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Tools to generates tiles from WMS or Mapnik, to S3, Berkley DB, MBTiles, or local filesystem in WMTS layout using Amazon cloud services.

Project description

TileCloud Chain

The goal of TileCloud Chain is to have tools around tile generation on a chain like:

Source: WMS, Mapnik.

Optionally use an SQS queue, AWS host, SNS topic.

Destination in WMTS layout, on S3, on Berkley DB (bsddb), on MBTiles, or on local filesystem.

Feature:

  • Generate tiles.

  • Drop empty tiles.

  • Drop tiles outside a geometry or a bbox.

  • Use MetaTiles

  • Generate GetCapabilities.

  • Generate OpenLayers example page.

  • Obtain the hash of an empty tile

  • In future, measure tile generation speed

  • Calculate cost and generation time.

  • In future, manage the AWS hosts that generate tiles.

  • Delete empty tiles.

Get it

Install:

virtualenv buildout
./buildout/bin/pip install tilecloud-chain
./buildout/bin/pcreate -s tilecloud_chain .

Edit your layers configuration in ./tilegeneration/config.yaml.

Default configuration file.

Configure grids

The grid describe hos the tiles are arranged.

Especially on s3 be careful to choice every theres before generating the tiles. It possible that to change one of them you should regenerate all the tiles.

The resolutions in [px/m] describe all the resolution available for this layer. On raster layer have a look on the maximum resolution of the source files, it’s not needed to generate tiles in smaller resolution than the sources, it preferable to use the OpenLayers client zoom. Notes that you can add a resolution at the end without regeneration all the tiles.

The bbox should correspond to the resolution extent. CAREFUL: you will have big issue if you use this parameter to generate the tile on a restricted area use the bbox on the layer instead.

The srs specify the code of the projection.

The unit unit used by the projection.

The tile_size in [px] default to 256.

The matrix_identifier default to zoom can also be resolution is how the z index is build to store the tiles, for example, for the resolutions [2, 1, 0.5] the used value are [0, 1, 2] it it’s based on the zoom and [2, 1, 0_5] if it’s based on the resolution. The second has the advantage to allows to add a new resolution without regenerate all the tiles, but it don’t work with MapCache.

Configure caches

The available tiles cache are: s3, bsddb, mbtile and filesystem.

The best solution to store the tiles is s3, mbtiles and bsddb has the advantage to have only one file per layer - style dimensions. To serve the mbtile and the bsddb see Distribute the tiles.

s3 need a bucket and a folder (default to ‘’).

mbtiles, bsddb and filesystem just need a folder.

On all the cache we can add some information to generate the URL where the tiles are available. This is needed to generate the capabilities. We can specify:

  • http_url direct url to the tiles root.

  • http_urls (array) urls ti the tiles root.

  • http_url and hosts (array), where each value of hosts is used to replace %(host)s in http_url.

In all case http_url or http_urls can include all attribute of this cache as %(attribute)s.

MBTiles vs Berkley DB (bsddb)

  • Read performance: similar, eventually the MBTiles is 10% faster.

  • Write performance: The Berkley DB is largely faster, about 10 times.

  • List the tiles: the MBTiles is largely faster but we usually don’t need it.

Configure layers

First of all, all the attributes in layer_default are copied in all the layers to define the default values.

We have two type of layer: wms or mapnik.

To start the common attributes are:

The min_resolution_seed included minimum resolution that is seeded, other resolutions are served by MapCache.

The bbox is used to limit the tiles generation.

WMTS layout

To generate the files path sand the WMTS capabilities we need some additional informations:

The mime_type of the tiles, it’s also used by the WMS GetMap ant to upload the tile.

The wmts_style, default to ‘default’.

The extension is used to end the filename.

The dimensions (default to []) is an array of object that have a name, a default value specified in the capabilities, a value to generate the tiles (it can be overwrite by an argument), and an array of values that all the possible value available in the capabilities.

