Tile Service

A tile service (also called a tile map service or tiled map layer) is a method of serving map data as pre-rendered image tiles organized by zoom level, row, and column. Tile services enable fast, smooth web map display by serving many small images instead of one large map.

How tile services work: - The map is pre-rendered at multiple zoom levels (typically 0-22) - At each zoom level, the map is divided into small square tiles (usually 256x256 or 512x512 pixels) - Tiles are stored on the server and cached for fast delivery - The client requests only the tiles needed for the current view - As the user pans and zooms, new tiles are requested on demand

• XYZ tiles: Simple URL pattern (z/x/y.png) used by most web mapping libraries
• WMTS (Web Map Tile Service): OGC standard for tiled map services
• TMS (Tile Map Service): OSGeo tile service specification
• Vector tiles: Serve vector data instead of images (Mapbox Vector Tiles, MVT)

Advantages over WMS: - Much faster display (pre-rendered, cached tiles) - Reduced server load (tiles rendered once, served many times) - Smooth panning and zooming experience - Scalable to millions of users

Limitations: - Pre-rendered tiles cannot be dynamically styled - Storage requirements for cached tiles can be large - Tile updates require re-rendering - Fixed zoom levels may not match all analysis needs

Applications: - Base maps for web mapping applications (satellite imagery, topography, streets) - Mining claims web viewers - Land status visualization portals - Field data collection applications - Public-facing map portals and dashboards