Basemaps

Basemaps provide the background map layer for your project, giving geographic context to your data — streets, terrain, satellite imagery, or a plain colour. GOAT supports any provider that offers a Style JSON URL (vector) or XYZ tile URL (raster).

How to add a custom basemap

1

In the Map Interface, click the Base map button in the map navigation controls.

2

At the bottom of the panel, click + Add a new basemap.

3

Select the Basemap tab. Choose Vector for Style JSON sources or Raster for XYZ tile sources.

4

Enter the Basemap URL, a Title, and optionally a description and thumbnail URL. Click Add basemap to save.

Single colour background

Use the Single Color tab instead of a URL to set a flat colour as the map background — useful for print layouts or minimalist dashboards.

Most common providers

Mapbox

Mapbox offers a wide range of basemap styles. Create a free account at mapbox.com to get your access token.

Sample URL:

https://api.mapbox.com/styles/v1/mapbox/streets-v12/tiles/256/{z}/{x}/{y}?access_token={YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN}

Access token visibility

Basemaps added to a shared or public project will expose your Mapbox access token to viewers. In your Mapbox account, restrict the token to your domain to prevent unauthorised usage.

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MapTiler

MapTiler provides high-quality vector basemaps that work seamlessly with GOAT's map engine. Create a free account at maptiler.com to get your API key.

Sample URL:

https://api.maptiler.com/maps/streets-v2/style.json?key={YOUR_API_KEY}

API key visibility

Your MapTiler API key will be visible in shared projects. Use MapTiler Cloud's key restriction settings to limit usage to your domain.

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Esri / ArcGIS

Esri provides a variety of professional basemaps — no account or API key required.

Sample URL:

https://server.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/World_Imagery/MapServer/tile/{z}/{y}/{x}

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OpenStreetMap

OpenStreetMap (OSM) provides free, community-maintained basemaps — no account or API key required.

Sample URL:

https://tile.openstreetmap.org/{z}/{x}/{y}.png

Tile usage policy

OpenStreetMap's tile servers are intended for light use. For production or high-traffic projects, consider a hosted provider such as MapTiler which offers OSM-based styles with better reliability.

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Carto Dark Matter

Carto's Dark Matter style offers a dark, minimal basemap well suited to data-heavy maps where bright data visualisations need to stand out — no account or API key required.

Sample URL:

https://basemaps.cartocdn.com/gl/dark-matter-gl-style/style.json

More providers

For a broader list of compatible basemap providers and connection guides, see the GOAT blog post on where to find basemaps.

Arrange basemap layers

When editing a custom basemap, the Layer tab lets you control how each sub-layer group of that basemap is stacked relative to your own data layers — and toggle individual groups on or off.

To access it, click the edit icon on a custom basemap in the basemap panel, then select the Layer tab.

The basemap is organised into five layer groups:

Group	Contents
Streets	Road network, paths
Waters	Rivers, lakes, coastlines
Land Use	Forests, parks, fields
Buildings	Building footprints
Other	Remaining layers

For each group you can:

• Toggle visibility — show or hide the group entirely using the switch on the right
• Position — choose Above or Below to control whether the group renders above or below your own layers
• Reference layer — select which of your layers acts as the boundary (defaults to All my layers)

Click Reset to restore all groups to their default positions and visibility.

When is this useful?

Place Streets above your data to keep roads legible over polygon overlays. Place Buildings below your own layers so your data appears on top of building footprints.

Basemaps in shared dashboards

When you share a project as a public dashboard via the Dashboard, you can control which basemaps viewers are allowed to switch between. In the Dashboard, open the Settings tab and find the Allowed basemaps field. Select the basemaps you want to make available — if no restriction is set, all basemaps are shown to viewers.