tak-live-traffic-guide

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tak-live-traffic-guide

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Live Google traffic overlay in ATAK (no plugin, custom map source XML) and OmniTAK — verified guide with screenshots and source-level receipts

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- atak-seattle-regional-traffic.png
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**TL;DR:** Yes, this works in stock ATAK with zero plugins. ATAK's built-in "mobile map source" XML support (the same MOBAC-style XML it ships NRL/OSM sources with) can point at Google's traffic tile endpoint. You sideload one small XML file; no APK, no VNS, nothing your MDM will flag as an app install. OmniTAK-Android does it with even less work: paste one URL into Settings. Verified on real hardware 2026-06-10.

![ATAK roads + traffic, Seattle rush hour](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/engindearing-projects/tak-live-traffic-guide/main/assets/atak-seattle-roads-traffic.png)

---

## How it works

Google serves its map tiles (including the traffic layer) from a public, keyless XYZ endpoint:

| Layer | URL pattern | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Roadmap + traffic | `https://mt1.google.com/vt/lyrs=m,traffic&x={x}&y={y}&z={z}` | Full Google road map with traffic colors baked in |
| Traffic overlay (transparent) | `https://mt1.google.com/vt/lyrs=h,traffic&x={x}&y={y}&z={z}` | Roads/labels/traffic on transparency — for compositing over satellite |
| Satellite | `https://mt1.google.com/vt/lyrs=s&x={x}&y={y}&z={z}` | Imagery base for the composite |

`mt0`–`mt3` are interchangeable mirrors. The tiles are served with `Cache-Control: max-age=60` — Google considers them stale after 60 seconds, which is what makes "live" possible.

**Is the traffic actually live?** Yes. The colors (green/orange/red/dark-red) are Google's real-time congestion layer, the same one you see in Google Maps, rendered into the tile at request time.

---

## ATAK setup (no plugin — work-profile friendly)

### 1. Create the map source XML

`google-traffic.xml` — roadmap with traffic, auto-refreshing every 2 minutes:

```xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<customMapSource>
    <name>Google Roads + Live Traffic</name>
    <minZoom>0</minZoom>
    <maxZoom>20</maxZoom>
    <tileType>png</tileType>
    <url>https://{$serverpart}.google.com/vt/lyrs=m,traffic&amp;x={$x}&amp;y={$y}&amp;z={$z}&amp;hl=en</url>
    <serverParts>mt0 mt1 mt2 mt3</serverParts>
    <tileUpdate>120000</tileUpdate>
</customMapSource>
```

Notes, verified against ATAK-CIV 5.6 source:

- **`tileUpdate` is in MILLISECONDS.** `120000` = 2 minutes. The value feeds `MobacTileReader`, which marks all cached tiles expired and re-downloads when the interval elapses (`MobacTileReader.java:173-178` → `cacheControl.expireTiles(...)`). If you put `120` thinking seconds, you'll hammer Google every draw frame.
- Without `tileUpdate`, ATAK caches each tile for a minimum of **one week** (`MobacTileClient2.getTileData` clamps expiry to `now + ONE_WEEK_MILLIS`). Your "traffic" would be a week-old snapshot. This element is the whole trick.
- **Refresh fires on redraw, not on a wall clock.** ATAK renders on demand — the expiry check runs during map draw pumps. A completely static view (no GPS, no CoT activity, no touches) may not repaint, and therefore not re-fetch, until something redraws it. In practice this doesn't matter: a fielded EUD with a GPS lock repaints constantly (self-marker updates), so traffic stays live hands-off. Verified empirically: a static bench-test view held 19:04 tiles for 10+ minutes, then a single tiny pan refreshed the whole viewport to current traffic.
- `&` must be escaped as `&amp;` inside XML.
- ATAK-style placeholders are `{$x}/{$y}/{$z}` (dollar inside braces), plus `{$serverpart}` for mirror rotation and `{$q}` for quadkeys.

### 2. Optional: traffic over satellite imagery

ATAK can composite layers into one selectable map with `customMultiLayerMapSource`:

```xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<customMultiLayerMapSource>
    <name>Google Satellite + Traffic</name>
    <layers>
        <customMapSource>
            <name>Google Satellite (base)</name>
            <minZoom>0</minZoom>
            <maxZoom>20</maxZoom>
            <tileType>jpg</tileType>
            <url>https://{$serverpart}.google.com/vt/lyrs=s&amp;x={$x}&amp;y={$y}&amp;z={$z}</url>
            <serverParts>mt0 mt1 mt2 mt3</serverParts>
        </customMapSource>
        <customMapSource>
            <name>Google Traffic (overlay)</name>
            <minZoom>0</minZoom>
            <maxZoom>20</maxZoom>
            <tileType>png</tileType>
            <url>https://{$serverpart}.google.com/vt/lyrs=h,traffic&amp;x={$x}&amp;y={$y}&amp;z={$z}&amp;hl=en</url>
            <serverParts>mt0 mt1 mt2 mt3</serverParts>
        </customMapSource>
    </layers>
    <layersAlpha>1.0 1.0</layersAlpha>
</customMultiLayerMapSource>
```

**Caveat (from source):** `CustomMultiLayerMobacMapSource` implements the old `MobacMapSource` interface, not `MobacMapSource2`, so **`tileUpdate` is ignored on multilayer sources** — the composite won't auto-refresh. Traffic updates when you clear the cache or the week-long expiry lapses. For genuinely live traffic, use the single-source version above; use the multilayer one when a recent-ish snapshot over imagery is enough.

