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Uploads API

Additional Developer Resources
Use the Mapbox Tiling Service

We recommend you use the Mapbox Tiling Service (MTS) to create tilesets instead of the Uploads API. MTS gives you more control over the tiling process, including zoom levels and configuration rules called recipes.

The Mapbox Uploads API transforms geographic data into tilesets that can be used with maps and geographic applications. Given a wide variety of geospatial formats, it normalizes projections and generates tiles at multiple zoom levels to make data viewable on the web.

The upload workflow follows these steps:

  1. Request temporary S3 credentials that allow you to stage the file. Jump to the Retrieve S3 credentials section.
  2. Use an S3 client to upload the file to Mapbox's S3 staging bucket using these credentials. Learn more about this process in the Upload to Mapbox using cURL tutorial.
  3. Create an upload using the staged file's URL. Jump to the Create an upload section.
  4. Retrieve the upload's status as it is being processed into a tileset. Jump to the Retrieve upload status section.

Note: This documentation discusses how to interact with the Mapbox Uploads API programmatically. For a step-by-step guide on how to use the Uploads API to stage a file to Amazon S3 and create an upload, use the Upload to Mapbox using cURL tutorial.

Retrieve S3 credentials​

post
https://api.mapbox.com/uploads/v1/{username}/credentials
uploads:write
token scope

Mapbox provides an Amazon S3 bucket to stage your file while your upload is processed. This endpoint allows you to retrieve temporary S3 credentials to use during the staging process.

Note: This step is necessary before you can stage a file in the Amazon S3 bucket provided by Mapbox. All uploads must be staged in this Amazon S3 bucket before being uploaded to your Mapbox account. To learn more about how to stage an upload to Amazon S3, read the Upload to Mapbox using cURL tutorial.

Required parameterTypeDescription
usernamestringThe username of the account to which you are uploading a tileset.

Example request: Retrieve S3 credentials​

$curl -X POST "https://api.mapbox.com/uploads/v1/YOUR_MAPBOX_USERNAME/credentials?access_token=YOUR_SECRET_MAPBOX_ACCESS_TOKEN"

Example AWS CLI usage​

$export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID={accessKeyId}
$export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY={secretAccessKey}
$export AWS_SESSION_TOKEN={sessionToken}
$aws s3 cp /path/to/file s3://{bucket}/{key} --region us-east-1

Response: Retrieve S3 credentials​

The response body is a JSON object that contains the following properties:

PropertyTypeDescription
accessKeyIdstringAWS Access Key ID
bucketstringS3 bucket name
keystringThe unique key for data to be staged
secretAccessKeystringAWS Secret Access Key
sessionTokenstringA temporary security token
urlstringThe destination URL of the file

Use these credentials to store your data in the provided bucket with the provided key using the AWS CLI or AWS SDK of your choice. The bucket is located in AWS region us-east-1.

Example response: Retrieve S3 credentials​

{
  "accessKeyId": "{accessKeyId}",
  "bucket": "somebucket",
  "key": "hij456",
  "secretAccessKey": "{secretAccessKey}",
  "sessionToken": "{sessionToken}",
  "url": "{url}"
}

Supported libraries: Retrieve S3 credentials​

Mapbox wrapper libraries help you integrate Mapbox APIs into your existing application. The following SDKs support this endpoint:

See the SDK documentation for details and examples of how to use the relevant methods to query this endpoint.

Create an upload​

post
https://api.mapbox.com/uploads/v1/{username}
uploads:write
token scope

Uploads can be created from a file staged on Mapbox's S3 bucket, or from an existing Mapbox dataset.

After you have used the temporary S3 credentials to transfer your file to Mapbox's staging bucket, you can trigger the generation of a tileset using the file's URL and a destination tileset ID.

Uploaded files must be in the bucket provided by Mapbox. Requests for resources from other S3 buckets or URLs will fail.

Note: You can only replace existing tilesets created with the Uploads API with this endpoint. You cannot replace a tileset created with Mapbox Tiling Service (MTS) with a tileset created with the Uploads API.

Required parameterTypeDescription
usernamestringThe username of the account to which you are uploading.

The request body must be a JSON object that contains the following properties:

Request body propertiesTypeDescription
tilesetstringThe tileset ID to create or replace, in the format username.nameoftileset. Limited to 32 characters. This character limit does not include the username. The only allowed special characters are - and _. If you reuse a tileset value, this action will replace existing data. Use a random value so that a new tileset is created, or check your existing tilesets first.
urlstringEither the HTTPS URL of the S3 object provided in the credential request, or the dataset ID of an existing Mapbox dataset.
namestringOptional. The name of the tileset. Limited to 64 characters.
Private vs. public tilesets

A newly-created tileset is private by default. If you want to make the tileset public, click on the tileset from your Studio account's tilesets page and select the option Make public.

