When mapbox first launched tilemill was when I first discovered them. I read about them on here, and went to check it out.<p>At the time I didn't really understand the value proposition. It was google maps without any of the useful API features like geocoding and routing. Plus they were using openstreetmap which at the time was lagging noticeably behind google data in my area [1].<p>Tilemill seemed nice, css to style maps. But google had a nice style wizard [2] that changed the maps on the clientside, no need to upload a custom tileset, which is what tilemill seemed to do.<p>To be honest I generally forgot about them. But then google started charging more for their maps, and I remembered them as an alternative. I still missed the flexibly google had for their map styles though.<p>However in the past week I've come to see them in a whole new light, in part due to this post, but also due to their vector map post [3] causing me to dig back in and play around. I now truly believe these guys are one of the coolest "underdog" startups I've encountered. They've been chugging along and have created some awesome advancements, or at least competitors in the online map space. I hope to continue seeing awesome work like this, those map images are gorgeous.<p>My only request is that they give a little more detail into how to create custom styled maps like they show in the vector blog post I linked to. The process of using their street maps with custom styles is a little hazy to me right now, although maybe I'm missing something obvious.<p>[1] It still does, but now only with minute details like service roads on the local university campus.<p>[2] <a href="http://gmaps-samples-v3.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/styledmaps/wizard/index.html" rel="nofollow">http://gmaps-samples-v3.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/styledmaps/...</a><p>[3] <a href="http://mapbox.com/blog/vector-tiles/" rel="nofollow">http://mapbox.com/blog/vector-tiles/</a>