docs: raster basemaps need an API key and are being retired - #48
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ManuelLR
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Aug 18, 2026
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Adds the API key requirement and the raster retirement notice to the README.
Companion PRs: CartoDB/gitbook-documentation#347 (the FAQ) and CartoDB/carto-website (the landing page these links point at).
Why this repo matters most
We are watermarking unauthenticated raster tiles with "API key required". This README is almost certainly the largest single source of the traffic that will hit it: section 1 publishes the raster URL template and a working copy-paste Leaflet snippet, the repo is public, and the basemaps FAQ links here for "predefined basemap styles". Someone who copied that snippet years ago has never been told that terms apply to it.
What changed
Two edits, both text:
carto.com/legal/bmap— previously it pointed only atcarto.com/basemaps.Also fixed the stale
carto.com/location-data-services/basemaps/link in section 1 tocarto.com/basemaps.Deliberately not in here
The Leaflet snippet is unchanged. How the key travels — query string, header, or subdomain — is still open with @ManuelLR, and documenting a parameter name before that is decided would mean shipping something to be corrected. The callout states the requirement and routes to the landing page for the how.
Worth noting separately: that snippet also omits the
{style}path segment (it reads.../{z}/{x}/{y}, with no style), so as written it does not work. Left alone here to keep this diff to the notice, but it deserves its own fix.Worth a look while we are here
The snippet hardcodes
maxZoom: 20, and production has no zoom ceiling. Deep-zoom raster is a meaningful share of the CDN bill, so this line has cost attached to it.Blocked on the landing page at
carto.com/basemaps/keyexisting — both links here point at it — and on the terms gaining a free tier, since the live Basemaps Terms currently have none. See thecarto-websitePR.