# Introduction

A MapLibre style is a document that defines the visual appearance of a map: what data to draw, the order to draw it in, and how to style the data when drawing it. A style document is a [JSON](<http://www.json.org/>) object with specific root level and nested properties. This specification defines and describes these properties.

The intended audience of this specification includes:

- Advanced designers and cartographers who want to write styles by hand.
- Developers using style-related features of [MapLibre GL JS](<https://github.com/maplibre/maplibre-gl-js>) or the [MapLibre Native for Android and iOS](<https://github.com/maplibre/maplibre-native>).
- Authors of software that generates or processes MapLibre styles.

## Style document structure

A MapLibre style consists of a set of [root properties](<https://maplibre.org/maplibre-style-spec/root/index.md>), some of which describe a single global property, and some of which contain nested properties. Some root properties, like [`version`](<https://maplibre.org/maplibre-style-spec/root/#version>), [`name`](<https://maplibre.org/maplibre-style-spec/root/#name>), and [`metadata`](<https://maplibre.org/maplibre-style-spec/root/#metadata>), don’t have any influence over the appearance or behavior of your map, but provide important descriptive information related to your map. Others, like [`layers`](<https://maplibre.org/maplibre-style-spec/layers/index.md>) and [`sources`](<https://maplibre.org/maplibre-style-spec/sources/index.md>), are critical and determine which map features will appear on your map and what they will look like. Some properties, like [`center`](<https://maplibre.org/maplibre-style-spec/root/#center>), [`zoom`](<https://maplibre.org/maplibre-style-spec/root/#zoom>), [`pitch`](<https://maplibre.org/maplibre-style-spec/root/#pitch>), and [`bearing`](<https://maplibre.org/maplibre-style-spec/root/#bearing>), provide the map renderer with a set of defaults to be used when initially displaying the map.