Get started developing with Mapzen
Mapzen’s products help you put a map anywhere, search and route the planet, and try a world of open data.
Follow these steps to get started developing on the Mapzen platform.
1. Sign up for a Mapzen account
Your first step is to create a Mapzen developer account. After you sign in, you can modify your account settings, view your Mapzen service usage, and manage your API keys. An account and API keys are required to use Mapzen services, even within the free limits.
- Go to https://mapzen.com.
- Click
Sign Up. - Choose your authentication method.
2. Get an API key
An API key is a code that uniquely links API usage inside your application with your Mapzen account. You must include a Mapzen API key with all your server requests.
When signed in to your Mapzen account, you can access a dashboard that allows you to create, manage, and track the usage of your Mapzen API keys.
One API key works for any Mapzen service.
3. Customize your billing settings
You can create an API key and use Mapzen’s services up to the monthly rate limits for free. If you reach the limits on one Mapzen service, you can continue to use others up to their free limits. Rate limits reset at the beginning of every month.
If you need more than the free rate limits, add a payment method to your account. Otherwise, if you exhaust the free limits, your maps may no longer function.
You can take control of your bill by setting a monthly spending limit. This gives you the comfort of knowing that your bill will not exceed the amount you specify. You can modify your spending limit at any time.
Your usage is calculated monthly and any balance due is automatically billed to the credit card in your account.
4. Start building
If you are new to the Mapzen platform, you might try these tutorials.
- Get started with mapzen.js, the Mapzen JavaScript SDK
- Add Turn-by-Turn routing to a map
- Add the Mapzen Search geocoder to a map
- Get started with Mapzen Android SDK and Mapzen iOS SDK
Learn about the limits and legal terms
Rate limits
Mapzen offers some level of free access to each service, subject to rate limits. The services have maximum numbers of requests you can make per month, and some have additional service limitations to minimize computationally intensive uses. To review the current limits for all Mapzen services, see Rate limits.
Terms of use
Mapzen’s products are available for any use, including commercial purposes. You need to follow the attribution requirements for the data source, and also provide acknowledgement if you are using Mapzen’s web services.
See the full developer terms for more information.