HTTP Tile API Docs

Overview Documentation Examples

At CloudMade we allow you direct access to our tile server, through our HTTP Tile API. This is useful for those times when our other APIs, such as our Javascript Web Maps API or our J2ME Mobile Maps API, don't quite fit your development needs.

The URL structure for this API is straightforward, and is instantly recognisable to anyone familiar with the OpenStreetMap tile numbering convention. An example URL of an area in Berlin regular and high resolution tiles:

http://b.tile.cloudmade.com/8ee2a50541944fb9bcedded5165f09d9/1/256/15/17599/10746.png
Tile of Berlin 
http://b.tile.cloudmade.com/8ee2a50541944fb9bcedded5165f09d9/1@2x/256/15/17599/10746.png
Tile of Berlin

So let's break that down into constituent parts:

  • b.tile.cloudmade.com - the server we're getting the image from. We have [abc]-subdomains to allow parallel downloads - you get exactly the same tiles whether you access a.tile.cloudmade.com, b.tile.cloudmade.com, c.tile.cloudmade.com or simply just tile.cloudmade.com. Parallel downloads are a useful technique to get around the simultaneous image-connection limits in many browsers - we're happy to take all the traffic you want to send!
  • 8ee2a50541944fb9bcedded5165f09d9 - the API key. This one is ours - you need to substitute it with your own! You generate an API key on your account page.
  • 1 - the style id. We provide different cartographic styles, and you choose between them. Create your own or choose from thousands of styles created by the Style Editor community. Put required style id instead of the 1, e.g. 997.
  • To get double resolution tiles use @2x suffix: 997@2x - this will improve map look for iPhone 4, Motorola Milestone, etc.
  • 256 - the dimensions of the tile, in pixels. We provide tiles in the standard size of 256x256, and also 64x64 - these can be especially useful for you if your application runs on small-screen mobile devices.
  • 15/17599/10746.png - the last three numbers specify the exact tile you are looking for - Zoom/X/Y.png. You can use Zoom 0-18 for regular tiles and Zoom 0-19 for Hi-Res tiles.

How these work is described in examples, and it's exactly the same as other providers including OSM.