It means that pages can load more quickly, because the tiles aren’t based on bitmapped images, instead the tiles are mathematically drawn vectors that scale up and down gracefully.
Thank you for this explanation. Having dabbled in vector graphics, I guessed that it was something like this after a moment’s thought, but my first thought was “this sounds good, but I’m not sure how”. Even if I didn’t end up needing this explanation personally, I appreciate your helpfulness — it’s the kind of thing that makes this place feel like a community
I like the style
So just no one is going to explain WTF “Vector Tiles” are?
The article links to an explanatory page in the very first paragraph after the lede.
Vector tiles serve up maps as vectors: points, lines and polygons. They store geographic data (like what makes up OpenStreetMap) in a format that allows for dynamic styling and interactivity. For users, vector tiles will mean a new, modern-looking map style with seamless zoom on openstreetmap.org, the map can be updated more quickly when data changes, and it should perform better for users.
They can be used to trimex a quantum position in space-time.
