Vector Tiles vs Raster Tiles: What’s Better for Printing?

Reading time: ~6 min

Raster tiles

• Pros: Simple to consume; predictable appearance.
• Cons: Fixed resolution; can look soft at large print sizes.

Vector tiles

• Pros: Scalable, styleable in the client; crisp lines.
• Cons: More client work; styling must be considered for print.

Practical guidance

• For sharp prints, keep your annotations as vectors.
• When using raster basemaps, avoid extreme upscales—frame the print at native zoom levels.
• Use Show Print Area in TrueGIS to preview coverage before export.

Continue with client vs server rendering or jump to Inkmap printing.