Reusable Source

Updating a tile source by changing the URL.

You can call source.setUrl() to update the URL for a tile source. Note that when you change the URL for a tile source, existing tiles will not be replaced until new tiles are loaded. If you are interested instead in clearing currently rendered tiles, you can call the source.refresh() method. Alternatively, you can use two separate sources if you want to remove rendered tiles and start over loading new tiles.

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Reusable Source</title>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://openlayers.org/en/v4.6.4/css/ol.css" type="text/css">
    <!-- The line below is only needed for old environments like Internet Explorer and Android 4.x -->
    <script src=""></script>
    <script src="https://openlayers.org/en/v4.6.4/build/ol.js"></script>
  </head>
  <body>
    <div id="map" class="map"></div>
    <button class="switcher" value="0">January</button>
    <button class="switcher" value="1">January (with bathymetry)</button>
    <button class="switcher" value="2">July</button>
    <button class="switcher" value="3">July (with bathymetry)</button>
    <script>
      var urls = [
        'https://{a-c}.tiles.mapbox.com/v3/mapbox.blue-marble-topo-jan/{z}/{x}/{y}.png',
        'https://{a-c}.tiles.mapbox.com/v3/mapbox.blue-marble-topo-bathy-jan/{z}/{x}/{y}.png',
        'https://{a-c}.tiles.mapbox.com/v3/mapbox.blue-marble-topo-jul/{z}/{x}/{y}.png',
        'https://{a-c}.tiles.mapbox.com/v3/mapbox.blue-marble-topo-bathy-jul/{z}/{x}/{y}.png'
      ];

      var source = new ol.source.XYZ();

      var map = new ol.Map({
        target: 'map',
        layers: [
          new ol.layer.Tile({
            source: source
          })
        ],
        view: new ol.View({
          center: [0, 0],
          zoom: 2
        })
      });


      function updateUrl(index) {
        source.setUrl(urls[index]);
      }

      var buttons = document.getElementsByClassName('switcher');
      for (var i = 0, ii = buttons.length; i < ii; ++i) {
        var button = buttons[i];
        button.addEventListener('click', updateUrl.bind(null, Number(button.value)));
      }

      updateUrl(0);
    </script>
  </body>
</html>