# Fallback renderer for Maps?

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/fallback-renderer-for-maps/202075>\
**Category:** Kibana\
**Tags:** maps\
**Created:** [October 3, 2019, 1:08am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/fallback-renderer-for-maps/202075 "2019-10-03T01:08:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![brandtj](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/brandtj/32/41927_2.png) [@brandtj](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/brandtj)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 1:08am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/fallback-renderer-for-maps/202075/1 "2019-10-03T01:08:07Z")

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The new Maps application requires WebGL right now. Is there any plans for a fallback renderer for this application?

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**Author:** ![nickpeihl](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/nickpeihl/32/112622_2.png) [@nickpeihl](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/nickpeihl)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 9:19pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/fallback-renderer-for-maps/202075/2 "2019-10-03T21:19:55Z")

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Elastic Maps relies on WebGL libraries in mapbox-gl-js. So it is not possible for a fallback renderer. I believe WebGL is available in all [browsers supported by Kibana](https://www.elastic.co/support/matrix#matrix_browsers), including IE11, unless the browser is specifically configured to disable WebGL.

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**Author:** ![brandtj](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/brandtj/32/41927_2.png) [@brandtj](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/brandtj)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 10:04pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/fallback-renderer-for-maps/202075/3 "2019-10-03T22:04:27Z")

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More than half of our users are on thin clients with no hardware support for WebGL. Browser support of WebGL means nothing without the hardware to actually perform the OpenGL code. Thanks for answering, it’s what I thought. No plans for a fallback renderer.

FYI, it is possible to provide a fallback renderer. Nothing done in the Maps application can’t be done in the other mapping libraries out there like Leaflet or OpenLayers.

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**Author:** ![nickpeihl](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/nickpeihl/32/112622_2.png) [@nickpeihl](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/nickpeihl)\
**Post date:** [October 4, 2019, 4:46pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/fallback-renderer-for-maps/202075/4 "2019-10-04T16:46:31Z")

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I think it's unlikely that canvas renderers as used by Leaflet and older versions of OpenLayers will ever be able to match the feature parity and performance of WebGL renderers (see [Leaflet/#6314](https://github.com/Leaflet/Leaflet/issues/6314#issuecomment-416097817)). For example, Elastic Maps can currently show up to 10,0000 individual geo points or geo shapes using WebGL. With [composite geo-tile aggregations coming in 7.5](https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/pull/45810), we may even be able to load more than 10,000 vectors.

That said, supporting thin clients is a valid concern. Coordinate maps, Region Maps, and Vega visualizations do not require WebGL and are still included in Kibana.

If these are insufficient for your needs, you may wish to [file a feature request](https://github.com/elastic/kibana/issues/new?template=Feature_request.md) in the Kibana GitHub repository to open a wider discussion. Be sure to be specific about your needs and use case when filing a feature request.

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [November 1, 2019, 4:46pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/fallback-renderer-for-maps/202075/5 "2019-11-01T16:46:33Z")

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