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# Maps Web Snapshots

Create a static image of a map from a URL.

## Overview

Use the Maps Web Snapshots service to generate static map images from a URL. You can use Snapshots any time that an interactive map isn’t required, and in any place you typically use an image URL — in web pages, and in places where JavaScript isn’t available, such as email clients.

![A screenshot of a  map created using Maps Web Snapshots API.](images/com.apple.snapshots/media-3325414@2x.png)

> Note:
> If you need an interactive map on the web, see <doc://com.apple.documentation/documentation/MapKitJS>. To generate static map snapshots in iOS, macOS, or tvOS apps, see <doc://com.apple.documentation/documentation/MapKit/MKMapSnapshotter>.

To learn how to construct a signed and validated snapshot URL, see [Generating a URL and Signature to Create a Maps Web Snapshot](/documentation/Snapshots/generating-a-url-and-signature-to-create-a-maps-web-snapshot). You generate the required signature using credentials obtained through your Apple Developer account. See <doc://com.apple.documentation/documentation/AppleMapsServerAPI/creating-a-maps-identifier-and-a-private-key> to learn how to get these credentials. You can also obtain HTML to show information about a place using [Create a Map](https://developer.apple.com/maps/create-a-map/).

For more information on usage limits for Maps Web Snapshots, see the Apple Developer page, [Maps on the Web](https://developer.apple.com/maps/web/).

## Topics

### Essentials

[Generating a URL and Signature to Create a Maps Web Snapshot](/documentation/Snapshots/generating-a-url-and-signature-to-create-a-maps-web-snapshot)

Create a Snapshot URL and generate a signature to validate the request.

[`Annotation`](/documentation/Snapshots/Annotation)

An object for a Snapshot URL that describes annotation characteristics.

[`Overlay`](/documentation/Snapshots/Overlay)

A JSON object for a Snapshot URL that describes overlay shape characteristics, including points for the overlay and styles such as width, color, and dash pattern.

[`OverlayStyle`](/documentation/Snapshots/OverlayStyle)

A  JSON object that describes reusable styles for an overlay.

[`Image`](/documentation/Snapshots/Image)

A JSON object for a Snapshot URL that describes the characteristics of custom images to use for map annotations.

### Snapshots

[`Create a Maps Web Snapshot`](/documentation/Snapshots/Get-a-map-snapshot)

Generates a map image with characteristics that you provide in the query parameters.


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