For example if you generate the tiles and capabilities with the following configuration:

dimensions:
    -   name: DATE
        default: 2012
        value: 2012
        values: [2012]

than with the following configuration:

dimensions:
    -   name: DATE
        default: 2012
        value: 2013
        values: [2012, 2013]

We will have two set of tiles 2012 and 2013 that booth are accessible by the capabilities, and by default we will see the first set of tiles.

Metatiles

The metatiles are activated by setting meta to on (by default it’s off).

The metatiles are used for two thing first to generate multiple tiles with only one WMS query by setting meta_size to 8 we will generate a square of 8 by 8 tiles in one shot.

The second usage of metatiles is to don’t have cutted label name, this is solved by getting a bigger image and cutting the borders. The meta_buffer should be set to a bigger value to the half size of the longest label.

Configure hash

We can filter tiles and metatiles by using an hash.

The configuration of this hash is in the layer like this:

empty_metatile_detection:
    size: 740
    hash: 3237839c217b51b8a9644d596982f342f8041546
empty_tile_detection:
    size: 921
    hash: 1e3da153be87a493c4c71198366485f290cad43c

To easily generate this configuration we can use the following command:

./buildout/bin/generate_tiles --get-hash <z/x/y> -l <layer_name>

Where <z/x/y> should refers en empty tile/metatile. Generally it’s a good idea to use z as the maximum zoom, x and y as 0.

Configure geom/sql

We can generate the tiles only on some geometries stored in PostGis.

The configuration is in the layer like this:

connection: user=www-data password=www-data dbname=<db> host=localhost
geoms:
-   sql: <column> AS geom FROM <table>
    min_resolution: <resolution> # included, optional, last win
    max_resolution: <resolution> # included, optional, last win

Example:

connection: user=postgres password=postgres dbname=tests host=localhost
geoms:
-   sql: the_geom AS geom FROM tests.polygon
-   sql: the_geom AS geom FROM tests.point
    min_resolution: 10
    max_resolution: 20

It’s preferable to use simple geometries, too complex geometries can slow down the generation.

Legends

To be able to generate legends with ./buildout/bin/generate_controler --generate_legend_images you should have legend_mime and legend_extention in the layer config.

for example:

legend_mime: image/png
legend_extention: png

Then it will create a legend image per layer and per zoom level named .../1.0.0/{{layer}}/{{wmts_style}}/legend{{zoom}}.{{legend_extention}} only if she is deferent than the previous zoom level. Than if we have only one legend image it sill store in the file named legend0.{{legend_extention}}.

When we do ./buildout/bin/generate_controler --generate_wmts-capabilities we will at first parse the legend images to generate a layer config like this:

legends:
-   mime_type: image/png
    href: http://host/tiles/layer/style/legend0.png
    min_resolution: 500 # optional, [m/px]
    max_resolution: 2000 # optional, [m/px]
    min_scale: # if define overwrite the min_resolution [m/m]
    max_scale: # if define overwrite the max_resolution [m/m]

If you define a legends array in the layer configuration it is directly used to generate the capabilities.

WMS layers

The additional value needed by the WMS is the URL of the server and the layers.

The previously defined mime_type is also used in the WMS requests.

To customise the request you also have the attributes params, headers and generate_salt. In params you can specify additional parameter of the WMS request, in headers you can modify the request headers. See the Proxy/cache issue for additional informations.

Mapnik layers

We need to specify the mapfile path.

With Mapnik we have the possibility to specify a data_buffer than we should set the unneeded meta_buffer to 0.

And the output_format used for the Mapnik renderer, can be png, png256, jpeg, grid (grid_renderer).

Mapnik grid layers

With Mapnik we can generate UTFGrid tiles (JSON format that describe the tiles present on a corresponding tile) by using the output_format ‘grid’, see also: https://github.com/mapnik/mapnik/wiki/MapnikRenderers#grid_renderer.

Specific configuration:

We have a specific way to drop_empty_utfgrid by using the on value.

We should specify the pseudo pixel size [px] with the resolution.

And the layers_fields that we want to get the attributes. Object withe the layer name as key and the values in an array as value.

In fact the Mapnik documentation say that’s working only for one layer.

