mapbox

What it is and what it does

The Mapbox Python SDK is a low-level HTTP client for Mapbox's geospatial web services. It wraps endpoints for directions (driving, walking, cycling profiles), geocoding (forward and reverse), map matching (snapping GPS traces to roads), static map rendering, data uploads, and tile queries. Each method returns raw HTTP response objects, giving you direct access to Mapbox's JSON payloads rather than abstracted resource objects.

The package depends on requests, boto3, polyline, uritemplate, and utility libraries for date handling and caching. It's designed for developers who need programmatic access to Mapbox services from Python and are comfortable working with HTTP responses directly. However, the repository is archived and unmaintained since 2022-08-01, meaning no new features, security patches, or compatibility updates will be released.

Use it for:

• Build a route optimization tool that calls Mapbox Directions to compute driving or walking paths between multiple points.
• Implement reverse geocoding to convert GPS coordinates into human-readable addresses in a location-based application.
• Snap noisy GPS traces from mobile devices to actual road networks using Map Matching to clean up tracking data.
• Generate static map images with GeoJSON overlays for reports, emails, or embedded visualizations.
• Query vector tilesets to retrieve feature data at specific geographic coordinates for spatial analysis.

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

A Python client library for Mapbox web services, providing low-level access to APIs for directions, geocoding, map matching, static maps, uploads, and other geospatial operations.

No, not for new projects. The package is abandoned (last release 2022-08-01, repository archived) and will receive no maintenance, security updates, or compatibility fixes. If you need Mapbox services in Python, evaluate current official Mapbox offerings or maintained alternatives. Only consider this package if maintaining legacy code that already depends on it.

Install

mapbox on PyPI

pip install mapbox

uv add mapbox

poetry add mapbox

Installing mapbox

Before you install

Low install friction with a pure-Python wheel distribution. However, the repository is archived and the last release was in August 2022. The package is marked as abandoned, so expect no maintenance, security updates, or bug fixes going forward.

License in practice

Licensed under MIT (permissive), so you can use, modify, and distribute the package freely with minimal restrictions.

Quickstart

pip install mapbox

from mapbox import Geocoder

geo = Geocoder(name='mapbox.places', access_token='YOUR_MAPBOX_ACCESS_TOKEN')
response = geo.forward('San Francisco')

Requires a valid Mapbox access token (available from your Mapbox account) to authenticate API requests.

Verify before relying

• Whether the Mapbox API endpoints this SDK targets remain stable and functional given the package's abandoned status.
• Compatibility with modern Python versions beyond 3.6, since the latest release predates recent Python releases.
• Whether dependency versions (boto3, requests, etc.) have drifted enough to cause runtime issues with current installations.

Package facts

Evidence: mapbox-0.18.1-py2.py3-none-any.whl

Tags

More WWW/HTTP packages