Tegola Configuration

Configure Tegola to process your geospatial data

Overview

The Tegola config file uses TOML syntax with additional support for environment variables. It is comprised of five primary sections:

  • Global: global options
  • Webserver: webserver configuration.
  • Providers: data provider configuration (i.e. PostGIS).
  • Maps: map configuration including map names, layers and zoom levels.
  • Cache: cache configurations.

Global

Unlike the other sections, global config options do not have [[]] heading.

Param Requered Default Description
tile_buffer No 64 The number of pixels to extend a tile’s clipping area

Webserver

The webserver part of the config has the following parameters:

Param Required Default Description
port No :8080 A string with the value for port.
hostname No HTTP Hostname in request Set the hostname used to generate URLs for JSON based responses.
uri_prefix No A prefix to add to all API routes. This is useful when tegola is behind a proxy (i.e. example.com/tegola). The prefix will be added to all URLs included in the capabilities endpoint responses.

Headers

Allows tegola to respond to tile request with user defined headers. Default CORS headers values:

Header Default
Access-Control-Allow-Origin “*”
Access-Control-Allow-Methods “GET, OPTIONS”

Example Webserver config

[webserver]
port = ":8080"
hostname = "tiles.example.com"

  [webserver.headers]
  # redefine default cors origin
  Access-Control-Allow-Origin = "http://map.example.com"

  # define CDN max age
  Cache-Control = "s-maxage=300"

Providers

The providers configuration tells Tegola where your data lives. Data providers each have their own specific configuration, but all are required to have the following two config params:

Param Description
name User defined data provider name. This is used by map layers to reference the data provider.
type The type of data provider. (i.e. “postgis”, “mvt_postgis”)

PostGIS & MVT_PostGIS

Load data from a Postgres/PostGIS database. In addition to the required name and type parameters, a PostGIS data provider supports the following parameters:

Param Required Default Description
uri Yes The database connection string.
srid No 3857 The default SRID for this data provider

Example

# {protocol}://{user}:{password}@{host}:{port}/{database}?{options}=

postgres://tegola:supersecret@localhost:5432/tegola?sslmode=prefer&pool_max_conns=10

Options

  • sslmode: [Optional] PostGIS SSL mode. Default: “prefer”
  • pool_max_conns: [Optional] The max connections to maintain in the connection pool. Defaults to 100. 0 means no max.
  • pool_min_conns: [Optional] The min connections to maintain in the connection pool. Defaults to 0. 0 mean there are no open connections in the pool if not needed.
  • pool_max_conn_idle_time: [Optional] The maximum time an idle connection is kept alive. Defaults to “30m”.
  • pool_max_conn_lifetime [Optional] The maximum time a connection lives before it is terminated and recreated. Defaults to “1h”.
  • pool_health_check_period [Optional] Time in between health checks. Defaults to “1m”.

Example PostGIS Provider config

[[providers]]
name = "test_postgis"       # provider name is referenced from map layers (required)
type = "postgis"            # the type of data provider must be "postgis" for this data provider (required)

uri = "postgres://tegola:supersecret@localhost:5432/tegola?sslmode=prefer" # PostGIS connection string (required)
srid = 3857             # The default srid for this provider. If not provided it will be WebMercator (3857)

GeoPackage

Load data from a GeoPackage database. The GeoPackage provider requires that Tegola is built with CGO. You can find prebuilt CGO binaries on GitHub.

In addition to the required name and type parameters, a GeoPackage data provider has the following additional params:

Param Required Default Description
filepath Yes The system file path to the GeoPackage you wish to connect to.

Example GeoPackage Provider config

[[providers]]
name = "sample_gpkg"
type = "gpkg"
filepath = "/path/to/my/sample_gpkg.gpkg"

Provider Layers

Provider Layers are referenced by Map Layers using the dot syntax provder_name.provider_layer_name (i.e. my_postgis.rivers). Provider Layers are required to have a name and will typically have additional parameters which are specific to that Provider. A Provider Layer has the following top level configuration parameters:

Param Required Description
name Yes The name that will be referenced from a map layer.

PostGIS

PostGIS Provider Layers define how Tegola will fetch data for a layer from a PostGIS Provider. The configuration requires either tablename or sql to be defined, but not both. The PostGIS Provider Layer has the following configuration parameters:

Param Required Default Description
tablename Yes* The name of the database table to query
sql Yes* Custom SQL. Requires a !BBOX! token
geometry_fieldname No geom The name of the geometry field in the table
id_fieldname No gid The name of the feature ID field in the table. Only positive integer IDs are supported.
srid No 3857 The SRID for the table. Can be 3857 or 4326.
fields No Fields to include as tag values. Useful when using tablename
geometry_type No The layer geometry type. If not set, the table will be inspected at startup to try and infer the geometry type. Valid values are: Point, LineString, Polygon, MultiPoint, MultiLineString, MultiPolygon, GeometryCollection.