And don’t miss the change the extension to json, and the mime_type to application/utfgrid and the meta to off (not supported).

Configuration example:

grid:
    type: mapnik
    mapfile: style.mapnik
    output_format: grid
    extension: json
    mime_type: application/utfgrid
    drop_empty_utfgrid: on
    resolution: 4
    meta: off
    data_buffer: 128
    layers_fields:
        buildings: [name, street]

Configure MapCache

For the last zoom levels we can use MapCache.

To select the levels we generate the tiles an witch one we serve them using MapCache we have an option ‘min_resolution_seed’ in the layer configuration.

The MapCache configuration look like this (default values):

mapcache:
    # The generated file
    config_file: apache/mapcache.xml
    # The memcache host
    memcache_host: localhost
    # The memcache port
    memcache_port: 11211
    # The mapcache location, default is /mapcache
    location: /${vars:instanceid}/mapcache

apache:
    # Generated file
    config_file: apache/tiles.conf
    # Serve tiles location, default is /tiles
    location: /${vars:instanceid}/tiles
    # Expires header in hours
    expires: 8

To generate the MapCache configuration we use the command:

./buildout/bin/generate_controller --generate-mapcache-config

Distribute the tiles

There two ways to serve the tiles, with Apache configuration, or with an internal server.

The advantage of the internal server are:

  • Can distribute Mbtiles or Berkley DB.

  • Return 204 No Content HTTP code in place of 404 Not Found (or 403 Forbidden for s3).

  • Can be used in KVP mode.

  • Can have zone per layer where are the tiles, otherwise it redirect on mapcache.

To generate the Apache configuration we use the command:

./buildout/bin/generate_controller --generate-apache-config

The server can be configure as it:

server:
    layers: a_layer # Restrict to serve an certain number of layers [default to all]
    cache: mbtiles # The used cache [default use generation/default_cache]
    # the URL without location to MapCache, [default to http://localhost/]
    mapcache_base: http://localhost/
    mapcache_headers: # headers, can be used to access to an other Apache vhost [default to {}]
        Host: localhost
    geoms_redirect: true # use the geoms to redirect to MapCache [defaut to false]
    # allowed extension in the static path (default value), not used for s3.
    static_allow_extension: [jpeg, png, xml, js, html, css]

The minimal config is to enable it:

server: {}

You should also configure the http_url of the used cache, to something like https://%(host)s/${instanceid}/tiles or like https://%(host)s/${instanceid}/wsgi/tiles if you use the Pyramid view.

Pyramid view

To use the pyramid view use the following config:

config.get_settings().update({
    'tilegeneration_configfile': '<the configuration file>',
})
config.add_route('tiles', '/tiles/\*path')
config.add_view('tilecloud_chain.server:PyramidView', route_name='tiles')

Internal WSGI server

To use the WSGI server with buildout, add in buildout.cfg:

[buildout]
    parts = ...
        modwsgi_tiles
        ...

[modwsgi_tiles]
recipe = collective.recipe.modwsgi
eggs = tileswitch
config-file = ${buildout:directory}/production.ini
app_name = tiles

in production.ini:

[app:tiles]
use = egg:tilecloud_chain#server
configfile = %(here)s/tilegeneration/config.yaml

with the apache configuration:

WSGIDaemonProcess tiles:${vars:instanceid} display-name=%{GROUP} user=${vars:modwsgi_user}
WSGIScriptAlias /${vars:instanceid}/tiles ${buildout:directory}/buildout/parts/modwsgi_tiles/wsgi
<Location /${vars:instanceid}/tiles>
    WSGIProcessGroup tiles:${vars:instanceid}
    WSGIApplicationGroup %{GLOBAL}
</Location>

Generate configuration in buildout

We can also use a buildout task to automatise it:

[buildout]
parts += mapcache

[mapcache]
recipe = collective.recipe.cmd
on_install = true
on_update = true
cmds =
  ./buildout/bin/generate_controller --generate-mapcache-config
  ./buildout/bin/generate_controller --generate-apache-config
uninstall_cmds =
  rm apache/mapcache.xml
  rm apache/tiles.conf

Configure S3

The cache configuration is like this:

s3:
    type: s3
    # the s3 bucket name
    bucket: tiles
    # the used folder in the bucket [default to '']
    folder: ''
    # for GetCapabilities
    http_url: https://%(host)s/%(bucket)s/%(folder)s
    hosts:
    - wmts0.<host>

The bucket should already exists.

