<s>
Mapnik	B-Language
is	O
an	O
open-source	B-Application
mapping	O
toolkit	O
for	O
desktop	O
and	O
server	O
based	O
map	O
rendering	O
,	O
written	O
in	O
C++	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Artem	O
Pavlenko	O
,	O
the	O
original	O
developer	O
of	O
Mapnik	B-Language
,	O
set	O
out	O
with	O
the	O
explicit	O
goal	O
of	O
creating	O
beautiful	O
maps	O
by	O
employing	O
the	O
sub-pixel	B-Algorithm
anti-aliasing	O
of	O
the	O
Anti-Grain	B-Algorithm
Geometry	I-Algorithm
(	O
AGG	O
)	O
library	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Mapnik	B-Language
now	O
also	O
has	O
a	O
Cairo	B-Language
rendering	O
backend	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
handling	O
common	O
software	O
tasks	O
such	O
as	O
memory	O
management	O
,	O
file	B-Application
system	I-Application
access	O
,	O
regular	O
expressions	O
,	O
and	O
XML	B-Protocol
parsing	O
,	O
Mapnik	B-Language
utilizes	O
the	O
Boost	B-Language
C++	I-Language
libraries	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
An	O
XML	B-Protocol
file	O
can	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
define	O
a	O
collection	O
of	O
mapping	O
objects	O
that	O
determine	O
the	O
appearance	O
of	O
a	O
map	O
,	O
or	O
objects	O
can	O
be	O
constructed	O
programmatically	O
in	O
C++	B-Language
,	O
Python	O
,	O
and	O
Node.js	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
number	O
of	O
data	O
formats	O
are	O
supported	O
in	O
Mapnik	B-Language
using	O
a	O
plugin	O
framework	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Current	O
plugins	O
exist	O
that	O
utilize	O
OGR	B-Language
and	O
GDAL	B-Language
to	O
read	O
a	O
range	O
of	O
vector	O
and	O
raster	O
datasets	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Mapnik	B-Language
also	O
has	O
custom	O
Shapefile	O
,	O
PostGIS	B-Application
and	O
GeoTIFF	B-Application
readers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
is	O
also	O
an	O
osm2pgsql	O
utility	O
,	O
that	O
converts	O
OpenStreetMap	O
data	O
into	O
a	O
format	O
that	O
can	O
be	O
loaded	O
into	O
PostgreSQL	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Mapnik	B-Language
can	O
then	O
be	O
used	O
to	O
render	O
the	O
OSM	O
data	O
into	O
maps	O
with	O
the	O
appearance	O
the	O
user	O
wants	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Mapnik	B-Language
is	O
a	O
cross	B-Operating_System
platform	I-Operating_System
toolkit	O
that	O
runs	O
on	O
Windows	O
,	O
Mac	O
,	O
Unix-like	B-Operating_System
systems	I-Operating_System
like	O
Linux	O
and	O
Solaris	O
(	O
since	O
release	O
0.4	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
of	O
its	O
many	O
users	O
is	O
the	O
OpenStreetMap	O
project	O
(	O
OSM	O
)	O
,	O
which	O
uses	O
it	O
in	O
combination	O
with	O
an	O
Apache	B-Application
Web	I-Application
Server	I-Application
module	O
(	O
mod_tile	O
)	O
and	O
openstreetmap-carto	O
style	O
to	O
render	O
tiles	O
that	O
make	O
up	O
the	O
OSM	O
default	O
layer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Mapnik	B-Language
is	O
also	O
used	O
by	O
CloudMade	O
,	O
MapQuest	O
,	O
and	O
MapBox	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Mapnik	B-Language
is	O
free	O
software	O
and	O
is	O
released	O
under	O
LGPL	B-Application
(	O
GNU	B-Application
Lesser	I-Application
General	I-Application
Public	I-Application
Licence	I-Application
)	O
.	O
</s>
