1. A map display program for use in a navigation system having a graphics platform and a map, the map display program adapted to retrieve and display geographical information representative of a first position in response to requests from a navigation application in the navigation system, the map display program comprising: a map processing layer containing a plurality of map display functions, the map processing layer responsive to the navigation application and in communication with a graphics interface layer; the graphics interface layer having at least one lookup table, the at least one lookup table comprising drawing attribute information, the graphics interface layer responsive to instructions from the map processing layer; and a primitive layer in communication with the graphics interface layer and the graphics platform, the primitive layer populating the at least one lookup table in the graphics interface layer with platform specific data types from the graphics platform, wherein the map processing layer is independent of the graphics platform.