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Reading features

Feature layers are OGC API – Features collections. Read GeoJSON, choose a coordinate system, filter the results and follow links to the next page.

Find a collection#

GET /v1/ links to collections, conformance and the API reference.
GET /v1/collections?limit=50 lists visible layers, newest change first. Use limit and offset to page through collections; the maximum page size is 200.
GET /v1/collections/{id} returns one layer’s metadata. The collection id is the layer UUID shown on the dataset page.

Field	Meaning
`title`, `description`, `itemType`	Dataset and layer description; type is `point`, `line`, `polygon` or `table`.
`extent.spatial.bbox`	Extent in WGS 84 longitude/latitude.
`crs`, `storageCrs`	Available output coordinate systems and the storage system.
`featureCount`, `updated`	Row count and time of the last data change.
`orbgis`	Dataset `itemId`, `layerIndex`, `detailMinZoom`, `editable` and optional `temporalField`.
`links`	Feature, tile, queryables and portal URLs.

Read features#

GET /v1/collections/{id}/items returns a GeoJSON FeatureCollection. Feature ids are objectid integers. The response includes numberReturned, timeStamp and links. Read one feature at /v1/collections/{id}/items/{objectid}.

Parameter	Use
`limit`	Features per page: default 100, maximum 1 000.
`bbox`	`west,south,east,north`; returns features whose geometry intersects the box. WGS 84 unless `bbox-crs` is supplied.
`bbox-crs`	Coordinate system of the bounding box.
`crs`	Output coordinate system, confirmed by the `Content-Crs` response header.
`properties`	Comma-separated columns to return. `objectid` is always included.
`after`	Continue after this `objectid`; prefer the response’s `next` link.
`count`	`true` adds `numberMatched`. Omit it in paging loops to avoid repeated counts.
`datetime`	Instant or interval applied to `orbgis.temporalField`; `400` if the layer has no temporal field.
`filter`	CQL2 text expression, combined with `bbox` and `datetime` using AND.
`filter-lang`, `filter-crs`	Only `cql2-text` is supported. `filter-crs` sets the coordinate system of a filter’s `BBOX`.

Coordinate systems#

Use a system from the collection’s crs list: CRS84 (longitude/latitude), the storage system, or EPSG 3857, 3006 (SWEREF 99 TM), 3035, 3067, 25832 or 25833. Supply the OGC URI, for example http://www.opengis.net/def/crs/EPSG/0/3006. Unsupported systems return 400 unsupported_crs. See Coordinate systems.

Paging and large reads#

Follow the next link in the body or Link header until it is absent. Feature pages use an objectid cursor rather than an offset. Pages are not a snapshot: features can change while you read. Fetch pages sequentially to stay within the concurrency limit.

Heads up

A query has an 8 second database budget (504 query_timeout) and a 20 MB response cap (413 response_too_large). Narrow bbox, reduce limit or request fewer properties. Use an export for a whole large layer.

Filtering with CQL2#

GET /v1/collections/{id}/queryables lists the fields and types you can filter. Supported expressions include:

Comparisons =, <>, <, >, <=, >=; IS NULL, IS NOT NULL; IN and NOT IN with up to 500 values.
LIKE with % at either end of a pattern. Use ILIKE or CASEI() for case-insensitive matching. _ and % inside a pattern are unsupported.
AND, OR, NOT and parentheses; date literals such as DATE('2026-01-01') and TIMESTAMP('2026-01-01T00:00:00Z').
S_INTERSECTS(geometry, BBOX(west, south, east, north)).

For a collection with species and height_m columns, URL-encode the filter with curl:

curl --fail-with-body --get \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ORBGIS_API_KEY" \
  --data-urlencode "filter=species = 'Tilia' AND height_m >= 10" \
  "https://api.orbgis.se/v1/collections/COLLECTION_ID/items"

Replace COLLECTION_ID with a layer UUID and choose fields from its queryables. Filters are limited to 8 192 characters, depth 12 and 50 clauses per AND/OR group. Unsupported expressions return 400 unsupported_filter; malformed expressions, unknown fields and wrong value types return 400 invalid_filter.

Content and maps#

GET /v1/items?q=roads&type=feature_service&pageSize=20 searches content. It requires authentication. GET /v1/items/{id} reads one item, including its collections ids; published items also allow anonymous reads.
GET /v1/maps/{id} returns a map’s coordinate system, initial view, basemap and layer settings. Maps are read-only through the API.

Collection metadata, features, queryables and tiles exposed by a published app can be read without a key. Anonymous API reads are cached for 60 seconds.