Before running an operation on S3 don’t miss to set the following variable:

export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=...
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=...

Configure SQS

The configuration in layer is like this:

sqs:
    # The region where the SQS queue is
    region: eu-west-1
    # The SQS queue name, it should already exists
    queue: the_name

The queue should be used only by one layer.

Before running the generation miss to set the following variable:

export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=...
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=...

To use the SQS queue we should first fill the queue:

./buildout/bin/generate_tiles --role master --layer <a_layer>

And then generate the tiles present in the SQS queue:

./buildout/bin/generate_tiles --role slave --layer <a_layer>

Generate tiles

Generate all the tiles:

./buildout/bin/generate_tiles

Generate a specific layer:

./buildout/bin/generate_tiles --layer <a_layer>

Generate a specific zoom:

./buildout/bin/generate_tiles --zoom 5

Generate a specific zoom range:

./buildout/bin/generate_tiles --zoom 2-8

Generate a specific some zoom levels:

./buildout/bin/generate_tiles --zoom 2,4,7

Generate tiles on a bbox:

./buildout/bin/generate_tiles --bbox <MINX> <MINY> <MAXX> <MAXY>

Generate a tiles near a tile coordinate (useful for test):

./buildout/bin/generate_tiles --near <X> <Y>

Generate a tiles in a deferent cache than the default one:

./buildout/bin/generate_tiles --cache <a_cache>

And don’t forget to generate the WMTS Capabilities:

./buildout/bin/generate_controller --capabilities

Tiles error file

If we set a file path in config file:

generation:
    error_file: <path>

The tiles that in error will be append to the file, ant the tiles can be regenerated with ./buildout/bin/generate_tiles --layer <layer> --tiles <path>.

Proxy/cache issue

In general we shouldn’t generate tiles throw a proxy, to do that you should configure the layers as this:

layers_name:
    url: http://localhost/wms
    headers:
        Host: the_host_name

The idea is to get the wms server on localhost and use the Host header to select the right Apache VirtualHost.

To don’t have cache we use the as default the headers:

headers:
    Cache-Control: no-cache, no-store
    Pragma: no-cache

And if you steal have issue you can add a SALT random argument by setting the layer parameter generate_salt to true.

Explain cost

Configuration (default values):

cost:
    # [nb/month]
    request_per_layers: 10000000
    # GeoData size [Go]
    esb_size: 100
    cloudfront:
        download: 0.12,
        get: 0.009
    ec2:
        usage: 0.17
    esb:
        io: 260.0,
        storage: 0.11
    esb_size: 100
    request_per_layers: 10000000
    s3:
        download: 0.12,
        get: 0.01,
        put: 0.01,
        storage: 0.125
    sqs:
        request: 0.01

Layer configuration (default values):

cost:
    metatile_generation_time: 30.0,
    tile_generation_time: 30.0,
    tile_size: 20.0,
    tileonly_generation_time: 60.0

The following commands can be used to know the time and cost to do generation:

./buildout/bin/generate_controller --cost

This suppose that you use a separate EC2 host to generate the tiles.

Configure SNS

SNS can be used to send a message when the generation ends.

The configuration is like this:

sns:
    topic: arn:aws:sns:eu-west-1:your-account-id:tilecloud
    region: eu-west-1

The topic should already exists.

Before running the generation miss to set the following variable:

export AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=...
export AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=...

Openlayers pink tiles

To avoid the OpenLayers red tiles on missing empty tiles we can add the following CSS rule:

.olImageLoadError {
    display: none;
}

To completely hide the missing tiles, useful for a transparent layer, or for an opaque layer:

.olImageLoadError {
    background-color: white;
}

OpenLayers test page

To generate a test page use:

./buildout/bin/generate_controller --openlayers-test

Configure and explain EC2

The generation can be deported on an external host.

