March 2025 newsletter (#403)

* March 2025 newsletter

* Apply suggestions from code review

* Update src/content/news/2025-04-04-maplibre-newsletter-march-2025/index.mdx

* Update index.mdx

* tile server section

Co-authored-by: Yuri Astrakhan <[email protected]>

---------

Co-authored-by: Bart Louwers <[email protected]>
Co-authored-by: Yuri Astrakhan <[email protected]>

Author: 3 people

src/content/news/2025-04-04-maplibre-newsletter-march-2025/hud-screenshot.png

@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+---
+title: "MapLibre Newsletter March 2025"
+date: "2025-04-04"
+categories: ["newsletter"]
+authors: [bart, harel, ramyaragupathy]
+draft: false
+---
+
+import { Image } from "astro:assets";
+import hudScreenshot from "./hud-screenshot.png";
+
+March has been a busy month across the MapLibre ecosystem, with new releases, major community contributions, and powerful features in the works. We’re also incredibly grateful that [MapTiler has joined as a Silver Sponsor of the MapLibre project](https://maplibre.org/news/2025-03-31-maptiler-announcement/). MapTiler has been a long-time supporter of open-source mapping, and their sponsorship helps ensure the sustainability and growth of our community.
+
+With that note, let’s dive into this month’s highlights.
+
+## MapLibre Native
+
+- [Grab](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grab_Holdings) is [contributing](https://github.com/maplibre/maplibre-native/pulls?q=author%3Agrab-liyanjin) to MapLibre Native. While they currently use an internal fork, they plan to adopt MapLibre Native later this year. We’re looking forward to collaborating with them and supporting their onboarding process.
+
+- MapLibre iOS [6.12.1](https://github.com/maplibre/maplibre-native/releases/tag/ios-v6.12.1) and MapLibre Android [11.8.3](https://github.com/maplibre/maplibre-native/releases/tag/android-v11.8.3), [11.8.4](https://github.com/maplibre/maplibre-native/releases/tag/android-v11.8.4) and [11.8.5](https://github.com/maplibre/maplibre-native/releases/tag/android-v11.8.5) were released.
+
+- We have started publishing the core as a [static library](https://github.com/maplibre/maplibre-native/releases?q=core-&expanded=true) to support the [Rust wrapper](https://crates.io/crates/maplibre_native) currently in development. (Note that there are no API stability guarantees right now.)
+
+- Some neat improvements are in the pipeline for MapLibre Native, including:
+  - [Level-of-detail controls](https://github.com/maplibre/maplibre-native/pull/2958), to limit tile loading in scenarios like navigation.
+  - A toggleable [rendering HUD](https://github.com/maplibre/maplibre-native/pull/3322) for quick access to performance stats, especially useful on embedded hardware where getting these numbers through other means may be difficult.
+  - Support for [MapLibre Tiles](https://github.com/maplibre/maplibre-native/pull/3246), offering better performance, improved battery life, and reduced bandwidth usage.
+
+<div style={{ textAlign: "center" }}>
+  <Image
+    src={hudScreenshot}
+    style={{
+      maxWidth: "300px",
+      maxHeight: "600px",
+      width: "100%",
+      height: "auto",
+      display: "inline-block",
+    }}
+    alt="Rendering HUD screenshot"
+  />
+  <p
+    style={{
+      fontSize: "0.9rem",
+      color: "#555",
+      marginTop: "8px",
+      fontStyle: "italic",
+    }}
+  >
+    <em>Rendering HUD screenshot</em>
+  </p>
+</div>
+
+## Web
+
+We released two minor versions of MapLibre GL JS this month: [v5.2.0](https://github.com/maplibre/maplibre-gl-js/releases/tag/v5.2.0) and [v5.3.0](https://github.com/maplibre/maplibre-gl-js/releases/tag/v5.3.0), both focused on bug fixes and small enhancements. Work is underway on two exciting features: supporting fonts via system fonts, as an alternative to the glyphs field and introducing a global map state. These additions will make it easier for style authors to design and theme maps more intuitively. Big thanks to all the contributors for helping push these improvements forward - stay tuned for what’s next!
+
+## Martin Tile Server
+
+Martin [v0.16](https://github.com/maplibre/martin/releases/tag/v0.16.0) has been released, now supporting style sheet serving and nemerous minor improvements and bug fixes.
+
+## Monthly meetings
+
+We’re continuing our practice of meeting on the second Wednesday of each month, and now we’re adding an additional session on the last Wednesday to accommodate eastern-friendly time zones.
+
+- MapLibre Navigation: **April 9, 2025 5:00–6:00 PM UTC**
+- MapLibre Native: **April 9, 2025 6:00–7:00 PM UTC**
+- MapLibre GL JS: **April 9, 2025 - 7:00–8:00 PM UTC**
+
+#### MapLibre Eastern Call (held on the last Wednesday of the month at an Asia/Oceania-friendly time)
+
+- April 30, 2025 - 9:00–10:00 AM UTC
+
+View meeting times in your time zone: https://notime.zone/ON3vvlz5tH05I
+
+All calls are open to everyone. Zoom links can be found in our MapLibre Slack. If you’re not a member, request an invite at [OpenStreetMap US Slack community](https://slack.openstreetmap.us/). We look forward to seeing you!