Serve PMTiles files via local HTTP server with CORS

Start a local HTTP server to serve PMTiles files with CORS headers and HTTP range request support. This allows PMTiles to be consumed by mapgl and MapLibre GL JS. The server runs in the background and can be stopped with stop_server().

Usage

serve_tiles(path, port = 8080)

Arguments

path

Path to a directory containing PMTiles files, or a single PMTiles file. If a single file, its directory will be served.

port

Port number for the HTTP server. Default is 8080.

Value

Invisibly returns a list with url, port, and dir. The server handle is stored internally so it can be stopped with stop_server().

Details

If a server is already running on the requested port, it is stopped first.

The server uses httpuv (a dependency of Shiny) to serve static files with the CORS and range-request headers that PMTiles requires. Works well for files up to ~1 GB. For larger files, consider an external server like npx http-server /path --cors -c-1.

See also

stop_server(), view_tiles()

Examples

if (FALSE) { # \dontrun{
# Serve a directory
serve_tiles("/tmp/tiles")

# Serve a single file (its directory is served)
serve_tiles("us_bgs.pmtiles")

# Stop when done
stop_server()
} # }