How to Install TileServer PHP on EndeavourOS Latest

In this tutorial, you will learn how to install TileServer PHP, an open-source tool that allows you to serve map tiles from any MBTiles-compatible tileset. We will demonstrate how to install TileServer PHP on EndeavourOS, which is an Arch Linux-based rolling-release distribution.

Prerequisites

Before you start, make sure you have the following:

  • A running instance of EndeavourOS latest
  • sudo privileges
  • Internet connection

Step 1: Install Required Packages

The first step is to install the packages that are required to run TileServer PHP. Run the following command to update the package list and install the required packages:

sudo pacman -Syu lighttpd php php-cgi php-gd php-curl php-zip git

Step 2: Clone TileServer PHP

After the installation of the required packages is complete, you need to clone the TileServer PHP repository from Github. Run the following command to do so:

sudo git clone https://github.com/maptiler/tileserver-php.git /var/www/html/
  • The /var/www/html/ directory is the default web root directory in lighttpd. You can change this path according to your web server configuration.

Step 3: Create a New Tileset

To serve a tileset in TileServer PHP, you need to create an MBTiles file. You can create an MBTiles file using MapTiler Desktop, which is a GUI tool for creating map tiles. If you don't have MapTiler Desktop, you can download it from the following link:

MapTiler Website

Step 4: Load the MBTiles File

After creating the MBTiles file, you need to copy it to the mbtiles directory in the TileServer PHP directory, which is located at /var/www/html/mbtiles/. You can copy your MBTiles file there with a command like:

sudo cp /path/to/your/metadata.mbtiles /var/www/html/mbtiles/

Step 5: Configure TileServer PHP

To configure TileServer PHP, you need to create a config.json file in the TileServer PHP directory. You can use the following command to create the file:

sudo nano /var/www/html/config.json

Then, copy and paste the following contents in the config.json file:

{
    "name": "Your Tileset Name",
    "description": "Description of Your Tileset",
    "template": "osm-liberty",
    "source": "/mbtiles/metadata.mbtiles",
    "minzoom": 0,
    "maxzoom": 14,
    "bounds": [
        -180,
        -85.0511,
        180,
        85.0511
    ]
}
  • Replace Your Tileset Name and Description of Your Tileset with your own tileset name and description.
  • Replace metadata.mbtiles with the name of the MBTiles file you copied to the mbtiles directory.

After entering the required information in the config.json file, save it by pressing Ctrl+X, Y, and Enter.

Step 6: Access TileServer PHP

After the configuration is complete, you can access your TileServer PHP by navigating to http://localhost/tileserver-php. You should see a map with your custom tiles displayed on it.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, you learned how to install TileServer PHP on EndeavourOS and serve map tiles from an MBTiles file. You also learned how to configure TileServer PHP, access the web interface and create MBTiles files using MapTiler Desktop. With the ongoing development of TileServer PHP, you have a very powerful tool at your disposal, enabling you to serve custom map tiles with ease.