maps for developers

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Bring your maps to life with Runtime Styling on mobile

By Paul Veugen

Our latest mobile SDKs introduce Runtime Styling, a feature that lets you dynamically change the look and feel of your map in real time. Lighten or darken the map based on the time of day, personalize icons and the colors of parks based on your users’ activity, switch languages on the fly, or bump the size of labels based on user preferences to improve legibility. Style existing map data or mix in your own — Runtime Styling is performant even with massive datasets.

With Runtime Styling, we’ve exposed the design powers of Mapbox Studio directly to mobile developers.

Use Runtime Styling to programmatically change any layer of your map in real time. On the left, the map changes based on the elevation of the device. On the right, the label language updates based on user settings.

We created this new creative tool for designers and developers to build unique experiences for their users on mobile. Runtime Styling is available on Android and as a final beta for iOS — the final iOS release will come after the holidays.

To get a glimpse of Runtime Styling, download our Android Demo App or take a look at this iOS example for an interactive map that changes based on activity.

Ready to start building? Dive into documentation for Android or learn about the iOS beta to get started!

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Written by Mapbox

mapping tools for developers + precise location data to change the way we explore the world

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