Example request: Create an upload from a file staged on S3​

$curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" -H "Cache-Control: no-cache" -d '{
  "url": "https://{bucket}.s3.amazonaws.com/{key}",
  "tileset": "{username}.{tileset-name}"
}' 'https://api.mapbox.com/uploads/v1/YOUR_MAPBOX_USERNAME?access_token=YOUR_SECRET_MAPBOX_ACCESS_TOKEN'

Example request: Create an upload from a Mapbox dataset​

$curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" -H "Cache-Control: no-cache" -d '{
  "tileset": "{username}.mytileset",
  "url": "mapbox://datasets/{username}/{dataset}",
  "name": "example-dataset"
}' 'https://api.mapbox.com/uploads/v1/YOUR_MAPBOX_USERNAME?access_token=YOUR_SECRET_MAPBOX_ACCESS_TOKEN'

Response: Create an upload​

The response body is a JSON object that contains the following properties:

PropertyTypeDescription
completebooleanWhether the upload is complete (true) or not complete (false).
tilesetstringThe ID of the tileset that will be created or replaced if upload is successful.
errorstring or nullIf null, the upload is in progress or has successfully completed. Otherwise, provides a brief explanation of the error.
idstringThe unique identifier for the upload.
namestringThe name of the upload.
modifiedstringA timestamp indicating when the upload resource was last modified.
createdstringA timestamp indicating when the upload resource was created.
ownerstringThe unique identifier for the owner's account.
progressintegerThe progress of the upload, expressed as a float between 0 (started) and 1 (completed).

Example response: Create an upload​

{
  "complete": false,
  "tileset": "example.markers",
  "error": null,
  "id": "hij456",
  "name": "example-markers",
  "modified": "{timestamp}",
  "created": "{timestamp}",
  "owner": "{username}",
  "progress": 0
}

Supported libraries: Create an upload​

Mapbox wrapper libraries help you integrate Mapbox APIs into your existing application. The following SDKs support this endpoint:

See the SDK documentation for details and examples of how to use the relevant methods to query this endpoint.

Retrieve upload status​

get
https://api.mapbox.com/uploads/v1/{username}/{upload_id}
uploads:read
token scope

Once an upload is created, you can track its status. Uploads have a progress property that start at 0 and end at 1 when an upload is complete. If there's an error processing an upload, the error property will include an error message.

Required parametersTypeDescription
usernamestringThe username of the account for which you are requesting an upload status.
upload_idstringThe ID of the upload. Provided in the response body to a successful upload request.

Example request: Retrieve upload status​

$curl "https://api.mapbox.com/uploads/v1/YOUR_MAPBOX_USERNAME/{upload_id}?access_token=YOUR_SECRET_MAPBOX_ACCESS_TOKEN"

Response: Retrieve upload status​

The response body is a JSON object containing the following properties:

PropertyTypeDescription
completebooleanIndicates whether the upload is complete (true) or not complete (false).
tilesetstringThe ID of the tileset that will be created or replaced if upload is successful.
errorstring or nullIf null, the upload is in progress or has successfully completed. Otherwise, provides a brief explanation of the error.
idstringThe unique identifier for the upload.
namestringThe name of the upload.
modifiedstringThe timestamp for when the upload resource was last modified.
createdstringThe timestamp for when the upload resource was created.
ownerstringThe unique identifier for the owner's account.
progressintegerThe progress of the upload, expressed as a float between 0 (started) and 1 (completed).

Example response: Retrieve upload status​

{
  "complete": true,
  "tileset": "example.markers",
  "error": null,
  "id": "hij456",
  "name": "example-markers",
  "modified": "{timestamp}",
  "created": "{timestamp}",
  "owner": "{username}",
  "progress": 1
}

Supported libraries: Retrieve upload status​

Mapbox wrapper libraries help you integrate Mapbox APIs into your existing application. The following SDKs support this endpoint:

See the SDK documentation for details and examples of how to use the relevant methods to query this endpoint.

Retrieve recent upload statuses​

get
https://api.mapbox.com/uploads/v1/{username}
uploads:list
token scope

Retrieve multiple upload statuses at the same time, sorted by the most recently created.

This endpoint supports pagination so that you can list many uploads.

Required parameterTypeDescription
usernamestringThe username of the account for which you are requesting upload statuses.

