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European Economic Area (EEA) developers
Terrain tiles are image tiles that contain hillshade mapping
and contour lines. They include natural features such as vegetation.
Getting terrain tiles
You can begin making terrain tile requests after you get a session token.
Because a session token applies to the entire session, you don't have to specify
the map options with your tile requests.
The following code sample demonstrates a typical session token request for
terrain tiles.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-08-26 UTC."],[[["\u003cp\u003eTerrain tiles are image tiles that visually represent geographical features like hills, contours, and vegetation.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eTo request terrain tiles, you first need to obtain a session token using your API key and specifying map parameters.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eYou can then retrieve individual terrain tiles using an HTTPS GET request, providing the session token, API key, and desired tile coordinates (zoom level, x, and y).\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eTerrain tiles are downloaded directly as image files without a server response message, allowing easy integration into mapping applications.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],["Terrain tiles, which include hillshade mapping, contour lines, and natural features, are accessed by first obtaining a session token via a POST request specifying the map type, language, region, and layer types. Subsequently, tiles are retrieved with HTTPS GET requests, providing the zoom level (z), x and y coordinates, and the session token. An example demonstrates requesting a tile at zoom level 10, with coordinates (192, 401). The tile data downloads to a local file, without a server response message.\n"],null,["# Terrain tiles\n\n**European Economic Area (EEA) developers** If your billing address is in the European Economic Area, effective on 8 July 2025, the [Google\n| Maps Platform EEA Terms of Service](https://cloud.google.com/terms/maps-platform/eea) will apply to your use of the Services. [Learn more](/maps/comms/eea/faq). In addition, certain content from the Map Tiles API will no longer be returned. [Learn more](/maps/comms/eea/map-tiles).\n\nTerrain tiles are image tiles that contain hillshade mapping\nand contour lines. They include natural features such as vegetation.\n\nGetting terrain tiles\n---------------------\n\nYou can begin making terrain tile requests after you get a session token.\nBecause a session token applies to the entire session, you don't have to specify\nthe map options with your tile requests.\n\nThe following code sample demonstrates a typical session token request for\nterrain tiles. \n\n```json\ncurl -X POST -d '{\n \"mapType\": \"terrain\",\n \"language\": \"en-US\",\n \"region\": \"US\",\n \"layerTypes\": [\"layerRoadmap\"]\n}' \\\n-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \\\n\"https://tile.googleapis.com/v1/createSession?key=YOUR_API_KEY\"\n```\n\nYou get terrain tiles by making an HTTPS GET request, as shown in the following\nexample. \n\n```json\ncurl \"https://tile.googleapis.com/v1/2dtiles/\u003cvar class=\"apiparam\" translate=\"no\"\u003ez\u003c/var\u003e/\u003cvar class=\"apiparam\" translate=\"no\"\u003ex\u003c/var\u003e/\u003cvar class=\"apiparam\" translate=\"no\"\u003ey\u003c/var\u003e?session=\u003cvar class=\"apiparam\" translate=\"no\"\u003eYOUR_SESSION_TOKEN\u003c/var\u003e&key=YOUR_API_KEY\"\n```\n\nExample tile request\n--------------------\n\nConsider the following example, which requests a single terrain tile with zoom\nlevel 10, with x and y coordinates of (192, 401). \n\n```json\ncurl \"https://tile.googleapis.com/v1/2dtiles/10/192/401?session=\u003cvar class=\"apiparam\" translate=\"no\"\u003eYOUR_SESSION_TOKEN\u003c/var\u003e&key=YOUR_API_KEY\" --output /tmp/example_tile.png\n```\n\nThere is no response message from the server in this example. Instead, the tile\njust downloads to a local file.\n\nFor information about response message headers, see\n[Pre-Fetching, Caching, or Storage of Content](/maps/documentation/tile/policies#pre-fetching,-caching,-or-storage-of-content)."]]