Mapnik configuration XML

General

Comments can be placed in the configuration file using the default xml <!-- --> syntax

Map

The Map object defines the master object of a mapnik configuration XML. It defines map wide parameters and serves as the envelope for Style and Layer definitions.

  • Element: Map
  • Element type: Root element
  • Attributes:
    • bgcolor: HTML color code for the background-color of the map (for instance #000000)
    • srs: Coordinate system in which the map is rendered (for instance &quot;+proj=latlong+datum=WGS84&quot; for a WGS84 Geographic coordinate system)
    • buffer_size: ??
  • Children:
    • Style: See Style
    • Layer: See Layer
    • FileSource?: ?? -> Attribute name = someName. What does it do?
    • Datasource: See Datasource
    • FontSet?: ?? -> Seems to be used to match fonts to fonts on the server?
  • xmlcomment: (Ignored by Mapnik)
  • xmlattr: (Ignored by Mapnik)

Style

A Style object defines the way objects can be rendered. A Mapnik configuration file can have an unlimited number of Style objects. Style objects are referenced by Layer objects in order to actualy be rendered.

  • Element: Style
  • Element type: Collection of Rules
  • Attributes
    • name: Name for this Style object. Needs to be unique per configuration file. A Style is referenced by a Layer through the corresponding StyleName? parameter. If a name is ommited, what will happen?
  • Children:
  • xmlcomment: (Ignored by Mapnik)
  • xmlattr: (Ignored by Mapnik)

Layer

  • Attributes:
    • name: The Name of the layer
    • status: on or off
    • clear_label_cache
    • srs: Reference system from the the project [Proj.4]. e.g. +proj=latlong +datum=WGS84
  • Children:
    • StyleName?: The name of a defined style. The style must contain the same string in the attribute name.
    • Datasource: See Datasource

Datasource

  • Element: Datasource
  • Element type:
  • Attributes: none
  • Generic Parameters:
    • type: Specifies the format of the data source
      • Possible values:
        • shape : ESRI shapefile
        • postgis : Postgis table or query
        • gdal : GDAL supported raster datasource
        • raster : Tiled or stripped TIFF
        • osm : Open Street Map (not included by default)
    • estimate_extent: boolean to tell Mapnik to estimate the extent of the layer (true) or not (false)
    • extent: manually enter an extent if estimate_extent is set to false
  • Additional parameters for type postgis
    • host: The name of the postgis-server
    • port: The port of the postgis-server
    • dbname: database name
    • user: username to access the postgis database
    • password: The password of the username to access the postgis database
    • table: Name of the table or postgis query. subquery has to use sytax of: '( ) as table'
    • geometry_field: Use the geometry_field parameter to specify which field to use if you have >1 geometry in the table/query (added in r769).

  • Additional parameters for type shape
    • file: For shape type; location and name (without extension) of the ESRI shapefile
  • Additional parameters for type osm
    • file: location and name (with extension) of the OSM Filename
    • parser: Parser for the xml file. (Should be 'libxml2')

Rule

  • Element: Rule
  • Element type:
  • Attributes
    • name
    • title

Also see SymbologySupport for more info on Symbolizers