* Either tablename or sql is required, but not both.

Supported SQL Tokens

The sql configuration supports the following tokens

Token Required Description
!BBOX! Yes Will be replaced with the bounding box of the tile before the query is sent to the database. !bbox! and !BOX! are supported as well for compatibility with queries from Mapnik and MapServer styles.
!ZOOM! No Will be replaced with the “Z” (zoom) value of the requested tile.
!SCALE_DENOMINATOR! No Scale denominator, assuming 90.7 DPI (i.e. 0.28mm pixel size)
!PIXEL_WIDTH! No The pixel width in meters, assuming 256x256 tiles.
!PIXEL_HEIGHT! No The pixel height in meters, assuming 256x256 tiles.
!ID_FIELD! No The id field name.
!GEOM_FIELD! No The geom field name.
!GEOM_TYPE! No The geom type if defined otherwise.

Example minimum Provider Layer config with tablename defined

[[providers.layers]]
name = "landuse"
# this table uses 'geom' for the geometry_fieldname and 'gid' for the id_fieldname (the defaults)
tablename = "gis.zoning_base_3857"

Example minimum Provider Layer config with sql defined

[[providers.layers]]
name = "landuse"
# note that the geometry field is wrapped in ST_AsBinary() and the use of the required !BBOX! token
sql = "SELECT gid, ST_AsBinary(geom) AS geom FROM gis.rivers WHERE geom && !BBOX!"

MVT_PostGIS

The PostGIS MVT provider (mvt_postgis) manages querying for tile requests against a Postgres database (version 12+) with the PostGIS(version 3.0+) extension installed and leverages ST_AsMVT to handle the MVT encoding at the database.

When using the PostGIS MVT Provider the ST_AsMVTGeom() MUST be used. The MVT provider otherwise shares connection options, SQL tokens and layer configuration with the PostGIS Provider.

Example mvt_postgis and map config

[[providers.layers]]
name = "landuse"
# MVT data provider must use SQL statements
# this table uses "geom" for the geometry_fieldname and "gid" for the id_fieldname so they don't need to be configured
# Wrapping the geom with ST_AsMVTGeom is required. 
sql = "SELECT ST_AsMVTGeom(geom,!BBOX!) AS geom, gid FROM gis.landuse WHERE geom && !BBOX!"

GeoPackage

Param Required Default Description
tablename Yes* The name of the database table to query against.
sql Yes* Custom SQL to use. Requires a !BBOX! token.
id_fieldname No fid The name of the feature id field. Only positive integer IDs are supported
fields No A list of fields (column names) to include as feature tags when using tablename.

* Either tablename or sql is required, but not both.

When using the sql param with GeoPackage:

  • You must join your feature table to the spatial index table: i.e. JOIN feature_table ft rtree_feature_table_geom si ON ft.fid = rt.si
  • Include the following fields in your SELECT clause: si.minx, si.miny, si.maxx, si.maxy
  • Note that the id field for your feature table may be something other than fid

Example GeoPackage Provider Layer with sql

[[providers.layers]]
name = "a_points"
sql = """
    SELECT
        fid, geom, amenity, religion, tourism, shop, si.minx, si.miny, si.maxx, si.maxy
    FROM
        land_polygons lp
    JOIN
        rtree_land_polygons_geom si ON lp.fid = si.id
    WHERE
        !BBOX!
"""

Maps

Tegola is responsible for serving vector map tiles, which are made up of numerous Map Layers. The name of the Map is used in the URL of all map tile requests (i.e. /maps/:map_name/:z/:x/:y). Maps have the following configuration parameters:

Param Required Description
name Yes The map that will be referenced in the URL (i.e. /maps/:map_name.
attribution No Attribution string to be included in the TileJSON.
bounds No The bounds in latitude and longitude values, in the order left, bottom, right, top. Default: [-180.0, -85.0511, 180.0, 85.0511]
center No The center of the map to be displayed in the preview. ([lon, lat, zoom]).
tile_buffer No The number of pixels to extend a tile’s clipping area, defaults to 64 or the global value
[[maps]]
name = "zoning"		# used in the URL to reference this map (/maps/:map_name)
attribution = "Natural Earth v4"
center = [-76.275329586789, 39.153492567373, 5.0]

Map Layers

Map Layers define which Provider Layers to render at what zoom levels. Map Layers have the following configuration parameters:

Param Required Description
provider_layer Yes The name of the provider and provider layer using dot syntax. (i.e. my_postgis.rivers).
name No Overrides the provider_layer name. Can also be used to group multiple provider_layers under the same namespace.
min_zoom No The minimum zoom to render this layer at.
max_zoom No The maximum zoom to render this layer at.
default_tags No Default tags to be added to features on this layer.
dont_simplify No Boolean to prevent feature simplification from being applied.

