Getting Started with Python's tile-tools

The tile-tools package is a Python library designed to facilitate the manipulation and navigation of Mapbox tiles. It offers a suite of tools that have been ported from Mapbox's JavaScript utilities to Python, enabling developers to work with tile-based maps more efficiently.

Installation

To install tile-tools, ensure you have Python 3.10 or higher. You can install the package using pip:

pip install tile-tools

Modules and Usage

The tile-tools package comprises several modules, each serving a specific purpose:

1. tilebelt: Provides utility functions for working with tiles, including conversions between tile coordinates and geographic coordinates.

   Example usage:

   from tiletools import tilebelt
   
   # Convert tile coordinates to longitude and latitude
   lng, lat = tilebelt.tile_to_lonlat(x=1, y=2, z=3)

2. cover: Generates the minimal set of Mapbox tiles that cover a given GeoJSON geometry at a specified zoom level.

   Example usage:

   from tiletools import cover
   import geojson
   
   # Define a GeoJSON geometry
   geometry = geojson.loads('{"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[...]]]}')
   
   # Get covering tiles at zoom level 10
   tiles = cover.cover_geometry(geometry, zoom=10)

3. coords: Contains functions to transform tile coordinates into longitude and latitude degrees.

   Example usage:

   from tiletools import coords
   
   # Convert tile coordinates to longitude and latitude
   lng, lat = coords.tilecoords2lnglat(x=1, y=2, z=3)

4. distance: Includes functions to compute distances between points on the globe using the haversine formula.

   Example usage:

   from tiletools import distance
   
   # Calculate distance between two points
   dist = distance.haversine(lng1, lat1, lng2, lat2)

Additional Features

The package also offers rendering capabilities for visualizing the output of the cover algorithm. This feature requires additional dependencies like GDAL and ImageMagick. After installing these dependencies, you can render the coverage as follows:

# Install rendering dependencies
pip install tile-tools[render]

# Render the coverage
python scripts/render.py --zmin 1 --zmax 13 --out render.gif

Development and Testing

For development purposes, you can set up the environment using Poetry:

# Install development dependencies
poetry install --with dev

# Run tests
poetry run pytest

Conclusion

The tile-tools package is a valuable resource for developers working with tile-based mapping systems, particularly those utilizing Mapbox tiles. Its suite of tools simplifies tasks such as tile manipulation, coverage calculation, and coordinate transformations, making it a useful addition to geospatial data processing workflows.

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