Are you into creating beautiful maps? We thought so. Let’s talk about Stamen. They’re an award-winning, internationally known design and technology studio based in San Francisco’s Mission District (aka the West Coast Williamsburg). You may have heard of them, but you’ve definitely encountered their work if you keep up with newspapers, Fortune 500 brands, museum collections, and prime time television.
Stamen is recognized as an innovator in data visualization and mapping, so it makes all the sense that we’d notice and make friends. CartoDB has been following their work on projects like environmental awareness and social movements for many years. Clearly, you’re reading this post and knowing we’re fans. But there’s more to it than our being impressed.
Remember when we debuted our basemap selector? Well, it’s time for basemap selector 2.0, and we’re kicking it off with the cool kids. Going forward, you can opt to add Stamen designed basemaps to your CartoDB visualizations. Maybe you’ve imported Stamen Toner or Watercolor tile sets from OSM, but that’s about to change with direct access to our custom Stamen basemap series. Yeah, we feel pretty rad rigtht now.
Oh, about right now: the fate of this collaboration is in your hands. It’s up to you to animate these basemaps with awesome stories (don’t stress, the pressure is good for you). Choose from the following to get started:
- Toner (black and white map)
- Toner Background (like Toner, but without labels)
- Toner Lite (like Toner, but white and gray)
- Toner Lines (basemap without background, just lines)
- Toner Hybrid (basemap without background, just lines and labels)
- Watercolor
Remember to check back with us for more basemap additions, and, as always…
Happy mapping!