles with a particular shade of yellow, for example.  In this way you can find map styles that suit the look and feel of your website or application.  Don’t forget to reset the Color Bar back to the far left when your done so that you can see all the styles again.

Each map style in the style gallery shows the style name, author and style ID.  The style ID comes in handy when coding with CloudMade’s API libraries.  You can quickly change the Style ID and see a completely different map in your app!  The search bar in the far right of the tool bar allows for style searches based on style name, author or style ID.

The last new feature we wanted to talk about is the Style RSS feed.  You can now subscribe to all new style updates via RSS.  This is a super easy way to get all the latest updates to Style Gallery via RSS.  You can subscribe here.

Style Editor is open to the public and available to use as a free service here.   So go ahead and start creating your own new map styles and publish them to Style Gallery so the world can see and use them!

Style Editor Team @CloudMade

Creating new map styles is simple with CloudMade's Style Editor

CloudMade has been active at Apple’s World Wide Developer Conference this week, engaging with iPhone developers who are creating the next great mapping and location-aware applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch.   Tonight we’re looking forward to talking with many of you one-on-one to discuss your vision on the future of location-aware apps.  We also want to find out what features you’d like to see on the iPhone, web and other mobile platforms.  Over a Maptini, of course!

Starting with our rich, crowd-sourced maps, CloudMade gives iPhone developers an easier way to build more immersive mapping applications than Apple’s MapKit.   Developers will find our suite of iPhone supported Libraries gives you easy access to CloudMade services while supporting a number of unique features like vector data and MapSafe location management service.  CloudMade’s non-restrictive licensing even allows for advanced services such as routing, geocoding or tracking functionality – without having to call a lawyer or break the bank.

So if you’re a developer looking for better ways to incorporate maps and location into your app, sign up for a API key at CloudMade’s Developer Zone and get started today.  Adding customized CloudMade maps will delight your users and make your app stand-out from the crowd!

For mapping success on the iPhone and iPod Touch, just add:

• Crowd-Sourced Maps
• CloudMade Geo APIs
• Your Cool Application