What is map session in MapTiler Cloud?

This article explains the session-based billing model in MapTiler Cloud and gives a basic overview of what a map session is. Other map providers may label map sessions as "map loads".

Map Sessions

MapTiler Cloud billing model is a scalable one where customers pay for the traffic they use. They can choose between map sessions or tile requests. Map sessions are also known as map loads or map views. A map session starts whenever a map object is initialized on a web page. One map session contains all requests and interactions between the user and the map that are made on the page where the map is integrated. Evaluating map usage by map sessions (map loads) means that users interacting with the map can toggle layers on and off, zoom and pan around the map, and toggle between styles without affecting their usage. The maximum session length for a map load is 6 hours. If a user has the same map open after 6 hours, the service will count that as a new map session. MapTiler map sessions are designed to make the pricing more transparent and predictable, as well as easily comparable with normal web page traffic.

How to use map sessions

Map sessions are currently available only to those MapTiler users who build their map applications in MapTiler SDK. With MapTiler SDK, the map sessions are turned on (available) by default. You can also disable map sessions and use request-based billing if you want to. The amount of sessions is visible in MapTiler Cloud's Analytics, where you can also see the number of generated tile requests. A the end of each billing period, map sessions are visible as a separate item on the invoice.

Useful links

What is tile request in MapTiler Cloud
How to avoid billing surprises
Tile requests and map sessions compared