Layer schema

The HERE Vector Tile API organizes data in layers, based on the Tilezen open-source project. It introduces some changes and simplifications to the original layer definition, including removal of optional properties and addition of some others to better align with the HERE data model.

The sections below include all the information necessary to understand the layer structure. The HERE Vector Tile API follows the same structure as the original Tilezen layer definition to make it easier to identify the differences, and adheres to the same SEMANTIC VERSIONING statement as originally formulated by Tilezen.

For examples of displaying vector tiles in a map, see examples using the HERE Vector Tile API with popular graphics libraries including HERE Maps API for JavaScript, Mapbox, and Tangram.

Overview

Data sources and attribution

The HERE Vector Tile API uses data from HERE.

For more information, see Required Copyright Notice.

Some features in the vector tiles include a source property that indicates an alternative data source provider.

Feature names

Most features in a vector tile include a basic name property:

name - The common local name for the feature, in the local language script.

The following additional name-related properties are also supported:

name:short - Short name, for example, CA for California.
name:left - The name to display on the left side of the border when traversing the line geometry from start to end.
name:right - The name to display on the right side of the border when traversing the line geometry from start to end.

In the boundaries layer, name:left and name:right replace name, enabling oriented labeling on the appropriate side of the boundary line so that the labeled polygon's text consistently appears inside the polygon. The following example illustrates this:

  kind : country
  name:left : Қазақстан
  name:right : Россия

In this location, label the left side of the border with "Қазақстан" and the right side with "Россия" when rendering in local languages.

Name localization

HERE includes all available name:{language_code} language variants to support full internationalization.

See language_code for the list of language codes.

A special case is latin, used when a Latin script language variant is requested but no exact match is found. For example, Greece uses the following:

  kind : country
  name : Ελλάδα
  name:latin : Greece
  name:en : Greece

Localized name properties

name:{language_code} - The name of the feature in the specified language. For example, name:en : Germany is the name in English. If no data is available for the requested language code, the value may be compiled from an English or Latin transliteration of existing language representations.
name:left:{language_code} - The localized name to display on the left side of the border.
name:right:{language_code} - The localized name to display on the right side of the border.
translit:{language_code} - Latin transliteration - phonetic Latin script rendering - of the name.
name:latin - The Latin script version of the name. Contains the same value as name if name is in Latin script, or name:{language_code} where {language_code} is one of the fallback languages in Latin script.

Data updates

The vector tile content is updated regularly. For details, see the changelog.

Changelog

Tiles are still in active development, but backward-incompatible breaking changes are minimized. Data model promises are listed in the SEMANTIC VERSIONING statement.

Read the full details in the changelog.