Basemaps

Change the background map beneath your data, from Standard or Satellite to a solid color or your own XYZ tiles.

A basemap is the background map beneath your data. Felt has four basemaps: Standard, Light, Dark, and Satellite. You can also use a solid color or tiles from another service.

To switch basemaps:

1. Click Edit map to enter edit mode.

2. Click Basemap at the top right of the map. The button shows a thumbnail of the current basemap.

3. Select a basemap. Felt saves it for everyone who views the map.

Outside edit mode, anyone can switch basemaps for their view. B turns Satellite on or off.

Standard, Light, and Dark use OpenStreetMap data, and Satellite comes from Stadia Maps. Felt shows the attribution on the map and on embeds. Satellite imagery blurs past zoom 18.

Show or hide basemap labels

Use Show labels to turn all basemap text on or off, including place and road names.

1. Click Edit map to enter edit mode.

2. Click Basemap at the top right of the map.

3. Turn Show labels on or off.

You can't hide one kind of label, such as road names, or one country's labels. A custom basemap shows its tiles' own labels.

Basemap labels use your browser's preferred language when it's Arabic, Catalan, Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, or Spanish. Otherwise, labels appear in English or the local language. To change their language, reorder your browser's languages and reload.

Use a solid color basemap

1. Click Edit map to enter edit mode.

2. Click Basemap at the top right of the map.

3. Open Add basemap and click Add solid color. Felt adds a white basemap and opens the Background color picker.

4. Optional: Select another color, or enter a hex value.

To change the color later, open the solid color basemap's ··· menu in the Basemap menu and click Edit.

Change basemap colors or features

You can't recolor or remove parts of Felt's basemaps, but most of what they show is also a Global Library layer you can add and style. To build a basemap in your own colors:

1. Use a solid color basemap as the background.

2. Add only the parts you want from the Global Library, such as Land, Oceans & Seas, Lakes, Roads, Countries, First-order Administrative Divisions, and Buildings (North America) or Buildings (Europe).

3. Change each layer's color in its Style tab.

For a quieter background, switch to Light or Dark, or turn off Show labels. To use a style designed in Mapbox Studio or MapTiler, add it as a custom basemap.

Add a custom basemap

A custom basemap uses raster tiles from another service, such as Mapbox, Google, or ArcGIS.

1. Click Edit map to enter edit mode.

2. Click Basemap at the top right of the map.

3. Open Add basemap and click Add from URL.

4. In Tile URL, paste an XYZ tile URL. See Tile URLs for popular providers.

5. In Title, enter a name.

6. Optional: In Additional settings, set Attribution (optional), and set UI Color to Dark for dark imagery.

7. Click Add basemap. Felt applies it and adds it to the Basemap menu.

An XYZ tile URL must contain {z}, {x}, and {y} in lowercase, or {-y} for TMS tiles, and serve raster images such as PNG or JPG. Add WMS, WMTS, or vector tiles as layers instead. See WMS / WMTS and External vector tiles.

To edit or remove a custom basemap, open its ··· menu in the Basemap menu and click Edit or Delete.

Anyone who can view the map can see the tile URL, including any API key in it. Every map view requests tiles, which can add provider costs. Restrict the key to your own domains where supported.

Tile URLs for popular providers

These URLs also work as XYZ raster tile layers. Check each provider's terms first.

Provider	Tile URL
OpenStreetMap	https://tile.openstreetmap.org/{z}/{x}/{y}.png
Google Satellite (no labels)	https://mt1.google.com/vt/lyrs=s&x={x}&y={y}&z={z}
Google Hybrid (satellite with labels)	https://mt1.google.com/vt/lyrs=y&x={x}&y={y}&z={z}
Google Roads	https://mt1.google.com/vt/lyrs=h&x={x}&y={y}&z={z}
ESRI World Imagery	https://services.arcgisonline.com/arcgis/rest/services/World_Imagery/MapServer/tile/{z}/{y}/{x}
ESRI Dark Gray	https://services.arcgisonline.com/arcgis/rest/services/Canvas/World_Dark_Gray_Base/MapServer/tile/{z}/{y}/{x}
ESRI Hillshade	https://services.arcgisonline.com/arcgis/rest/services/Elevation/World_Hillshade/MapServer/tile/{z}/{y}/{x}
USGS Topo (US only)	https://basemap.nationalmap.gov/arcgis/rest/services/USGSTopo/MapServer/tile/{z}/{y}/{x}
Stamen Watercolor	https://watercolormaps.collection.cooperhewitt.org/tile/watercolor/{z}/{x}/{y}.jpg
Mapbox Studio style	https://api.mapbox.com/styles/v1/{username}/{style_id}/tiles/256/{z}/{x}/{y}@2x?access_token={token}
MapTiler map	https://api.maptiler.com/maps/{map_id}/{z}/{x}/{y}.png?key={key}

For Mapbox and MapTiler, replace the other values in braces with your own. In Mapbox Studio, the Style URL under Share contains the username and style ID. Mapbox charges for these tiles. For more, see the xyz-raster-sources collection.

Terrain, hillshade, and contour lines

Felt's basemaps have no terrain, relief, or contour lines to turn on. Add them from the Global Library: its Terrain dataset has worldwide hillshade and contour lines, and the ETOPO Global Relief Model covers elevation and bathymetry. See Global Library. To shade your own elevation data, style it as a hillshade. For a relief basemap from another service, add the ESRI Hillshade or USGS Topo (US only) tiles as a custom basemap.

Troubleshooting basemaps

When Felt can't use a custom basemap's tile URL, the Add basemap dialog shows a message that names the problem.

"Tile URL must contain {x}, {y}, {z} templates."

Check that the URL contains {z}, {x}, and {y} (or {-y}) with lowercase letters inside curly braces. For an ArcGIS or WMTS service, replace its level, row, and column values with these placeholders.

"No value provided for parameter …"

Replace the placeholder, such as {key} or {layer}, with its real value, such as your API key.

"Web Map Service tile sources are not currently supported."

Add the WMS service as a layer instead. See WMS / WMTS.

The basemap goes blank when you zoom in

Most tile services stop providing tiles at a maximum zoom level. Set the map's maximum zoom to keep people within that limit. See Map settings.

The basemap doesn't show

A content-blocking browser extension or a company network can stop basemap tiles from loading. Try a private window with extensions off, or ask your IT team to allow Felt's tile servers. If the whole map doesn't open, see System requirements.

Frequently asked questions

Can I change the opacity of the basemap?

No. Instead, add the tiles as a layer, set its Opacity, and choose a Light or solid color basemap beneath it. See XYZ raster tiles.

Can I use more than one basemap on a map?

No, a map has one basemap. To combine sources, such as satellite imagery with a dark map, add the extra tiles as layers. See XYZ raster tiles.