WMTS Basemap Tile Service

last updated: March 23, 2023

The Planet WMTS Basemap Service allows users to access a listing of Planet's entire catalog of basemaps.

WMTS Catalog Access Request Structure

https://api.planet.com/basemaps/v1/mosaics/wmts?api_key={api-key}

False-color visualizations & indices

Optionally, you may also include the proc={index value} parameter to specify a dynamically-rendered false color visualization, for example NDVI:

https://api.planet.com/basemaps/v1/mosaics/wmts?api_key={api-key}&proc=ndvi

Learn more about false-color visualizations in Planet Basemaps here, or reference this list of Index Legends for a complete list of available indices and corresponding query parameter index values.

WMTS Protocol Overview

The WMTS protocol is similar to the XYZ protocol, but has a broader set of compatible 3rd party applications. It adds a uniform catalog protocol allowing discovery and display of tiled imagery. It provides a pyramid of tiles at 16 zoom levels so that it can be easily displayed in web browsers and various other clients. Planet's WMTS services are compatible with QGIS desktop, ArcGIS Pro, ArcOnline, CesiumJS and others. As with other WMTS tiling services, Planet WMTS tiles have these attributes:

  • Tiles are 256 × 256 pixels.
  • Tiles use the Web Mercator coordinate reference system (EPSG:3857).
  • Tiles are available between zoom levels 0 and 18.
  • Tiles are rendered in the PNG format with an alpha channel for transparency.
  • Grid is a rectangle with 2*z rows and 2*z columns, where z is the zoom level.
  • Grid uses 0,0 as the top, left corner in the grid.
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