We using current QGIS and loading OSM standard maps, which works as expected. Both the project and maps are using CRS 3857. The maps are displayed on a 4K laptop monitor, Dell 9710.
However, regardless of scale, the text labels are tiny, fuzzy and essentially impossible to read. When zooming in by changing the scale, the labels to get even smaller.
Respect screen DPI has been set in the QGIS Canvas and Legends options…
Hi Nicholas, that is because the standard osm tiles are not usable for high dpi screens.
A workaround has been described here:
So you would need to use either retina raster tiles or vector tiles as a base for better label readability.
Hello Spiekerooger…
Thanks for the tips, and it looks like they are leading to a solution. The Retina maps for 4K screens are $179 a month, assuming interactive mapping. In my case, just a few maps are needed for building presentations, so Offline MapTiles API: How To Use the API with Free API Key | RapidAPI this other API may be better for my purposes. Any idea if it supports high resolution?
Even on the Retina maps, the labels seem to have a white surround which is unfortunate… But they certainly do look way better, with increased legibility for sure.
So using my Android phone and tablet for experimentation, and if one uses “Offline vector maps”, perfect results… Looks like vector tiles are the way to go.
Offline MapTiles API Documentation (MapTilesApi) | RapidAPI Is the tiles from this API likely to be vector generated, or should one use a different source?
Vector tiles typically end with a .pbf or .mvt extension. (Or sometimes you’ll see a link to a .json document which specifies more about the tile source.)
The link you have posted has tiles which end with a .png extension. PNG is a raster format. They are raster tiles.
Thank you, Richard! I’m just getting oriented in this area, so this advice is quite helpful.
