Getting tiles

OGC-API Tiles allows to get tiles through simple calls identifying a collection and the needed coordinates within the specified Tile Matrix Set.

Raster tiles

The page at http://localhost:8080/geoserver/ogc/tiles/collections/nurc:Img_Sample/map/tiles/WebMercatorQuad?f=text%2Fhtml provides URL templates to get map tiles for nurc:Img_Sample layer on WebMercatorQuad Tile Matrix Set in the available formats.

../../_images/url-template.png

Filling the URL template with proper tileMatrix id, tileRow and tileCol values (within the Tile Matrix Set Limits) provides the specified map tile.

Request at http://localhost:8080/geoserver/ogc/tiles/collections/nurc%3AImg_Sample/map/tiles/WebMercatorQuad/4/6/4?f=image%2Fpng

will result in getting the following tile:

../../_images/pngtile.png

Vector tiles

The page at http://localhost:8080/geoserver/ogc/tiles/collections/top:states provides available tiles for the specified vector collection.

../../_images/vector-tiles.png

Depending on the available tile formats being previously configured, it is possible to get tiles in different ways:

  • Vector data being provided as is, as vector Data tiles.
  • Vector data being provided as styled Map tiles (raster tiles).

Map tiles

Getting Map tiles results in requesting tiles in a raster output format (i.e. PNG, JPEG,...) as seen in the previous section.

The Map tiles in default style link allows getting vector data being provided as map tiles using the default style.

In case the tile collection supports multiple alternate style, it is possible to get different map tiles (based on different styles).

The page at http://localhost:8080/geoserver/ogc/tiles/collections/topp:states/styles?f=text%2Fhtml provides the set of alternate styles available for the topp:states tiled collection and the related map tiles resources.

../../_images/vector-alternate-styles.png

Selecting a specific map tile (i.e. from population) and a specific tile matrix set (i.e. WebMercatorQuad) results in this:

../../_images/vector-tile-alternate-style.png

Where you can notice the population style in the template URLs. Tiles obtained with that URL template are the result of the population style being applied.

Request at http://localhost:8080/geoserver/ogc/tiles/collections/topp%3Astates/styles/population/map/tiles/WebMercatorQuad/5/11/7?f=image%2Fpng

will result in getting the following tile:

../../_images/vector-tile-population.png

Data tiles

Getting Data tiles results in a vector format. Depending on the requested output format (i.e. application/vnd.mapbox-vector-tile), it may require a client supporting it for further visualization.

Request at http://localhost:8080/geoserver/ogc/tiles/collections/topp%3Astates/tiles/WebMercatorQuad/5/11/7?f=application%2Fjson%3Btype%3Dgeojson

will result in getting the following geoJSON tile content (geometry coordinates have been omitted):

{
   "type":"FeatureCollection",
   "totalFeatures":"unknown",
   "features":[
          {
                 "type":"Feature",
                 "id":"states.1",
                 "geometry":{
                        "type":"Polygon"
                 },
                 "geometry_name":"the_geom",
                 "properties":{
                        "CARPOOL":652603,
                        "DRVALONE":3741715,
                        "EMPLOYED":5417967,
                        "FAMILIES":2924880,
                        "FEMALE":5878369,
                        "HOUSHOLD":4202240,
                        "LAND_KM":143986.61,
                        "MALE":5552233,
                        "MANUAL":828906,
                        "PERSONS":1.1430602E7,
                        "PUBTRANS":538071,
                        "P_FEMALE":0.514,
                        "P_MALE":0.486,
                        "SAMP_POP":1747776,
                        "SERVICE":1360159,
                        "STATE_ABBR":"IL",
                        "STATE_FIPS":"17",
                        "STATE_NAME":"Illinois",
                        "SUB_REGION":"E N Cen",
                        "UNEMPLOY":385040,
                        "WATER_KM":1993.335,
                        "WORKERS":4199206
                 }
          },
          {
                 "type":"Feature",
                 "id":"states.10",
                 "geometry":{
                        "type":"Polygon"
                 },
                 "geometry_name":"the_geom",
                 "properties":{
                        "CARPOOL":312042,
                        "DRVALONE":1816079,
                        "EMPLOYED":2367395,
                        "FAMILIES":1368334,
                        "FEMALE":2652758,
                        "HOUSHOLD":1961206,
                        "LAND_KM":178445.951,
                        "MALE":2464315,
                        "MANUAL":386746,
                        "PERSONS":5117073,
                        "PUBTRANS":47129,
                        "P_FEMALE":0.518,
                        "P_MALE":0.482,
                        "SAMP_POP":864999,
                        "SERVICE":659782,
                        "STATE_ABBR":"MO",
                        "STATE_FIPS":"29",
                        "STATE_NAME":"Missouri",
                        "SUB_REGION":"W N Cen",
                        "UNEMPLOY":155388,
                        "WATER_KM":2100.115,
                        "WORKERS":1861192
                }
        }
        ]
}