/map-preview endpoint that opens an interactive web map centred on your dataset. The preview is useful for quickly checking that tiles are being served correctly, verifying the coverage area, and inspecting vector layer data.
Opening the preview
The map preview URL follows this pattern:{taskId} with the ID you gave the task when you created it. For example, if the task ID is streets, the URL is:
What the preview shows
The map loads centred on the dataset’s geographic center with the zoom level stored in the MBTiles metadata. As you navigate the map, the current zoom level is displayed in the viewer so you can check which zoom levels have tile coverage. The initial view is derived from thecenter field in the TileJSON metadata:
[longitude, latitude, zoom]. If the MBTiles file does not contain center metadata, WebPublish falls back to a default world view.
Raster and vector rendering
WebPublish automatically selects the correct rendering mode based on the tile format stored in the MBTiles file.| Tile format | Rendering mode |
|---|---|
| PNG (raster) | Raster rendering — tiles are displayed as images |
| PBF (vector) | Vector rendering — tiles are rendered as styled vector features |
is_vector: true to the map template when the format is pbf.
Switching the map engine
WebPublish supports two map rendering engines for the preview:MapBox GL JS
The default engine. Renders both raster and vector tiles. Provides smooth zoom transitions and supports Mapbox style specifications.
OpenLayers
An open-source alternative. Useful if you prefer not to depend on Mapbox, or if you need OpenLayers-specific rendering behavior.
The map engine setting is global and applies to all MBTiles task previews. It only affects the visual preview — it does not change how tiles are served to external clients.
Related pages
MBTiles task
Full reference for the MBTiles task type, including all endpoints
Settings
Reference for all settings including the map engine option