Previously (and still, according to the documentation) building a Map Snapshot URL required building the URL with all its parameters, and then signing it using your private key.
However, the URL created via the "Create a map" tool simply appends the pre-generated token on the end of the URL. And if I build a URL and do the same thing - append the token, but do not create a signature - the snapshot is generated correctly. (Omitting the token leads to a "not authenticated" message).
Is this a new, easier way to generate snapshots?
sebduggan
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For some reason this morning (5 December 2023, ~10:30am UTC) I have been experiencing intermittent WeatherKit API failures with a 404 Not Found status.
There is nothing wrong with the request itself: trying a minute or two later with the exact same request parameters and token returns a successful response.
I can see that it's not a transport issue between me and Apple, as the response I am getting is coming from the Apple servers:
<html>
<head>
<title>404 Not Found</title>
</head>
<body>
<center><h1>404 Not Found</h1></center>
<hr>
<center>Apple</center>
</body>
</html>
...and the responding server is AppleHttpServer.
Has anyone else seen this? Is it a regular occurrence, or are they just having a bad day?
The status codes returned for REST API queries give a good indication of the issue encountered. Generally:
200 is good
400 means you've passed in bad or incomplete parameters
401 is an authentication issue
However, there's a parameter validation inconsistency on the availability endpoint.
If you pass in out-of-range coordinates to the weather endpoint, you get the expected 400 response code.
But if you pass bad coordinates to the availability endpoint, it blows up and returns a 500 (internal server error).
I've got code that can deal with this response, but it would be much better to know exactly where the problem lies. 500 tells me there's an issue on the server that's out of my control...
I've noticed a load of 500 errors in my web inspector when viewing maps - it's trying to load /md/v1/shield? from the CDN.
Interestingly, it only seems to happen on UK and Ireland maps. Other countries don't even seem to try accessing these resources; but if you look at a map for UK or Ireland, then you will see dozens of failed requests for these shield resources.
I don't think it's anything to do with my implementation, as I can replicate it when looking at one of Apple's example maps and repositioning to view the UK.
Does anyone know why these shield resources are only used for the UK? And why they're not working?