datasette-tiles 0.6.1
Mapping tile server for Datasette, serving tiles from MBTiles packages
License: Apache License, Version 2.0
Requires Python: >=3.6

# datasette-tiles

[![PyPI](https://img.shields.io/pypi/v/datasette-tiles.svg)](https://pypi.org/project/datasette-tiles/)
[![Changelog](https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/simonw/datasette-tiles?include_prereleases&label=changelog)](https://github.com/simonw/datasette-tiles/releases)
[![Tests](https://github.com/simonw/datasette-tiles/workflows/Test/badge.svg)](https://github.com/simonw/datasette-tiles/actions?query=workflow%3ATest)
[![License](https://img.shields.io/badge/license-Apache%202.0-blue.svg)](https://github.com/simonw/datasette-tiles/blob/main/LICENSE)

Datasette plugin for serving MBTiles map tiles

## Installation

Install this plugin in the same environment as Datasette.

    $ datasette install datasette-tiles

## Demo

You can try this plugin out at https://datasette-tiles-demo.datasette.io/-/tiles

## Usage

This plugin scans all database files connected to Datasette to see if any of them are valid MBTiles databases.

It can then serve tiles from those databases at the following URL:

    /-/tiles/db-name/zoom/x/y.png

An example map for each database demonstrating the configured minimum and maximum zoom for that database can be found at `/-/tiles/db-name` - this can also be accessed via the table and database action menus for that database.

Visit `/-/tiles` for an index page of attached valid databases.

You can install the [datasette-basemap](https://datasette.io/plugins/datasette-basemap) plugin to get a `basemap` default set of tiles, handling zoom levels 0 to 6 using OpenStreetMap.

### Tile coordinate systems

There are two tile coordinate systems in common use for online maps. The first is used by OpenStreetMap and Google Maps, the second is from a specification called [Tile Map Service](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tile_Map_Service), or TMS.

Both systems use three components: `z/x/y` - where `z` is the zoom level, `x` is the column and `y` is the row.

The difference is in the way the `y` value is counted. OpenStreetMap has y=0 at the top. TMS has y=0 at the bottom.

An illustrative example: at zoom level 2 the map is divided into 16 total tiles. The OpenStreetMap scheme numbers them like so:

    0/0  1/0  2/0  3/0
    0/1  1/1  2/1  3/1
    0/2  1/2  2/2  3/2
    0/3  1/3  2/3  3/3

The TMS scheme looks like this:

    0/3  1/3  2/3  3/3
    0/2  1/2  2/2  3/2
    0/1  1/1  2/1  3/1
    0/0  1/0  2/0  3/0

`datasette-tiles` can serve tiles using either of these standards. For the OpenStreetMap / Google Maps 0-at-the-top system, use the following URL:

    /-/tiles/database-name/{z}/{x}/{y}.png

For the TMS 0-at-the-bottom system, use this:

    /-/tiles-tms/database-name/{z}/{x}/{y}.png

### Configuring a Leaflet tile layer

The following JavaScript will configure a [Leaflet TileLayer](https://leafletjs.com/reference-1.7.1.html#tilelayer) for use with this plugin:

```javascript
var tiles = leaflet.tileLayer("/-/tiles/basemap/{z}/{x}/{y}.png", {
  minZoom: 0,
  maxZoom: 6,
  attribution: "\u00a9 OpenStreetMap contributors"
});
```

### Tile stacks

`datasette-tiles` can be configured to serve tiles from multiple attached MBTiles files, searching each database in order for a tile and falling back to the next in line if that tile is not found.

For a demo of this in action, visit https://datasette-tiles-demo.datasette.io/-/tiles-stack and zoom in on Japan. It should start showing [Stamen's Toner map](maps.stamen.com) of Japan once you get to zoom level 6 and 7.

The `/-/tiles-stack/{z}/{x}/{y}.png` endpoint provides this feature.

If you start Datasette like this:

    datasette world.mbtiles country.mbtiles city1.mbtiles city2.mbtiles

Any requests for a tile from the `/-/tiles-stack` path will first check the `city2` database, than `city1`, then `country`, then `world`.

If you have the [datasette-basemap](https://datasette.io/plugins/datasette-basemap) plugin installed it will be given special treatment: the `basemap` database will always be the last database checked for a tile.

Rather than rely on the order in which databases were attached, you can instead configure an explicit order using the `tiles-stack-order` plugin setting. Add the following to your `metadata.json` file:

```json
{
    "plugins": {
        "datasette-tiles": {
            "tiles-stack-order": ["world", "country"]
        }
    }
}
```

You can then run Datasette like this:

    datasette -m metadata.json country.mbtiles world.mbtiles

This endpoint serves tiles using the OpenStreetMap / Google Maps coordinate system. To load tiles using the TMS coordinate system use this endpoint instead:

    /-/tiles-stack-tms/{z}/{x}/{y}.png

## Development

To set up this plugin locally, first checkout the code. Then create a new virtual environment:

    cd datasette-tiles
    python3 -mvenv venv
    source venv/bin/activate

Or if you are using `pipenv`:

    pipenv shell

Now install the dependencies and tests:

    pip install -e '.[test]'

To run the tests:

    pytest