# Glossary
Last updated:
October 13, 2026
\| 5 minutes read
The words Magic Lane Studio uses, in alphabetical order, each with the page that covers it.
**`.style` file** The file your app loads with a Magic Lane Maps SDK. Download it with **Style file for apps**; it holds one theme. See [Download and use in your app](/docs/guides/map-studio/getting-started/download-and-use.md).
**Available Layers** The upper panel of the Layers screen: map data, your own data sources and In-App Layers, ready to drag into Selected Layers. See [The layer list](/docs/guides/map-studio/editing/layer-tree.md).
**Basemap** The map data Magic Lane serves, such as roads, water and place names, which every style can draw. It covers the whole world. Listed under DEFAULT in Available Layers.
**Component** A part of the map as a person names it, such as Water, Roads or Place labels, with the layers that draw it. Components are worked out from the layers; they are not stored in the style. See [The Components screen](/docs/guides/map-studio/editing/components-screen.md).
**Data source** Where a layer's features come from: the basemap, or your own data, uploaded or drawn, which is saved to your account. Messages sometimes write "datasource" or "dataset". See [Data sources](/docs/guides/map-studio/data/data-sources.md).
**Draft** A data source that has never been saved: it exists only in this browser tab until you click **Save**, and its panel reads "Delete draft" instead of Discard. The save state in the top bar also calls the saved style a draft, because it is updated with every change. See [Data sources](/docs/guides/map-studio/data/data-sources.md#the-data-source-panel) and [Saving](/docs/guides/map-studio/getting-started/opening-and-saving.md#saving).
**Drawer** The panel that opens at the right of the map for Sources, Settings or History.
**Easing** How a value moves from one zoom stop to the next: linear, or one of 21 easing curves. Chosen under "Between stops". See [The Properties column](/docs/guides/map-studio/editing/property-panel.md).
**Feature** One item in a data source: a point, line or area with properties such as a name. See [Features and their properties](/docs/guides/map-studio/data/data-sources.md#features-and-their-properties).
**Font (style font)** The style's own font for its labels: TTF or OTF files for its regular, bold and italic faces, stored in the style and set in **Settings › Typography**. One font for the whole style; a face it does not have is drawn in the map's built-in font. See [The style's font](/docs/guides/map-studio/editing/fonts.md).
**Group** A named folder of layers in the layer list. Hiding a group hides its layers; otherwise groups do not change the map. See [The layer list](/docs/guides/map-studio/editing/layer-tree.md).
**In-App Layers** Layers that style what an app draws at run time, such as routes, traffic and markers. See [The layer list](/docs/guides/map-studio/editing/layer-tree.md).
**Layer** One entry of the style: data from one source, drawn as one type (line, area, symbol, label…), with properties such as colour, width and opacity. The top of the layer list is drawn last. See [The Properties column](/docs/guides/map-studio/editing/property-panel.md) and [Layer types reference](/docs/guides/map-studio/reference/layer-types-reference.md).
**Layer list** The style's layers and groups in drawing order, under Selected Layers. See [The layer list](/docs/guides/map-studio/editing/layer-tree.md).
**Map key** The API key of your portal account. The map draws without one, but place search and route previews need it. Create keys in the portal. See [Errors and troubleshooting](/docs/guides/map-studio/reference/errors-and-troubleshooting.md#the-map).
**Mark** A name you give a point in History, so you can go back to it in one click. See [The map, settings and history](/docs/guides/map-studio/editing/map-settings-and-history.md#the-history-drawer).
**Named colour** An entry in the Shared colours list: one colour, with a name such as "label/halo" and the layers that use it. The part before the slash is its family. See [Shared colours](/docs/guides/map-studio/editing/shared-colours.md).
**Notice** A message card at the bottom right of the map, such as "Style file built". It disappears after a while.
**Palette** Up to 24 quick colours offered under every colour property. Editing the palette never changes a layer. See [Shared colours](/docs/guides/map-studio/editing/shared-colours.md#the-palette).
**Portal** The Magic Lane developer portal, where your account, styles, data and keys are, and where a style is created from a template. Studio uses your portal sign-in. See [Create a style](/docs/guides/map-studio/getting-started/create-a-style.md).
**Private data source** A data source whose tiles are served only to API keys from your account. Its layers draw in your own apps and are empty in anyone else's. See [Public and private](/docs/guides/map-studio/data/data-sources.md#public-and-private).
**Properties column** The column between the layer list and the map, where the selected layer is edited. See [The Properties column](/docs/guides/map-studio/editing/property-panel.md).
**Rail** The narrow column at the far left that switches between the Layers, Components, Shared colours and Images screens.
**Shared colour** A colour used by several layers, changed once to change them all. See [Shared colours](/docs/guides/map-studio/editing/shared-colours.md).
**Style** What Studio edits: the layers, groups, images and colours that make up a map's look. See [Studio overview](/docs/guides/map-studio/getting-started/what-studio-is.md).
**Style JSON** The style as a JSON file, from **Style (JSON)** in the Download dialog. Keep it as a copy or upload it to the portal. See [Download and use in your app](/docs/guides/map-studio/getting-started/download-and-use.md).
**Style zoom** The zoom the map is at. The map can sit between whole levels, such as 9.85 in the address bar; the chip at the top left of the map rounds it to a whole number. Zoom stops and zoom ranges use whole levels from 0 to 17. See [The map, settings and history](/docs/guides/map-studio/editing/map-settings-and-history.md).
**Swatch** One colour in the palette. Also the small colour chips on layer rows and in colour fields.
**Theme** A colour version of the style, such as Day or Night, that you switch to in Studio to compare. A style used in an app has one set of colours, so each theme is downloaded as its own file. See [Themes](/docs/guides/map-studio/editing/themes.md).
**Tiling** What the server does after you save a data source: it cuts the data into tiles, small pieces the map draws from. A layer can draw your data only once tiling has finished ("✔ Tiled"). See [Data sources](/docs/guides/map-studio/data/data-sources.md#saving-and-tiling).
**Zoom range** The zoom levels, within 0 to 17, at which a layer is drawn. See [The Properties column](/docs/guides/map-studio/editing/property-panel.md).
**Zoom stop** A zoom level and a property's value at it. With several stops, the value changes from one to the next as you zoom, shown as a zoom curve. See [The Properties column](/docs/guides/map-studio/editing/property-panel.md).