Full Bit Depth GeoTIFF Streaming

Full bit depth GeoTIFF tiles are supported via clients that accommodate .tif XYZ tiles, such as GDAL, QGIS, and ArcGIS.

Streaming full bit depth data directly into your desktop GIS or environment gives you the raw values of a standard download without the hassle of downloading and merging individual quads. This allows you to programmatically analyze datasets or use your GIS software to customize how the data is displayed.

WMTS Configuration Parameters

To access full depth tiles, configure your WMTS address with the following parameters:

• format=geotiff

• A .tif file extension

• proc=off (for all bands) OR proc=<index> (to use a specific Remote Sensing Index)

Request Examples

1. Requesting All Bands (Raw GeoTIFF) To request all bands as a GeoTIFF tile for a single tile (z=8, x=62, y=101), use:

https://tiles.planet.com/basemaps/v1/planet-tiles/ps_biweekly_sen2_normalized_analytic_subscription_2023-10-02_2023-10-16_mosaic/gmap/8/62/101.tif?proc=off&format=geotiff&empty=404&api_key={api-key}

2. Requesting a Pre-Calculated Index (NDVI) To request the exact same tile as NDVI values in a floating-point GeoTIFF, use:

https://tiles.planet.com/basemaps/v1/planet-tiles/ps_biweekly_sen2_normalized_analytic_subscription_2023-10-02_2023-10-16_mosaic/gmap/8/62/101.tif?proc=ndvi&format=geotiff&empty=404&api_key={api-key}

GIS Integration & GDAL Setup

To stream full bit depth data programmatically or into GIS platforms using GDAL, configure an XML description of the tile server.

• GDAL / QGIS: Open the XML file directly as a single dataset.

• ArcGIS Pro: Rename the .xml file extension to .tif before importing.

Note: Because this streams raw, unrendered data, you will need to use your GIS software's symbology settings to choose how the imagery is displayed, just as you would with a local download.

Additional Resources

For hands-on examples of using full bit depth basemaps, check out these notebooks:

- Basemaps API 

- Burned Area Delineation 

For more information, visit our Developer Center.