NIMBO Terrarium

The Nimbo Terrarium endpoint provides a global Digital Elevation Model (DEM) service, including bathymetry (ocean depth). It delivers raster heightmaps encoded in RGBA tiles, following the historic format initiated by Mapzen.

This service is a high-performance replacement for legacy Mapzen endpoints, designed for 3D rendering engines, broadcast pipelines, and GIS applications requiring the specific Terrarium encoding standard.

Terrarium vs. Terrain-RGB This endpoint uses the -32768 offset to handle deep ocean bathymetry. If your application expects the standard Mapbox format (offset -10000), please refer to our Terrain-RGB Documentation.

Request Endpoint

Integrate global elevation data into your application using the standard XYZ tile URL schema.

https://prod-data.nimbo.earth/tiles/terrarium/{z}/{x}/{y}?kermap_token=<YOUR_TOKEN>

Parameter	Type	Description
`z`	integer	Zoom level (0 to 13)
`x`	integer	X tile coordinate (Web Mercator)
`y`	integer	Y tile coordinate (Web Mercator)
`api_key`	string	Your Nimbo API Key

Zoom Levels & Resolution

Nimbo provides native terrain tiles up to Zoom Level 13.

While the legacy Mapzen dataset technically offered tiles up to z15, Nimbo’s optimized processing focuses on high-quality data aggregation up to z13 (approx. 19 meters/pixel at the equator).

Handling High Zoom Levels (z14+) Do not request tiles for z14 or z15 directly; the API will return a 404 error. Instead, configure your mapping library (MapLibre, Leaflet, OpenLayers) to use oversampling. This technique automatically reuses and stretches z13 tiles to display terrain at higher zoom levels without loss of continuity.

Data Provenance & Sources

The Nimbo Terrarium feed is an exact replica of the historic Mapzen elevation dataset. This dataset is a multi-resolution composite.

Nimbo hosts a static copy of the original archives to guarantee absolute backward compatibility for legacy systems and shaders built specifically for this dataset.

As defined in the original Mapzen specifications, this composite dataset includes:

Global Landmass (30m): primarily based on NASADEM and SRTM v3 (Shuttle Radar Topography Mission) provided by NASA, ensuring consistent mid-latitude coverage.
High-Resolution Regional Data: We integrate higher precision Local DEMs where available, such as USGS NED/3DEP (USA), CDEM (Canada), and EU-DEM (Europe).
Bathymetry & Oceans: Unlike many terrain services that clip at sea level, Terrarium includes seafloor topography derived from ETOPO1 (NOAA) and GEBCO, making it ideal for marine visualization.
Polar Regions: Enhanced coverage for Arctic and Antarctic regions using ArcticDEM and REMA datasets.

Data resolution per location

source: https://github.com/tilezen/joerd/blob/master/docs/data-sources.md#footprints-database

Data sources per zoom

source: https://github.com/tilezen/joerd/blob/master/docs/data-sources.md#footprints-database