This will deploy the code the database and the geodata to an external host, configure or build the application, configure apache, and run the tile generation.

This work only with S3 and needs SQS.

In a future version it will start the new EC2 host, join an ESB, run the tile generation, and do snapshot on the ESB.

The configuration is like this:

ec2:
    geodata_folder: /var/sig
    deploy_config: tilegeneration/deploy.cfg
    build_cmds:
    - rm .installed.cfg
    - python bootstrap.py --distribute -v 1.7.1
    - ./buildout/bin/buildout -c buildout_tilegeneration.cfg install template
    deploy_user: deploy
    code_folder: /var/www/vhost/project/private/project
    apache_config: /var/www/vhost/project/conf/tilegeneration.conf
    apache_content: Include /var/www/vhost/project/private/project/apache/\*.conf

Other useful options

--quiet or -q: used to display only errors.

--verbose or -v: used to display info messages.

--debug or -d: used to display debug message, pleas use this option to report issue. With the debug mode we don’t catch exceptions, and we don’t log time messages.

--test <n> or -t <n>: used to generate only <n> tiles, useful for test.

The logging format is configurable in the``config.yaml`` - generation/log_format, See.

Important remarks

Especially on S3 the grid name, the layer name, the dimensions, can’t be changed (understand if we want to change them we should regenerate all the tiles).

By default we also can’t insert a zoom level, if you think that you need it we can set the grid property matrix_identifier: resolution, bit it don’t work with MapCache.

Please use the --debug to report issue.

From source

Build it:

python bootstrap.py --distribute -v 1.7.1
./buildout/bin/buildout

Changelog

Release 0.7

  1. Support of deferent geoms per layers, requires configuration changes, old version:

connection: user=www-data password=www-data dbname=<db> host=localhost
sql: <column> AS geom FROM <table>

to new version:

connection: user=www-data password=www-data dbname=<db> host=localhost
geoms:
-   sql: <column> AS geom FROM <table>

More informations in Configure geom/sql

  1. Update from optparse to argparse, and some argument refactoring, use --help to see the new version.

  2. Add support of Blackbery DB (bsddb).

  3. The tile server is completely rewrite, now it support all cache, REST and KVP interface, GetFeatureInfo request, and it can be used as a pyramid view or as a WSGI server. More informations in Distribute the tiles.

  4. Add three strategy to bypass the proxy/cache: Use the headers Cache-Control: no-cache, no-store, Pragma: no-cache (default). Use localhost in the URL and the header Host: <host_name> (recommended). Add a SALT random argument (if the above don’t work). More informations in Proxy/cache issue.

  5. Improve the dimensions usage by adding it ti the WMS requests, And add a --dimensions argument of generate_tiles to change the dimensions values.

  6. Extract generate_cost and generate_amazon from generate_controler.

  7. Now we can creates legends, see Legends

  8. Now the tiles generation display generation statistics at the ends.

  9. The EC2 configuration is moved in a separate structure, see README for more informations.

Release 0.6

  1. Now the apache configuration can be generated with ./buildout/bin/generate_controller --generate-apache-config, it support filesystem cache and MapCache.

  2. Windows fixes.

  3. Use console rewrite (r) to log generated tiles coordinates.

  4. Now if no layers is specified in generation:default_layers we generate all layers by default.

  5. Now bbox to be floats.

  6. New --get-bbox option to get the bbox of a tile.

  7. Add coveralls support (https://coveralls.io/r/sbrunner/tilecloud-chain).

  8. Add an config option generation:error_file and a command option --tiles to store and regenerate errored tiles.

Release 0.5

  1. SQS config change:

layers:
    layer_name:
        sqs:
            # The region where the SQS queue is
            region: eu-west-1
            # The SQS queue name, it should already exists
            queue: the_name
  1. Add debug option (--debug), please use it to report issue.

  2. Now the sql request can return a set of geometries in a column names geom but the syntax change a little bit => <column> AS geom FROM <table>

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