![ATAK satellite + traffic composite](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/engindearing-projects/tak-live-traffic-guide/main/assets/atak-seattle-satellite-traffic.png)

### 3. Install the XML

Copy the file(s) to:

```
/sdcard/atak/imagery/mobile/mapsources/
```

Any way of getting the file there works: USB/MTP file copy, `adb push`, download from an internal share. This is a data file, not an app — no install prompt, no plugin loading, nothing for an MDM allowlist to block. (If your employer's policy blocks even file sideloading, the file can also ship inside a data package.)

### 4. Select it

Restart ATAK (it scans `mapsources/` at startup) → toolbar **Maps** icon → **Mobile** tab → select **Google Roads + Live Traffic**. Keep "Map Source: Online" set. Done.

---

## OmniTAK setup (even simpler)

**Android (v0.35.1+, available today):**

1. Settings → **Map Tiles** → **Custom**
2. Paste: `https://mt1.google.com/vt/lyrs=m,traffic&x={x}&y={y}&z={z}`
3. Go back to the map.

OmniTAK accepts both `{z}/{x}/{y}` and ATAK-style `{$z}/{$x}/{$y}` placeholders and applies the source immediately, no restart. Because MapLibre honors the HTTP cache headers (`max-age=60`), tiles re-fetch with fresh traffic as you pan/zoom — no refresh config needed.

![OmniTAK Android, Taipei morning rush hour](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/engindearing-projects/tak-live-traffic-guide/main/assets/omnitak-android-taipei-traffic.png)

**iOS:** custom tile URLs aren't exposed yet — parity issue filed: [OmniTAK-iOS#57](https://github.com/engindearing-projects/OmniTAK-iOS/issues/57).

---

## Caveats and the licensed alternative

- **Terms of service.** The `mt#.google.com/vt` endpoint is unofficial and undocumented. Google's Maps Platform ToS doesn't bless raw tile scraping, and Google does not offer traffic as a licensed raster tile product (traffic is only officially available inside their Maps SDKs / JS API as `TrafficLayer`, which can't be embedded in TAK). Fine for personal/eval use; for an agency deployment, get a licensed source:
  - **TomTom Traffic Flow raster tiles** — official, free tier with API key: `https://api.tomtom.com/traffic/map/4/tile/flow/relative0/{$z}/{$x}/{$y}.png?key=YOUR_KEY` — drops straight into the same ATAK XML (it's a transparent overlay, pair it in a `customMultiLayerMapSource` or serve it via your own proxy that composites).
  - **HERE Traffic tiles** — similar official product.
- **Data egress.** On a work device, this sends your map viewport (tile coordinates) to google.com. If that matters operationally, route it through your own caching proxy or use the licensed alternatives pointed at your infrastructure.
- **No offline.** Traffic is inherently online-only. The base imagery still caches normally.
- **Refresh redraw.** ATAK repaints the layer when tiles expire; with `tileUpdate` at 2 min you may notice tiles flicker as they re-download. That's the refresh working.

---

## Verification receipts (2026-06-10)

- ATAK-CIV 5.6.0.17 (SDK apk) on Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ (SM-X210, Android 14): both sources scanned from `mapsources/`, selected under Maps → Mobile, live Seattle rush-hour congestion rendered (screenshots above).
- **Cold-restart persistence:** force-stopped and relaunched ATAK; both custom sources reappeared in Maps → Mobile with their tile caches intact (3.2 MB / 3.8 MB cached).
- **Ground truth:** side-by-side against the Google Maps web Live Traffic layer captured one minute apart (19:14 / 19:15 PT) — same road-closure icon north of Seattle, same red I-5 segment south of downtown, same yellow SR-167/Renton corridor, same green I-90:

![ATAK vs Google Maps ground truth](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/engindearing-projects/tak-live-traffic-guide/main/assets/atak-vs-google-maps-ground-truth.png)

- **Live refresh:** a view left untouched at 19:04 re-fetched the entire viewport to current traffic (new red segments that also appear in ground truth) on the first redraw after the `tileUpdate` interval elapsed.
- OmniTAK-Android v0.35.1 debug: custom tile URL via Settings, live Taipei rush-hour traffic.
- Behavior claims (`tileUpdate` units, week-long default cache, multilayer no-refresh, redraw-gated refresh) verified against ATAK-CIV 5.6 source (`takkernel/.../raster/mobac/`).

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