Dev tools · alternatives · 2026
24 alternatives to mercator
Weather, ocean & elevation data as value-encoded map tiles
Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes.
- 1
For HTML Day 2025 [1], I made a web service that displays the current sky at your approximate location as a CSS gradient. Colours are simulated on-demand using atmospheric absorption and scattering coefficients. Updates every minute, without the use of client-side JavaScript. Source code and additional information is available on GitHub: https://github.com/dnlzro/horizon [1] https://html.energy/html-day/2025/index.html
2025 · sky.dlazaro.ca · its alternatives →
- 2OO
Hi HN, After 9 years of running my own OpenStreetMap tile server infra for MapHub (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11389989), I've open-sourced it and launched OpenFreeMap. You can either self-host or use our public instance. Everything is open-source, including the full production setup — there’s no 'open-core' model here. Check out the repo (https://github.com/hyperknot/openfreemap). The map data comes from OpenStreetMap. I also provide weekly full planet downloads both in Btrfs and MBTiles formats. I aim to cover the running costs of the public…
2024 · openfreemap.org · its alternatives →
- 3
Google released an API in May to get fetch 3D Tiles of anywhere on Earth. Using this in standard 3D engines like Blender is tricky because (1) the tiles are in a geographic coordinate system (2) you get a lot of little tiles at varying quality levels I wanted to simplify this so all you need to do is get an API key, select a map region and a zoom level, and get one combined glTF file that you can throw into any engine. Especially if you're just prototyping and want to see how this data looks in your engine before investing in figuring out all the nuances of the API & coordinate system. (Note…
2023 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 4
Hi HN, I’m building Corviont, a self-hosted offline maps appliance (tiles + routing + search) for edge/on-prem devices. Hosted demo (no install): https://demo.corviont.com/ Self-host (Docker Compose repo): https://github.com/corviont/monaco-demo Docs: https://www.corviont.com/docs What’s inside: - Vector tiles served locally (PMTiles) - Routing served locally (Valhalla) - Offline geocoding/search + reverse (SQLite Nominatim-based index) - MapLibre UI wired to the local endpoints After the initial image + data pulls, it runs fully…
Jan 2026 · corviont.com · its alternatives →
- 5
Flexible tool to build planet-scale vector tilesets from OpenStreetMap data fast - onthegomap/planetiler
2021 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 6AR
2018 · tylermw.com · its alternatives →
- 7TM
An interactive playground to explore the extreme distortions of the Mercator projection. Set any point on Earth as the new North Pole. Warp the map in real-time. See the world in a whole new way.
2014 · mrgris.com · its alternatives →
- 8
React components for building geolocation apps
2018 · opensource.appbase.io · its alternatives →
- 9
EarthGuessr▲192I built it as a way to practice programming. There are probably much better alternatives out there.
2025 · earthguessr.com · its alternatives →
- 10
Maps, geocoding, search, routing, and navigation APIs built on transparent pricing and privacy-first infrastructure.
2018 · stadiamaps.com · its alternatives →
- 11
- 12
This is a service I've built to provide equirectangular cloud maps of the whole Earth, updated every 3 hours, for free. It's based on infrared and visible light data from EUMETSAT, processed to enhance the clouds and try to reduce the impact of surface temperatures on the final image. I built it because it's surprisingly hard to find these kinds of images in a format that's useful to developers and hobbyists. I was building a 3D ISS tracker and wanted to include live clouds but couldn't find anything good, so I got sidetracked, and here we are.