zoom	ocean	land	Ground resolution at 0°	Ground resolution at 45°	Ground resolution at 60°
0	`ETOPO1`	`ETOPO1`	`156543.0`	`110692.6`	`78271.5`
1	`ETOPO1`	`ETOPO1`	`78271.5`	`55346.3`	`39135.8`
2	`ETOPO1`	`ETOPO1`	`39135.8`	`27673.2`	`19567.9`
3	`ETOPO1`	`ETOPO1`	`19567.9`	`13836.6`	`9783.9`
4	`ETOPO1`	`GMTED`	`9783.9`	`6918.3`	`4892.0`
5	`ETOPO1`	`GMTED`	`4892.0`	`3459.1`	`2446.0`
6	`ETOPO1`	`GMTED`	`2446.0`	`1729.6`	`1223.0`
7	`ETOPO1`	`SRTM`, `NRCAN` in Canada, with `GMTED` in high latitudes above 60°	`1223.0`	`864.8`	`611.5`
8	`ETOPO1`	`SRTM`, `NRCAN` in Canada, with `GMTED` in high latitudes above 60°	`611.5`	`432.4`	`305.7`
9	`ETOPO1`	`SRTM`, `NRCAN` in Canada, `EUDEM` in Europe, with `GMTED` in high latitudes above 60°	`305.7`	`216.2`	`152.9`
10	`ETOPO1`, `NED Topobathy` in California	`SRTM`, `data.gov.at` in Austria, `NRCAN` in Canada, `SRTM`, `NED/3DEP` 1/3 arcsec, `data.gov.uk` in United Kingdom, `INEGI` in Mexico, `ArcticDEM` in latitudes above 60°, `LINZ` in New Zealand, `Kartverket` in Norway	`152.9`	`108.1`	`76.4`
11	`ETOPO1`, `NED Topobathy` in California	`SRTM`, `data.gov.at` in Austria, `NRCAN` in Canada, `SRTM`, `NED/3DEP` 1/3 arcsec and 1/9 arcsec, `data.gov.uk` in United Kingdom, `INEGI` in Mexico, `ArcticDEM` in latitudes above 60°, `LINZ` in New Zealand, `Kartverket` in Norway	`76.4`	`54.0`	`38.2`
12	`ETOPO1`, `NED Topobathy` in California	`SRTM`, `data.gov.at` in Austria, `NRCAN` in Canada, `SRTM`, `NED/3DEP` 1/3 arcsec and 1/9 arcsec, `data.gov.uk` in United Kingdom, `INEGI` in Mexico, `ArcticDEM` in latitudes above 60°, `LINZ` in New Zealand, `Kartverket` in Norway	`38.2`	`27.0`	`19.1`
13	`ETOPO1`, `NED Topobathy` in California	`SRTM`, `data.gov.at` in Austria, `NRCAN` in Canada, `SRTM`, `NED/3DEP` 1/3 arcsec and 1/9 arcsec, `data.gov.uk` in United Kingdom, `INEGI` in Mexico, `ArcticDEM` in latitudes above 60°, `LINZ` in New Zealand, `Kartverket` in Norway	`19.1`	`13.5`	`9.6`

Technical Specifications

Encoding Format

The elevation values are encoded into the Red, Green, and Blue channels of the image tile. This technique allows 3D software (like Blender, Unity, or Three.js) to read elevation data from a standard image texture.

Projection: Web Mercator (EPSG:3857)
Tile Format: PNG (Lossless) or WebP
Bit Depth: 24-bit (Standard RGB)

Decoding Formula

To parse the altitude in meters from a pixel, apply the specific Mapzen / Terrarium decoding equation:

elevation = (red * 256 + green + blue / 256) - 32768

Red (R) & Green (G): Encode the integer part of the elevation.
Blue (B): Encodes the fractional precision.
Offset (-32768): This significant negative offset allows the format to represent the deepest parts of the ocean (e.g., the Mariana Trench) without using negative pixel values.

Integration Examples

MapLibre GL JS & Tangram configuration

When defining your source, explicitly set maxzoom to 13. This ensures the library oversamples the tiles when the user zooms in further (z14+).

"sources": {
  "nimbo-terrain": {
    "type": "raster-dem",
    "tiles": [
      "https://prod-data.nimbo.earth/tiles/terrarium/{z}/{x}/{y}.png?kermap_token=<YOUR_TOKEN>"
    ],
    "tileSize": 256,
    "encoding": "terrarium",
    "maxzoom": 13
  }
}

Migration from Legacy Mapzen

Originally hosted on AWS Public Datasets (s3.amazonaws.com/elevation-tiles-prod/terrarium/), the Mapzen service was discontinued in 2018.

Nimbo provides a reliable, maintained alternative for “Legacy Mapzen” users. To migrate:

Update your base URL to the Nimbo API endpoint.
Ensure your client configuration caps requests at Zoom 13 (using maxzoom: 13).

No changes to your shaders, decoding logic, or coordinate systems are required.