The results from this endpoint can be further modified with the following optional parameters:

Optional parametersTypeDescription
reversebooleanSet this parameter to true to reverse the sorting order of the results. By default, the Uploads API returns the most recently created upload statuses first.
limitintegerThe maximum number of statuses to return, up to 100.

Example request: Retrieve recent upload statuses​

$curl "https://api.mapbox.com/uploads/v1/YOUR_MAPBOX_USERNAME?access_token=YOUR_SECRET_MAPBOX_ACCESS_TOKEN"

# Return at most 10 upload statuses, in chronological order

$curl "https://api.mapbox.com/uploads/v1/YOUR_MAPBOX_USERNAME?reverse=true&limit=10&access_token=YOUR_SECRET_MAPBOX_ACCESS_TOKEN"

Response: Retrieve recent upload statuses​

This request returns the same information as an individual upload status request does, but for all an account's recent uploads. The list is limited to one MB of JSON.

Example response: Retrieve recent upload statuses​

[
  {
    "complete": true,
    "tileset": "example.mbtiles",
    "error": null,
    "id": "abc123",
    "name": null,
    "modified": "2014-11-21T19:41:10.000Z",
    "created": "2014-11-21T19:41:10.000Z",
    "owner": "example",
    "progress": 1
  },
  {
    "complete": false,
    "tileset": "example.foo",
    "error": null,
    "id": "xyz789",
    "name": "foo",
    "modified": "2014-11-21T19:41:10.000Z",
    "created": "2014-11-21T19:41:10.000Z",
    "owner": "example",
    "progress": 0
  }
]

Supported libraries: Retrieve recent upload statuses​

Mapbox wrapper libraries help you integrate Mapbox APIs into your existing application. The following SDKs support this endpoint:

See the SDK documentation for details and examples of how to use the relevant methods to query this endpoint.

Remove an upload status​

delete
https://api.mapbox.com/uploads/v1/{username}/{upload_id}
uploads:write
token scope

Remove the status of a completed upload from the upload listing.

Uploads are only statuses, so removing an upload from the listing doesn't delete the associated tileset. Tilesets can only be deleted from within Mapbox Studio. An upload status cannot be removed from the upload listing until after it has completed.

Required parametersTypeDescription
usernamestringThe username of the associated account.
upload_idstringThe ID of the upload. Provided in the response body to a successful upload request.

Example request: Remove an upload status​

$curl -X DELETE "https://api.mapbox.com/uploads/v1/YOUR_MAPBOX_USERNAME/{upload_id}?access_token=YOUR_SECRET_MAPBOX_ACCESS_TOKEN"

Response: Remove an upload status​

HTTP 204 No content

Supported libraries: Remove an upload status​

Mapbox wrapper libraries help you integrate Mapbox APIs into your existing application. The following SDKs support this endpoint:

See the SDK documentation for details and examples of how to use the relevant methods to query this endpoint.

Uploads API restrictions and limits​

  • Tileset names are limited to 64-characters.
  • The default rate limit for the Mapbox Uploads API endpoint is 60 requests per minute. If you require a higher rate limit,contact us.
  • If you exceed the rate limit, you will receive an HTTP 429 Too Many Requests response. For information on rate limit headers, see the Rate limit headers section.
  • The Uploads API supports different file sizes for various file types:
File typeSize limit
CSV1 GB
GeoJSON1 GB
GeoJSON must use the OGC:CRS84 coordinate reference system.
GPX260 MB
KML260 MB
Mapbox Dataset1 GB
MBTiles25 GB
Shapefile (unzipped)260 MB (combined uncompressed size of .shp and .dbf files)
Shapefiles must be uploaded as compressed .zip files.
TIFF and GeoTIFF10 GB

Uploads API errors​

To see a list of possible upload errors, visit the Uploads errors page.

Uploads API pricing​

  • Billed by tileset processing and tileset hosting
  • See rates and discounts per tileset processing and tileset hosting in the pricing page's Tilesets section
Note

Mapbox Studio is powered by the Uploads API, but is subject to usage restrictions and alternative pricing. See the Mapbox Studio pricing guide for more details.

When you use the Uploads API, usage statistics can be reviewed on your Statistics dashboard. If an account's tilesets usage exceeds the monthly free tier, you will see line items on the account's invoice for tileset processing and tileset hosting.

To see billing metrics for a specific tileset, go to your tilesets page and click on the tileset's name to visit the Tileset Explorer.

To learn more about how pricing works for this service, see the tilesets pricing guide.

Additional Developer Resources
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