Merge pull request #131 from NASA-IMPACT/wmts-integration

Add docs on API integration

Author: j08lue

services/api-integration-wmts-xyz-from-exploration.png

@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@ Most of the VEDA APIs are hosted out of a single project ([veda-backend](https:/
 While some of our services are already very mature, VEDA is currently in the build-up phase. Therefore, we do not yet have a production environment for users.
 Maintenance on the staging environment will be announced internally and selected known stakeholders will be informed of any larger changes.
 
-
 ### Production (stable): Coming soon
 
 ### Staging (maintenance will be announced):
@@ -29,3 +28,32 @@ Maintenance on the staging environment will be announced internally and selected
 * List collections: [https://dev.openveda.cloud/api/stac/collections](https://dev.openveda.cloud/api/stac/collections)
 * Raster API (tiling): [https://dev.openveda.cloud/api/raster/docs](https://dev.openveda.cloud/api/raster/docs)
 * STAC viewer (experimental): [https://dev.openveda.cloud/api/stac/index.html](https://dev.openveda.cloud/api/stac/index.html)
+
+
+## Using tile layers in external services
+
+### UI for single tile layers
+
+As you can see from our API docs referenced above, our raster API provides [WMTS](https://www.ogc.org/standard/wmts/) and XYZ tiles for public consumption.
+
+For any layer you are seeing in the VEDA dataset Explorer, you can retrieve the tile URL:
+
+![VEDA Dashboard Exploration API grab](api-integration-wmts-xyz-from-exploration.png)
+
+And paste that into any client that loads these tiles, like QGIS, ArcGIS, Leaflet, even online tools such as [geojson.io](https://geojson.io) or [felt.com](https://felt.com).
+
+### STAC for layer timeseries
+
+If you want to integrate tile layer time series into your application, you will need to fetch the information about
+which time steps exist and what the layer URLs are from our Spatio Tempoeral Asset Catalog (STAC) API (see above).
+
+That is because, unfortunately, neither XYZ nor WMTS have time series capabilities (unlike good old [WMS](https://www.ogc.org/standard/wms/), which our services do not provide, though).
+
+You can see how to retrieve time steps and tile layer URLs from these tutorial Python notebooks (mostly REST API calls):
+
+1. [Using /stac/tilejson.json with STAC collection and item IDs](../notebooks/datasets/ocean-npp-timeseries-analysis.qmd#visualizing-the-raster-imagery)
+2. [Creating layers from filters and mosaics (advanced)](../notebooks/quickstarts/hls-visualization.qmd)
+
+It comes down to querying for STAC items (timesteps) and then asking the Raster API for `tilejson.json` specifications for the items you are interested in.
+
+Once you retrieved the WMTS or XYZ layer URLs this way, you can use them seamlessly with all mapping clients.