Connect · Maps without logs
Map tiles · Protomaps
The whole world's vector map as one file, read by range requests, served with no access log.
Connect
https://tiles.mineracks.com/planet.pmtilesWhat it is
A map on a screen is thousands of small tiles fetched as you pan and zoom. Whoever serves them sees which part of the world you are looking at, tile by tile. Commercial tile services log that by default and sell the aggregate.
PMTiles packs a whole tileset into a single file that a client reads with HTTP range requests, so serving a planet needs nothing but a web server and disk. This is the Protomaps planet build, zoom 0 to 15, about 128 GB, on our own machine, with the access log switched off and the error log too quiet to print a request.
What people use it for
- The little map on a transaction in Any Two Keys, drawn from here so no third party learns where the payment was.
- MapLibre GL in a web page or app with the pmtiles protocol: point it at the file URL and a style, no API key.
- Offline-first tools that want a known-good tile source they can also mirror.
How we run it
Range requests only: a whole-file GET is refused with 416. Six connections and 2 MB/s per client. /build says which Protomaps build is loaded; /healthz says it is up.
Style: any Protomaps basemap style works (they are open); the app ships its own.
Trust, stated plainly
Protomaps builds from OpenStreetMap (ODbL). We see byte ranges in flight and keep nothing. The file is re-downloadable, so it is not backed up.
Learn more
- Protomaps protomaps.com
- PMTiles specification github.com
- MapLibre GL JS maplibre.org
- Protomaps basemap styles docs.protomaps.com