Friday, April 29, 2016

8-Bit Maps of the World


Back in 2010 Bret Camper released 8-Bit City - New York, an interactive 8-Bit map of New York, which resembled the world maps used in 1980's computer games.

Since 2010 8-Bit City has expanded in scope and you can now view 8-Bit maps of 18 cities around the world. These 8-bit maps use data from OpenStreetMap which is then processed in a custom rendering engine, built by Brett, to create the map tiles for each interactive city map.


If you want to create an 8-Bit type map of a location which isn't featured in 8-Bit Cities you can use the 8-Bit Map Maker. This clever OpenStreetMap based tool can create an 8-bit game world map for any real world location.

Just enter your address into the map and you can create a little static game world map of your own neighborhood. The 8-Bit Map Maker also includes an option to download the created 8-Bit map of your location as a tiled map.


If you want to view a fully interactive 8-Bit map of the world then you should have a look at the Super Mario Map of the World. This interactive map was styled in Mapbox Studio to resemble the 8-bit maps used in the Super Mario computer games.

If you want to learn more about how the map data was styled to resemble an 8-Bit map then you can read the Designing a Super Mario Map with Mapbox Studio Classic on the Mapbox Blog.

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