Improving Meta’s global maps

What this post added

This post details significant upgrades to Meta's global basemap infrastructure over the past two years. Key technical advancements include the launch of dark-mode variants and raster-first basemaps, which improve rendering speed and adaptability across devices. The basemap now utilizes the Daylight distribution from OpenStreetMap (OSM) and a new Earth Tables schema for simplified OSM tag processing. AI-based translations are being implemented for map label readability, and high-resolution pavement data and tree locations are being integrated in select cities. Cartographic design has been refined with a softened color palette and deprioritization of roads to emphasize community spaces and popular places. Building features have been re-engineered, with color-coding for "areas of interest" and transportation buildings. New iconography has been introduced for parks, universities, and entertainment features, and existing icons for airports and train stations have been updated. Future work includes exploring global land cover, topography, and building 3D geospatial map data for the metaverse and digital twins.