Can Azure Maps XYZ tiles be generated without embedded watermark?

Question

Can Azure Maps XYZ tiles be generated without embedded watermark?

Florent Lavergne (iMetaverse LLC) 60 Microsoft External Staff

Hello,

I customized layers from road_shaded_relief using the Azure Maps Web SDK to create a custom styled map. I am exporting this styled map as XYZ raster tiles for use in QGIS, but each generated tile includes the Azure Maps and TomTom watermark baked into the image (see screenshot of west Jamaica).

Is there a way to generate Azure Maps tiles without the embedded watermark, if proper attribution is provided separately in the final output?

Thank you!

IoTGirl 3,931 Reputation points Microsoft Employee Moderator

2026-03-04T00:12:16.48+00:00

Hi Florent,

Can you please clarify if you are keeping a copy of the Azure Maps Tiles, editing them and redistributing from your own service? If so, this is likely a violation of the Azure Maps Terms of use https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/terms/en-US/productoffering/MicrosoftAzure/EAEAS#clause-1593-h3-1 in the API results section "Customer may not cache or store results delivered by the Azure Maps API for the purpose of scaling such Results (as defined below) to serve multiple users, or to circumvent any functionality in Azure Maps, including but not limited to (i) map data tiles, or (ii) information on the calculation of a path between two (2) or more points (“Route”) information (collectively the “Results”)."

To the previous answer, there is also a Copyright section "Customers may not remove, obscure, mask or change any logo and/or copyright notice placed on or automatically generated by Azure Maps. Customer must display in a conspicuous manner within Customer Solution any Microsoft or third-party attribution provided by Microsoft. In addition, customers using the Azure Maps Render services must use the "Get Map Attribution” API to obtain the copyright attribution text and display it in their Customer Solution. "

Sincerely,

IoTGirl
Florent Lavergne (iMetaverse LLC) 60 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2026-03-04T07:39:18.39+00:00

Hi,

Thanks for flagging this. To clarify your question: I am not editing or redistributing Azure Maps tiles from my own service.

For context, at Microsoft’s AI for Good Lab we are exploring ways to produce maps with consistent styling across interactive and static outputs. As part of this effort, I created a custom basemap style using the Azure Maps Web SDK, and was experimenting with whether the same styling could also be used in QGIS for static map production.

During this experiment I temporarily stored a local copy of rendered tiles from that style to test the workflow in QGIS. The tiles were not edited or redistributed, and the local copy has since been deleted. Based on the terms you shared, it seems that exporting or storing tiles derived from Azure Maps would not be compliant, so I will avoid this approach going forward.

In that case, what is the recommended way to work with Azure Maps data when producing static maps in QGIS?

Thanks for your help.
SRILAKSHMI C 15,035 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-05T06:54:00.4266667+00:00

Hi Florent Lavergne (iMetaverse LLC),

Did you get any chance to review the above response Provided by IoTGirl. Do let me know if you have any further queries.

Thank you!
Florent Lavergne (iMetaverse LLC) 60 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2026-03-05T11:30:54.2533333+00:00

Hi @SRILAKSHMI C ,

I did review IoTGirl's response. Feel free to close this thread.

Thanks!
SRILAKSHMI C 15,035 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-06T05:43:44.6666667+00:00

Hi Florent Lavergne (iMetaverse LLC),

Thank you for the confirmation!

Answer accepted by question author

1 additional answer

Your answer

IoTGirl 3,931 Reputation points Microsoft Employee Moderator

2026-03-04T00:12:16.48+00:00

Hi Florent,

Can you please clarify if you are keeping a copy of the Azure Maps Tiles, editing them and redistributing from your own service? If so, this is likely a violation of the Azure Maps Terms of use https://www.microsoft.com/licensing/terms/en-US/productoffering/MicrosoftAzure/EAEAS#clause-1593-h3-1 in the API results section "Customer may not cache or store results delivered by the Azure Maps API for the purpose of scaling such Results (as defined below) to serve multiple users, or to circumvent any functionality in Azure Maps, including but not limited to (i) map data tiles, or (ii) information on the calculation of a path between two (2) or more points (“Route”) information (collectively the “Results”)."

To the previous answer, there is also a Copyright section "Customers may not remove, obscure, mask or change any logo and/or copyright notice placed on or automatically generated by Azure Maps. Customer must display in a conspicuous manner within Customer Solution any Microsoft or third-party attribution provided by Microsoft. In addition, customers using the Azure Maps Render services must use the "Get Map Attribution” API to obtain the copyright attribution text and display it in their Customer Solution. "

Sincerely,

IoTGirl
Florent Lavergne (iMetaverse LLC) 60 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2026-03-04T07:39:18.39+00:00

Hi,

Thanks for flagging this. To clarify your question: I am not editing or redistributing Azure Maps tiles from my own service.

For context, at Microsoft’s AI for Good Lab we are exploring ways to produce maps with consistent styling across interactive and static outputs. As part of this effort, I created a custom basemap style using the Azure Maps Web SDK, and was experimenting with whether the same styling could also be used in QGIS for static map production.

During this experiment I temporarily stored a local copy of rendered tiles from that style to test the workflow in QGIS. The tiles were not edited or redistributed, and the local copy has since been deleted. Based on the terms you shared, it seems that exporting or storing tiles derived from Azure Maps would not be compliant, so I will avoid this approach going forward.

In that case, what is the recommended way to work with Azure Maps data when producing static maps in QGIS?

Thanks for your help.
SRILAKSHMI C 15,035 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-05T06:54:00.4266667+00:00

Hi Florent Lavergne (iMetaverse LLC),

Did you get any chance to review the above response Provided by IoTGirl. Do let me know if you have any further queries.

Thank you!
Florent Lavergne (iMetaverse LLC) 60 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2026-03-05T11:30:54.2533333+00:00

Hi @SRILAKSHMI C ,

I did review IoTGirl's response. Feel free to close this thread.

Thanks!
SRILAKSHMI C 15,035 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-03-06T05:43:44.6666667+00:00

Hi Florent Lavergne (iMetaverse LLC),

Thank you for the confirmation!

Answer 1

It looks like you might be requesting static map images rather than map tiles. Map tiles don't have any copyright or logo's on them, but the static map image API always adds those. Your URL for tiles should look something like this:

https://atlas.microsoft.com/map/tile?api-version=2024-04-01&tilesetId=microsoft.terra.main&zoom={z}&x={x}&y={y}&tileSize=512&view=Auto

Documentation on this service is here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/rest/api/maps/render/get-map-tile?view=rest-maps-2026-01-01&tabs=HTTP

Note that the "terra" tiles are only available for zoom levels 0 through 6. Those tiles are PNG I believe.

The shaded relief map style you can get in the web SDK is not exposed via the public API's. That's actually multiple tile layers, vector and raster, being combined on the client.

Answer 2

Azure Maps tiles always include the required copyright/attribution information when delivered by the Azure Maps Render service and SDKs. The attribution requirement is explicitly tied to use of Azure Maps tiles “anytime you use the Azure Maps Render service, either as basemaps or layers, in any third-party map control.”

Because the attribution is part of the delivered tiles and required by the service terms, there is no supported way to request Azure Maps XYZ tiles without the embedded watermark, even if separate attribution is added in the final output.

To use tiles without embedded watermarks, a separate, non–Azure Maps tileset must be created (for example, from own elevation data as described for custom elevation/contour tiles) and hosted independently, then consumed in QGIS or via an Azure Maps TileLayer.

References:

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Can Azure Maps XYZ tiles be generated without embedded watermark?

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