Glossary

The words Spatibase uses, in alphabetical order, each explained in one or two sentences. Every term links to the page that covers it in detail.

Activity

The list of who changed what and when in a project, with the fields that changed. The edits you make to one entry in a short session appear as one change. Changes made by an AI assistant carry a robot icon. Open it from the project menu. See Activity and trash.

AI assistant

A tool such as Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor that you connect to a project so it can look through your content and prepare drafts. What it may do depends on its edit key or on the role of the person who connected it. See Connect an AI assistant.

Analytics

The project page that shows what is ready to publish and which drafts are not ready, what is live in the API, entries by status and type, and recent activity. See Find your way around.

API key

A secret code that lets a website or app read a private project through the Content Delivery API. Read keys start with sb_live_, are shown once when created, and can be renamed, rotated and revoked. See Access and API keys.

Archived element

An element taken out of use: it is removed from every type, but the values stored in entries are kept, and it can be restored. See Change the model safely.

Asset

An uploaded image or file in a project’s media library, with a permanent URL. Images can be resized on the fly. See Assets and images.

Basemap

The background map in the map editor: Automatic (follows the theme), Streets, Terrain, Light, Dark, or your own MapLibre style. Everyone on the project sees the same one, and it never affects the Content Delivery API. See Change the map style.

Collect

The phone and tablet version of Spatibase, for adding and fixing entries in the field. It runs in the browser and can be added to the Home Screen. See Collect entries on a phone.

Content Delivery API

The read-only API that delivers published content to your apps, websites and other media, at https://api.spatibase.com/delivery/v1. Places come as JSON and GeoJSON, maps as vector tiles, and images and documents as files. It is built to be cached. See Content Delivery API.

Content Management API

The JSON API behind the Spatibase web app, which scripts can use to change content after signing in. It is not versioned and can change without notice. See Content Management API.

Content model

The types, elements (fields) and map feature types of a project: the structure your entries follow. Only owners change it. See Types.

Content version

A number on each project that increases whenever the Content Delivery API’s output can change, for example on a publish that ships something or when you go back to a version. It is not the same as a version number. Apps and webhook receivers compare it to know when to reload. See Content Delivery API.

Developer (role)

A project member who looks after the technical side: API keys, the webhook and AI assistant connections. Developers can read everything but not change content. See Members and roles.

Draft

The copy of an entry you edit. Entries save as drafts by themselves while you edit, and drafts never reach the Content Delivery API. See Drafts and publishing.

Edit key

An API key for an AI assistant, starting with sb_edit_, that lets it read and change drafts through the MCP server. Publishing (marking ready, publishing the project, going back) and deleting are separate switches on the key, off by default, and only owners create edit keys. See Connect an AI assistant.

Editor (role)

A project member who works on content: entries, groups, media, import and export, publishing and the trash. Editors cannot change the content model, keys or members. See Members and roles.

Element

One field you can put on a type, such as “Opening hours” or “Photos”. You create it once in a project and reuse it on several types; its kind decides what it holds. See Elements.

Entry

One place or item in a project, belonging to one type, with a title, values for the type’s elements and an optional main location. See Entries.

GeoJSON

A standard JSON format for map data. Spatibase imports it, exports drafts as GeoJSON, and the Content Delivery API serves published entries as GeoJSON. See GeoJSON and tiles.

Getting started

The checklist at the bottom of the side panel that tracks your first steps: content model, entries, publishing and an API key. It follows your account, not one project. See Find your way around.

Group

A hand-picked, ordered list of entries, such as “Featured”. Changes to a group go live at once, and apps can load a group by its API key. See Groups.

Handle

Your unique @name, chosen when you first sign in. Teammates see it in shared projects and use it to mention you. See Account and plan.

ID / slug

An element kind for a unique, stable code in each entry, such as a slug or a store number. Imports can match existing entries by it, so running an import again updates instead of duplicating. See Import API.

Identifier

The stable name of a type, element, group or map feature type in the API, such as opening-hours (in API responses and code it is called apiKey). It is suggested from the name; changing it changes what apps must read. See What can an identifier look like?.

Import

Bringing entries in from a file (CSV, Excel, GeoJSON, KML, GPX, Shapefile, GeoParquet), a Google Sheet, a Google My Maps map or a PostGIS table, as drafts. The web app can also create a new type from the columns. See Import.