Example Map Layer

[[maps.layers]]
provider_layer = "test_postgis.landuse" # must match a data provider layer
min_zoom = 12                       	# minimum zoom level to include this layer
max_zoom = 16                       	# maximum zoom level to include this layer

Default Tags

Map Layer Default Tags provide a convenient way to encode additional tags that are not supplied by a data provider. If a Default Tag is defined and the same tag is returned by the Provider, the Provider defined tag will take precedence.

Default Tags are key = value pairs.

Example Map Layer Default Tags

[maps.layers.default_tags]
class = "park"			# a default tag to encode into the feature

Cache

This section configures caches for generated tiles. All cache configs have the following parameters:

Param Required Description
type Yes The type of cache to use (file, redis, or s3)
max_zoom No The max zoom which should be cached.

File

Cache tiles in a directory on the local filesystem.

Param Required Description
basepath Yes A directory on the file system to write the cached tiles to.

Redis

Cache tiles in Redis.

When no parameters are supplied, this cache will try and connect to a local Redis instance with default configuration.

Param Required Default Description
network No tcp The type of connection (tcp or unix)
address No 127.0.0.1:6379 The address of Redis in the form ip:port.
password No Password to use when connecting.
db No Database to use (int).
ssl No false Encrypt connection to the Redis server.

S3

Cache tiles in Amazon S3.

Param Required Default Description
bucket Yes The name of the S3 bucket to use.
basepath No A path prefix added to all cache operations inside the S3 bucket
region No us-east-1 The region the bucket is in.
aws_access_key_id No The AWS access key id to use.
aws_secret_access_key No The AWS secret access key to use.

If the aws_access_key_id and aws_secret_access_key are not set, then the credential provider chain will be used. The provider chain supports multiple methods for passing credentials, one of which is through environment variables. For example:

$ export AWS_REGION=us-west-2
$ export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=YOUR_AKID
$ export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=YOUR_SECRET_KEY

Env Var

Environmental variables can be used in any configuration option. However, they must be written within quotes as a string:

tile_buffer = "${TEGOLA_TILE_BUFFER}"     # note that tile buffer expects an integer, tegola will handle the conversion

[cache]
type = "redis"
password = "${SECRET_REDIS_PASSWORD}"

Full Config Example

The following config demonstrates the various concepts discussed above:

tile_buffer = 64

[webserver]
port = ":9090"

[cache]
type="file"             # cache type
basepath="/tmp/tegola"  # cache specific config

# register data providers
[[providers]]
name = "test_postgis"   # provider name is referenced from map layers
type = "postgis"        # the type of data provider. currently only supports postgis
uri = "postgres://tegola:supersecret@localhost:5432/tegola?sslmode=prefer" # PostGIS connection string (required)
srid = 3857             # The default srid for this provider. If not provided it will be WebMercator (3857)

    # Example data
    [[providers.layers]]
    name = "landuse"                      # will be encoded as the layer name in the tile
    tablename = "gis.zoning_base_3857"    # sql or table_name are required
    geometry_fieldname = "geom"           # geom field. default is geom
    id_fieldname = "gid"                  # geom id field. default is gid
    srid = 4326                           # the SRID of the geometry field if different than

    [[providers.layers]]
    name = "roads"                         # will be encoded as the layer name in the tile
    tablename = "gis.zoning_base_3857"	   # sql or table_name are required
    geometry_fieldname = "geom"            # geom field. default is geom
    id_fieldname = "gid"                   # geom id field. default is gid
    fields = [ "class", "name" ]           # Additional fields to include in the select statement.

    [[providers.layers]]
    name = "rivers"                        # will be encoded as the layer name in the tile
    # Custom sql to be used for this layer.
    # Note that the geometry field is wrapped in a ST_AsBinary()
    sql = "SELECT gid, ST_AsBinary(geom) AS geom FROM gis.rivers WHERE geom && !BBOX!"

# maps are made up of layers
[[maps]]
name = "zoning"                             # used in the URL to reference this map (/maps/:map_name)
tile_buffer = 0                             # number of pixels to extend a tile's clipping area

    [[maps.layers]]
    provider_layer = "test_postgis.landuse" # must match a data provider layer
    min_zoom = 12                           # minimum zoom level to include this layer
    max_zoom = 16                           # maximum zoom level to include this layer

        [maps.layers.default_tags]          # table of default tags to encode in the tile. SQL statements will override
        class = "park"

    [[maps.layers]]
    provider_layer = "test_postgis.rivers"  # must match a data provider layer
    min_zoom = 10                           # minimum zoom level to include this layer
    max_zoom = 18                           # maximum zoom level to include this layer