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Quickstarts

• Leaflet — raster tiles and address search in Leaflet
• MapLibre GL JS — vector tiles and styles
• OpenLayers — raster and vector tiles in OpenLayers
• WordPress (WP Go Maps) — MapIron tiles in the WP Go Maps plugin, no code
• No-code setups — map code for website builders, Google Sheets, CSV batch geocoding, Zapier, Make and n8n
• AI assistants (MCP) — connect Claude, Cursor, VS Code and other MCP clients

Machine-readable: OpenAPI 3.1 spec · llms.txt · this page as Markdown

Getting started

Get a key from the dashboard. Every request takes it as ?key=ps_… or as an Authorization: Bearer ps_… header. The base URL is https://api.mapiron.com.

curl "https://api.mapiron.com/v1/geocode?q=Oswego%20IL&limit=1&key=YOUR_KEY"

JavaScript:

const r = await fetch("https://api.mapiron.com/v1/geocode?q=" + encodeURIComponent("Oswego IL") + "&limit=1", {
  headers: { Authorization: "Bearer YOUR_KEY" }
});
const { features } = await r.json();
const [lng, lat] = features[0].geometry.coordinates;

Python:

import requests
r = requests.get("https://api.mapiron.com/v1/geocode", params={"q": "Oswego IL", "limit": 1},
                 headers={"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_KEY"}, timeout=10)
lng, lat = r.json()["features"][0]["geometry"]["coordinates"]

PHP (for example in WordPress):

$url = "https://api.mapiron.com/v1/geocode?" . http_build_query(["q" => "Oswego IL", "limit" => 1, "key" => "YOUR_KEY"]);
$data = json_decode(file_get_contents($url), true);
[$lng, $lat] = $data["features"][0]["geometry"]["coordinates"];

Static images

GET /v1/static returns an image. Give a center and zoom, or let us fit the view to your markers, path or area.

<img src="https://api.mapiron.com/v1/static?markers=41.8781,-87.6298|41.6828,-88.3515&size=600x300&scale=2&key=YOUR_KEY"
     width="600" height="300" alt="Map from Chicago to Oswego">

Images are deterministic: the same URL gives the same picture, so cache them for as long as your plan allows. On the Free plan, images carry a small "Map by mapiron.com" mark in the bottom-left corner; paid plans have none.

Privacy area mode

For listings, deliveries or anything where the exact address should stay private. Send the real point as area; we snap it to a grid, draw a shaded circle, and add no pin.

https://api.mapiron.com/v1/static?area=41.68,-88.35&size=640x300&key=YOUR_KEY

Every address in the same grid cell gets the identical image, so viewers can't narrow the location down by comparing maps. Whatever you put in area is visible to anyone who views the page, so round it to the grid on your server first: Math.round(lat / snap) * snap, and the same for lng (41.6843 becomes 41.68 with the default 0.01). The image is identical, and the page shows only the grid point. See privacy-safe listing maps for a full walkthrough.

Address search

GET /v1/geocode?q=… returns GeoJSON features, best match first. /v1/autocomplete takes the same parameters and suits type-ahead boxes; each call counts as one lookup, so wait for a short pause in typing (about 250 ms) before calling it.

curl "https://api.mapiron.com/v1/geocode?q=4%20Yorkville%20Rd%20Oswego&limit=1&key=YOUR_KEY"

Paid plans may store and reuse results indefinitely; Free results may be stored for up to 30 days. Each response carries a license field that says which applies. US house-number coverage follows OpenStreetMap and varies by area; street and town results are reliable everywhere.

Reverse lookup

GET /v1/reverse?lat=…&lon=… returns the nearest address or place. Optional radius (km), limit, lang.

Schools & districts

GET /v1/schools?lat=…&lon=… returns the US public school districts at a point and, grade by grade, the assigned public school with its attendance zone. It comes with platform and enterprise contracts, not with self-serve plans. See Schools & districts.

Texas special districts

GET /v1/districts?lat=…&lon=… returns the Texas municipal utility districts, water control and improvement districts, management districts and PIDs that contain a point, with each district's self-reported tax rate and debt, its website and the statute for the purchaser's notice. Growth plans and up. See Texas special districts.

Parcel lines

GET /v1/parcels?lat=…&lon=… returns the property parcel at a point: its boundary, the county parcel number (APN) and its area, from open government records. Draw parcel lines on static images with parcels=1, highlight one with parcel=…, or add the vector or raster parcel overlay to an interactive map. Growth plans and up. See Parcel lines.

Raster tiles

256-pixel PNG tiles, with @2x for sharp screens. Use them with Leaflet, OpenLayers or anything that takes an XYZ URL. A typical map view loads about 16 tiles.

L.tileLayer("https://api.mapiron.com/v1/tiles/light/{z}/{x}/{y}@2x.png?key=YOUR_KEY", {
  tileSize: 256, maxZoom: 19,
  attribution: '&copy; <a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright">OpenStreetMap contributors</a>'
}).addTo(map);

Vector tiles & styles

For MapLibre GL, point the map at a style. Fonts, icons and tile URLs inside it already carry your key.

new maplibregl.Map({
  container: "map",
  style: "https://api.mapiron.com/v1/styles/light.json?key=YOUR_KEY",
  center: [-88.35, 41.68], zoom: 12
});

Styles: light, dark, white, grayscale. Raw tiles are at /v1/tiles/vector/{z}/{x}/{y}.pbf (Protomaps schema, zoom 0 to 15), described by /v1/tiles/vector.json.

Keys & websites

Keys used in web pages are visible to visitors. In the dashboard, limit such a key to your websites (for example example.com, *.example.com); requests from other sites are refused. Keep an unrestricted key on your server only. Revoking a key takes effect within a minute. Free accounts have 1 key, the 14-day Growth trial 3, and paid plans up to 20.

Plans, caps & errors

Each plan has a monthly cap per product (see Pricing). Caps reset on the 1st of each month (UTC). We email the account at 80% and at 100% of a cap. Paid plans can raise a month's caps with a one-time top-up pack from the dashboard ($20 for 100,000 images, 100,000 lookups and 1,000,000 tiles; never automatic). The Free plan also allows 5 requests a second per account, with bursts up to 60, and the Growth trial 25 a second; paid plans have no per-second limit.

Errors are JSON with an error code and a readable message you can show to people. 429 answers carry Retry-After in seconds. Every code, with what to do about it: openapi.json (Error schema).

Attribution

Map data comes from OpenStreetMap under the Open Database License. Show © OpenStreetMap contributors near any map or results you display, linked to openstreetmap.org/copyright (opens in a new tab). Static images already include it in the corner. MapIron is not affiliated with or endorsed by the OpenStreetMap Foundation.