Language

A project can offer its entries in several languages. The first one is the default language, and titles, text fields and choice labels can be translated into the others. See Translate your content.

Main location

The point, line or area that places an entry on the map. Each type decides whether it is required, optional or not used, and which shapes are allowed. See Entries.

Map feature type

A named, styled kind of extra shape, such as “Trail” as a line or “Parking area” as an area, that editors choose when they draw shapes on an entry. See Map feature types.

MCP server

The address through which AI assistants connect to a project, using the Model Context Protocol. Copy the exact address from the project’s AI agents page. See MCP server.

Media

The library of uploaded images and files in a project, reusable across entries. See Media.

Member

A person who belongs to a project, with one role: Owner, Editor or Developer. See Members and roles.

OAuth connection

A connection an AI assistant gets when a person signs it in with their own Spatibase account, instead of using a key. It can do at most what the person’s role allows, and people manage these under Connected apps. See OAuth for MCP clients.

OpenAPI file

A description of the Content Delivery API in the standard OpenAPI 3.1 format. Each project has a typed one at …/delivery/v1/projects/<project id>/openapi.json with its own types and fields (a private project needs a key for it); the generic one at https://api.spatibase.com/delivery/v1/openapi.json serves any project and needs no key. Developer tools such as Postman read them, and code generators turn them into typed clients. Neither holds entries. See Machine-readable spec.

Owner (role)

A project member who runs the project: the content model, settings, keys and members. A project always has at least one owner. See Members and roles.

Preview data

A public map page of a project’s published entries, opened from the project menu, that you can check or share. See Preview your data.

Private project

A project whose Content Delivery API answers only requests that carry an API key. Files stay reachable by their URL. See Access and API keys.

Project

The home of one map’s content: its model, entries, media, groups and members. Its id is part of every API address. See Create a project.

Public dataset

A free dataset published by Spatibase, such as the world’s airports, that you can copy into a project of your own from New project. The copy is yours to edit. See Create a project.

Public project

A project whose published content anyone can read through the Content Delivery API, without a key. New projects are public. See Access and API keys.

Publish

Making everything that is ready live in one step: the project’s ready drafts are copied into their published copies after checking required fields, staged unpublishes and removals are carried out and group changes go live. Each publish is saved as a numbered version. See Drafts and publishing.

Published

The live copy of an entry, the only one the Content Delivery API returns. An entry edited since publishing shows as “Unpublished changes” until you mark it ready and publish again. See Drafts and publishing.

Ready to publish

The mark on a draft that says “this exact content is approved for the next publish”. Drafts that are not ready stay out of a publish, and changing a ready entry clears its mark. Back to draft takes the mark away. See Drafts and publishing.

Role

What a member may do in a project: Owner, Editor or Developer. See Members and roles.

Signing secret

The secret (whsec_…) a webhook uses to sign every message, so your server can check that it comes from Spatibase. It is shown in full only when created. See Webhook events.

Subtype

A type placed under another type, such as “Cafe” under “Venue”. It inherits its parent’s elements, and asking the API for the parent also returns the subtype’s entries. See Types.

Table

The spreadsheet-style window, opened with the Table button above the entry list, where Owners and Editors change many entries in cells on a computer. See Edit entries in a table.

Template

A ready-made starting point for a new project (Store locator, Trails & outdoor spots, Events map) with a content model, sample entries and a group. A public dataset is the other ready-made start. See Create a project.

Trash

Where deleted entries and files wait for 30 days before they are removed for good. You can restore them in that time. See Activity and trash.

Type

One kind of place or item, such as “Store” or “Trail”, with its own ordered elements, location rule and Type color. Types can have subtypes. See Types.

Unpublish

Removing an entry’s published copy, so the Content Delivery API no longer returns it. The draft stays. It happens at the next publish; until then the entry shows “Will be unpublished” with a Keep button. See Drafts and publishing.

Vector tiles

Map data cut into small tiles that a map loads only for the area on screen. The Content Delivery API serves published entries as vector tiles for large maps. See GeoJSON and tiles.

Version

The state of everything that is live after one publish, with a number: version 1, 2, 3 and so on. You can look at what a version changed and go back to it, which creates a new version. See Versions and going back.

Webhook

A signed message Spatibase sends to your own server when published content changes, so your site can refresh. Each project has one. See Webhooks.