2023 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 13
- 14
Hi all, This project release is a long time coming. It was a big uphill battle, and by far my largest endeavor so far. I built it for Sandstorm because I believe in Sandstorm's model, and I wanted to show that there's still life and potential in it. If you're inspired, joining our OpenCollective would be really helpful: https://opencollective.com/sandstormcommunity (keeping in mind that Sandstorm has now moved from its original leadership to a community project https://sandstorm.org/news/2023-11-03-from-io-to-org). You can also join our mailing list or…
2023 · sandstorm.org · its alternatives →
- 15
We built Maptoolkit.org - a free, production-grade vector maps service built on OpenStreetMap and MapLibre. Map rendering and tile hosting have historically been either expensive (Google, Mapbox) or complex to maintain yourself. (Plus: Their maps are car-focused.) Our maps feature max data zoom 15, global hill-shading, 3D terrain, contour lines, water depths, and specialized styles (like Hiking, Cycling, Winter). No sign up or API keys required. You can use it like this: ``` const map = new maplibregl.Map({ container: 'map', style: 'https://styles.maptoolkit.org/summer.json',…
Jul 2026 · maptoolkit.org · its alternatives →
- 16MA
Hello HN! I’m excited to share this open-source community mashup showing the power and possibility of combining 3D Gaussian splat scans with traditional mesh-based 3D tiles maps in the browser. As you've probably seen on HN a bunch lately, Gaussian splats are a new method to allow custom 3D scans of scenes and objects [1] and Google Maps 3D Tiles API are the same 3D buildings and street views your familiar with in Google Earth or Google Maps, and recently they’ve been made available for inclusion in web apps. Combining splats + 3d map mixes highly detailed real-world custom micro-scans with…
2024 · maps-and-splats.glitch.me · its alternatives →
- 17G3
I made a web app to generate 3D models of real places on earth from land cover and elevation data. Click anywhere on the map to get a polygon, and then click "generate". It should work at most scales, but if your watershed or region selection is too large, the result can be less exciting because it's so flat. As a warning, the 3D models can sometimes be too much for my phone. It's nicer on desktop. I'm still working better on mobile support. The land cover data I'm using gives a cool effect, but at some point I'd like to add in global imagery and clouds. The backend is a Python thread…
2025 · topography.jessekv.com · its alternatives →
- 18
ReactGlobe▲75Build interactive globe visualizations with ease 🌎
2019 · react-globe.netlify.com · its alternatives →
- 19
A data aware UI components library for building realtime maps - reactivemaps/README.md at master · appbaseio/reactivemaps
2017 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 20
Hi HN, I built an OSINT tool called Weather2Geo that helps locate where a screenshot was taken based on the weather widget data visible (e.g. temp, condition, and local time in the taskbar). People often post these without realizing how specific those values can be in combination. It works by comparing the given weather condition, temperature, and time against current data from thousands of cities. It’s timezone-aware, supports fuzzy matching, and groups results geographically to reduce noise. It’s most effective on recent screenshots, ideally taken within the last hour—since weather and…
2025 · github.com · its alternatives →
- 21
FATMAP▲88Global 3D map and adventure guidebook for the outdoors!
2018 · strava.com · its alternatives →
- 22
Map Chart▲93Make a custom map with your own colors and descriptions.
2016 · mapchart.net · its alternatives →
- 23
Troposphere▲72Global weather and climate data API for your projects
2021 · troposphere.io · its alternatives →
- 24
Hey HN, jvaclavik here from OpenClimbing team! We are thrilled to release version 2.0 of our fully opensource/opendata climbing guide. Based on OpenStreetMap for map-data and Wikimedia Commons for images, we created a (hopefully) user-friendly app which completely uses these open databases, thus contributing data back to commons. We designed a simple and powerful notation for drawing climbing routes directly over the Wikimedia pictures: - https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Key:wikimedia_commons:pa... Check out the release article for a ton of new features, or go…
2014 · openstreetmap.org · its alternatives →
Also compare
- The current sky at your approximate location, as a CSS gradient alternatives
- OpenFreeMap – Open-Source Map Hosting alternatives
- Get any piece of Google Earth as a single normalized glTF 3D model alternatives
- Offline tiles and routing and geocoding in one Docker Compose stack alternatives
- Flatmap – a new tool to make vector tiles from OpenStreetMap data fast alternatives
- A raytracer to shade topographic maps in R alternatives
Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →