A few months ago I commissioned cartography expert and OpenStreetMapper Extraordinaire Richard Fairhurst to create some new map styles for Thunderforest. My aim was to show off the possibilities of the new vector tiles that now power all my existing maps. Every cartographer has their own particular style, and so I wanted to see some maps that looked a bit different from what I normally come up with.

Richard certainly didn’t disappoint!

The first of his creations is now available for use - Spinal Map! Featuring metal umlauts and tongue-in-cheek cartography, it’s a striking new style for all your heavy-metal website needs. Which I’m sure are many! As they (almost) say in the film - this map goes up to 11. Make sure to check out all the town and city names that have been given their very-own Spinal Map substitutes - suggestions are welcome.

The best thing about this map is how it shows off the power of the Thunderforest vector tilesets, combined with a bit of imagination of course. Spinal Map is, believe it or not, based on the same vector tileset as my Transport and Transport Dark maps!