Documentation

Map Layers

Use this guide to choose a tileset, configure its source layers and zoom range, and find the attributes and styling resources for your map.

Choose a tileset

Tilesets are unstyled Mapbox Vector Tile protobuf data. Configure a vector source with this URL template:

Code
https://api.psma.com.au/v1/maps/geoscape_v1/{tileset}/{z}/{x}/{y}.pbf

z: zoom level
x: tile column in XYZ coordinates
y: tile row in XYZ coordinates

Use the source-layer name in your map style. A tileset can contain more than one source layer.

Tileset	Source layers	Published zoom range
`gnaf`	`gnaf`	0–15
`localities`	`localities`	0–14
`postcodes`	`postcode_polygons`, `postcode_points`	0–12
`local_government_areas`	`local_government_areas`	0–12
`wards`	`wards`	0–14
`buildings`	`buildings`	0–15
`solar`	`solar`	0–17
`cadastre`	`cadastre`	0–16
`property`	`property`	0–16
`electoral`	`state`, `commonwealth`	0–13
`country`	`country`	0–14
`state`	`state`	0–14
`airports_polygon`	`airport`	0–14
`rail`	`railway_line`, `railway_station`	0–14

Tile attributes

The following field names and example values come from the published reference. Use metadata to check the fields in the current tileset. Example IDs and dates are illustrative, not lookup guarantees.

G-NAF

ADDRESS_DETAIL_PID: GANT_703831523
ALIAS_PRINCIPAL: PRINCIPAL
GEOCODE_TYPE: PROPERTY_CENTROID
PRIMARY_SECONDARY: primary or secondary address classification
street_number: 60

Localities

locality_pid
locality_polygon_pid
locality_name: DARWIN
area: square kilometres (km²)

Postcodes

`postcode_polygons`

postcode_pid: NSW216111
postcode_polygon_pid: 161
postcode: 2161

`postcode_points`

postcode_pid: NSW216111
postcode_point_pid: 161
postcode: 2161

Local Government Areas

lga_pid: lga744170e79f38
lga_polygon_pid: lgp5b4307df2e0f
lga_name: Darwin Municipality
area: 139.894 km²

Wards

ward_pid: wadff86c1934cd4
ward_polygon_pid: wdp3faBuVCopmPP
ward_name: Ararat Rural City
state: VIC
date_created: 2023-08-15

Buildings

building_pid: blda54bc84c09be

Solar

capture_date: 2023-08-25
capture_source: 7.5cm aerial
solar_area: 25.62 m²
solar_building_pid: sbp7e895616ffe4
solar_type: Polycrystalline
solar_pid: sol1YfOR2d2h8iP

Cadastre

cadastre_pid: cad0941c65bd1cd
cadastre_polygon_pid: cp1923530d6ca02
parcel_type: Lot
area: 2020.48 m²
base_parcel: Yes

Property

property_pid: prpf45bf15a0428
property_polygon_pid: pp0cb2086a6829f
base_property: Yes
area: 405630.9 m²

Electoral Boundaries

Commonwealth attributes

commonwealth_electoral_name: MALLEE
commonwealth_electoral_pid: VIC2
commonwealth_electoral_polygon_pid: 11914
date_created: 2018-08-01
date_gazetted: 2021-07-26
date_retired: null
redistribution_year: 2021

State attributes

date_created: 2015-05-05
date_retired: null
effective_end_date: 2022-10-31
effective_start_date: 2014-11-29
state_electoral_class_name: Legislative Assembly
state_electoral_name: LOWAN
state_electoral_pid: VIC197
state_electoral_polygon_pid: 992

Country

country_abbreviated: AUS
country_name: Australia
country_pid: 1
country_polygon_pid: 1

States

state_pid
state_polygon_pid
state_name: Australian Capital Territory
state_abbreviation: ACT

Airports

airport_pid
airport_polygon_pid
airport_name

Rail

Railway Line attributes

date_created: 2019-05-03
ground_relationship: On Ground
guage_type: STANDARD BROAD
jurisdiction_id: 10066414
operational_status: Operational
railway_line_pid: VIC16652773
railway_name: ALBION-BROADMEADOWS
railway_pid: VIC5149
transport_hierarchy: Railway Line 1

Railway Station attributes

date_created: 2019-04-17
jurisdiction_id: 5580490
operational_status: Operational
railway_station_name: SOUTH KENSINGTON STATION
railway_station_pid: VIC16208061
transport_hierarchy: Railway Station

Zoom and detail

Set the source's maxzoom to its published maximum. Let the map client overzoom that source when displaying higher zooms.

Low-zoom tiles simplify geometry and can omit small features. Use tiles for visualisation. Retrieve authoritative feature attributes and geometries through the relevant data API when performing analysis. The Rail product guide explains rail attributes.

Read tileset metadata

/v1/maps/index.json returns an array of TileJSON 3.0.0 objects:

tiles supplies tile URL templates
vector_layers[].id is the source-layer name
vector_layers[].fields maps attribute names to type descriptions
vector_layers[].geometry describes the geometry type
minzoom and maxzoom, when supplied within a vector layer, describe available zooms
bounds uses west,south,east,north longitude and latitude degrees
center uses longitude,latitude,zoom

Metadata and examples can change as datasets are updated. Inspect the metadata for the deployed data. Authenticate every tile request, including those made from metadata templates.

Styling resources

The geoscape-light stylesheet follows the Mapbox Style Specification. Authenticate the style and its tile and font requests.

Useful clients and tools include:

MapLibre and Mapbox GL JS
Leaflet and OpenLayers, with compatible vector-tile support
Maputnik and Fresco for style editing
Protocol Buffers for the binary encoding

The TileJSON specification is licensed under CC BY 3.0 US.

Attribution and G-NAF use

Retain attribution when displaying Geoscape data. G-NAF use is also subject to its licensing and privacy requirements. Review the G-NAF overview, G-NAF dataset and licence, and Australian Privacy Principles.

Review the G-NAF end-user licence and additional G-NAF use restrictions.

Next steps

Last modified on October 29, 2026