Uploads

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.

For information on how the Uploads API is billed, visit the Pricing by product guide.

Retrieve S3 credentials

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.

Example request: Retrieve S3 credentials

$ curl -X POST "https://api.mapbox.com/uploads/v1/{username}/credentials?access_token=
YOUR MAPBOX ACCESS TOKEN
This endpoint requires a token with uploads:write scope.
"

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:

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}"
}

Create an upload

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.

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

If you reuse a tileset value, this action will replace existing data. Use a random value to make sure that a new tileset is created, or check your existing tilesets first.

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.

Example request: Create an upload

$ curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" -H "Cache-Control: no-cache" -d '{
  "url": "http://{bucket}.s3.amazonaws.com/{key}",
  "tileset": "{username}.{tileset-name}"
}' 'https://api.mapbox.com/uploads/v1/{username}?access_token=
YOUR MAPBOX ACCESS TOKEN
This endpoint requires a token with uploads:write scope.'

Example request body: Create an upload (AWS S3 bucket not required)

{
  "tileset": "{username}.mytileset",
  "url": "mapbox://datasets/{username}/{dataset}",
  "name": "example-dataset"
}

Response: Create an upload

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

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
}

Retrieve upload status

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.

Example request: Retrieve upload status

$ curl "https://api.mapbox.com/uploads/v1/{username}/{upload_id}?access_token=
YOUR MAPBOX ACCESS TOKEN
This endpoint requires a token with uploads:read scope.
"

Response: Retrieve upload status

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

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
}

Retrieve recent upload statuses

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.

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

Example request: Retrieve recent upload statuses

$ curl "https://api.mapbox.com/uploads/v1/{username}?access_token=
YOUR MAPBOX ACCESS TOKEN
This endpoint requires a token with uploads:list scope.
"

# Return at most 10 upload statuses, in chronological order

$ curl "https://api.mapbox.com/uploads/v1/{username}?reverse=true&limit=10&access_token=
YOUR MAPBOX ACCESS TOKEN
This endpoint requires a token with uploads:list scope.
"

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
}]

Remove an upload status

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.

Example request: Remove an upload status

$ curl -X DELETE "https://api.mapbox.com/uploads/v1/{username}/{upload_id}?access_token=
YOUR MAPBOX ACCESS TOKEN
This endpoint requires a token with uploads:write scope.
"

Response: Remove an upload status

HTTP 204 No content

Uploads API errors

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

Uploads API restrictions and limits

• Tileset names are limited to 64 characters.
• The default rate limit for the Mapbox Uploads API endpoint is 30 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: