Tileserver API

The Regrid Tileserver provides parcel tiles in raster and vector formats for use with web mapping tools like Mapbox GL and Leaflet. This service is available to clients with tileserver API subscription. This can also be added on to a Self Serve API Subscription or Enterprise License.

Tile layers offer a powerful and flexible tool for creating fast, scalable, and customizable web maps that can be easily integrated into a wide range of web and mobile applications.

A tile layer is a fundamental component of a map style that displays geographic data as a set of tiled images, or "tiles". A tile layer can include various types of data, including raster and vector data, and it can be customized with different styles, colors, and labels.

Benefits of a tile layer:

Improved Performance: By breaking the map into a grid of smaller tiles, web mapping applications can load only the necessary tiles needed for the current view, rather than having to load the entire map at once. This reduces the amount of data that needs to be transferred, resulting in faster load times and better overall performance.
Scalability: Tile layers can be easily scaled to accommodate different zoom levels and screen sizes, making them ideal for use in web mapping applications that need to work across a range of devices and screen resolutions.
Customization: Tile layers can be customized with different styles, colors, and labels to create unique and visually appealing maps. This allows developers to create maps that match the look and feel of their application, and provides users with a more personalized experience.
Interactivity: Tile layers can be used to create interactive maps that allow users to zoom in and out, pan around the map, and click on individual features to access additional information. This makes tile layers ideal for use in web mapping applications that require a high degree of interactivity and user engagement.

Please direct feedback and questions to [email protected].

Raster versus Vector

Raster tiles are image-based tiles that consist of a grid of pre-rendered images that are stitched together to form a complete map. Each tile represents a specific geographic area at a particular zoom level, and the images are often generated using aerial or satellite imagery, or from other sources like scanned maps. Raster tiles are typically used for displaying detailed imagery or thematic maps, like a heat map or an elevation map.

Vector tiles, on the other hand, are data-based tiles that consist of vector data, such as points, lines, and polygons, that are served as discrete features rather than images. Each tile contains a set of vector data that represents a specific geographic area at a particular zoom level. Vector tiles can be generated from a variety of sources, including GIS data, GPS data, or other sources, and are typically used for displaying maps with complex data sets, such as road networks or building footprints.

The main difference between raster and vector tiles is that raster tiles are image-based and therefore have a fixed resolution, while vector tiles are data-based and can be scaled without losing quality. This makes vector tiles more versatile and adaptable to different screen sizes and resolutions, as well as more efficient for rendering maps on the fly. Additionally, vector tiles can be customized with styles and labels, allowing for greater control over the look and feel of the map. However, raster tiles can be more suitable for displaying high-resolution imagery or specialized maps that require a large amount of detail.

Tileserver API

Endpoint

All tileserver requests will be to the https://tiles.regrid.com domain, with the paths described below per request.

Authentication and tokens

All requests to the tileserver API must include a token parameter. If you have a Parcel or Tileserver API subscription, you can find your token in the API section after logging into your account at regrid.com.

A single Regrid API token can be used for our Parcel API and our Tileserver API, but separate tokens for each is recommended.

Parcel tiles

Regrid provides a styleable, seamless, nationwide layer of parcel outlines in vector (MVT) and raster (PNG) formats.

TileJSON

TileJSON is a format used to describe the metadata of a tileset, including information like the URL template for the tileset, the maximum zoom level, and attribution data. The TileJSON specification is maintained by Mapbox, and is designed to provide a standardized way of describing tilesets that can be used by different mapping libraries and tools.

We serve TileJSON-formatted metadata for generic parcel tiles which is used to get the full url to either our raster or vector tile layers:

Raster tiles: /api/v1/parcels?token=<token>
Vector tiles: /api/v1/parcels?token=<token>&format=mvt

Our TileJSON includes the required "tiles" endpoint array. The url(s) in that key are the layer urls to use in your application. We put our vector tile endpoint in each response with the key "vector".

We also include a "grid" endpoint for UTF grids (only used with Leaflet-based raster maps).

Tiles

The base tile path is /api/v1/parcels/{z}/{x}/{y}.format. Supported formats are mvt and png. PNG tiles are provided with a default Regrid style.

Tiles are available as far out as zoom level 10 and as close in as zoom level 21. Tiles outside of that range will return a 200 OK response, but no content.

Tiles of png format can have @2x appended to the final y coordinate to indicate a tile size of 512px vs the default 256px. For example, https://tiles.regrid.com/api/v1/parcels/15/8828/[email protected]?token=<token>