What the purpose of the ApiKey or accessToken on the tile server?

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Hi everyone,

I would like to display an tiled web map on my tiny website…

I’ve tested fully a fronted tiled web map Leafletjs

Now it’s time to choose a tile provider…

I’ve been using Leaflet Provider Demo to see which exist. (If you know others I’m all ears :slight_smile: )

and from their git repository , I can see that some provider require to register to use an Apikey or a accessToken…

But why TileProvider use them ? what their purpose ?

Thanks.

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For some organisations operating a tile server is a business, others just want to keep the traffic in check.

In both cases they want to control who has access and how much they utilize the service. The easiest way to do this is to make using the service dependent on obtaining an API-key and including it in the tile requests. This is often the case even if a service has a free tier as you need to be able to generate usage numbers per customer in some form.

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Thanks @SimonPoole ,

it’s what I was thinking.
So the thing to keep in mind ( for those who are concern ) it’s that it track visitors of the website too.
Meaning that the tile provider know that the visitor is coming from that particular website and therefore could generated various stats…