Method: projects.locations.maps.create

  • Generates a unique map ID for rendering map tiles based on computed results.

  • This ID is used with GetTile requests to retrieve image data for specific map locations and zoom levels.

  • Map IDs are temporary and remain valid for a few hours.

  • Primarily used to visualize computation outputs on a map, requiring the output to be compatible with the image format (e.g., JPEG or PNG).

  • Requires specific IAM permissions and authorization scopes for access and usage.

Creates an ID that can be used to render map tiles showing the results of a computation. The resulting ID should be used as part of GetTile requests.

This is used in conjunction with GetTile. A call to maps.create provides an expression and some output options. The result of maps.create is a map ID that represents an image that is the result of evaluating that expression and applying those options. Subsequently, calls to GetTile can be made to get image data for a tile of the resulting image, at any desired location and zoom. The map ID will be valid for a moderate period (a few hours).

The most common use case for this pair of endpoints is to populate a map viewport with a visualization of the output of some computation. In order for that to be possible, the computation output has to meet some reasonable requirements for the requested image format. In particular, JPEG or PNG format requires that there be one or three output bands, and clips values that are outside the 0-255 range.

HTTP request

POST https://earthengine.googleapis.com/v1alpha/{parent=projects/*/locations/*}/maps

The URL uses gRPC Transcoding syntax.

Path parameters

Parameters
parent

string

Required. The parent of the map collection (e.g., "projects/*").

Authorization requires the following IAM permission on the specified resource parent:

  • earthengine.maps.create

Query parameters

Parameters
workloadTag

string

User supplied tag to track this computation.

Request body

The request body contains an instance of EarthEngineMap.

Response body

If successful, the response body contains a newly created instance of EarthEngineMap.

Authorization scopes

Requires one of the following OAuth scopes:

  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/earthengine
  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/earthengine.readonly
  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/cloud-platform
  • https://www.googleapis.com/auth/cloud-platform.read-only

For more information, see the OAuth 2.0 Overview.