1. A system for generating map tiles for a tile-based digital mapping system comprising: a map painter module for generating digital map images; a tile maker for generating map tiles from the digital map images, wherein the tile maker operates according to a configuration file that defines areas and zoom levels for map tiles to be generated and the tile maker uses the map painter module to generate the digital map images for areas defined in the configuration file; and a tile storage for storing map tiles generated by the tile maker.