Introducing First Basemap

I'm happy to release "First Basemap," a free tutorial that shares one of our most valuable recent innovations at Reuters.

Follow the step-by-step guide and you'll learn how to create a shockingly fast and virtually free interactive map of the world.

This type of map is often called a basemap because it provides the foundation for displaying data layers like weather conditions, election results, demographics or the location of newsworthy events.

Until recently, creating a basemap was a difficult task that required specialized skills and expensive servers. Rather than take on the challenge, many organizations chose to pay for commercial mapping services, which can be costly for applications that draw a lot of traffic.

Then open-source software changed the equation.

Partnering with Scott Reinhard, we used Protomaps, OpenStreetMap, MapLibre and other free tools to craft a stylized version that will serve as the foundation for all Reuters mapping projects going forward. Casey Miller has already used it to track hurricane activity and share the latest forecast with our readers.

Scott has written a detailed explanation of his design process on his site. While the fonts, styles and other customizations he tailored for Reuters are copyrighted, his underlying techniques are free for anyone to adapt.

One challenge in creating a basemap is the size of the massive database containing almost every border, road, building and natural feature on the planet.

"First Basemap" walks you through how you can use inexpensive cloud computing tools to solve the problem. Follow along and you'll have a basemap of your own for less than $10. Where you go from there is up to you.