Tiled web map

It is the most popular way to display and navigate maps, replacing other methods such as Web Map Service (WMS) which typically display a single large image, with arrow buttons to navigate to nearby areas.

This greatly improves the user experience, compared to fetching a single map image for the whole viewport.

Also, displaying rendered images served from a web server is less computationally demanding than rendering images in the browser, a benefit over technologies such as Web Feature Service (WFS).

Vector tiles are rendered by the client browser, which can thus add a custom style to the map.

This framework handles the retrieval of tiles, display, caching, and user navigation.

An exaggeration of a tiled web map, in this case the default OpenStreetMap style near Melbourne, Australia. Tiled web maps are normally displayed with no gap between tiles.
XYZ Tiles coordinate numbers