diff --git a/api-scripts/build-tiles.sh b/api-scripts/build-tiles.sh
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+#!/bin/bash
+
+# Simple script to convert shapefiles to mbtiles.
+#
+# Usage:
+#  * This script assumes your shapefiles are in the directory where the shapefiles are. 
+#  * Run the command as `bash build-tiles.sh`
+#
+# Dependencies:
+#  * ogr2ogr (GDAL)
+#  * tippecanoe (https://github.com/felt/tippecanoe)
+#  * tile-join (included with tippecanoe)
+
+GEOJSON_DIR=./geojsons
+MBTILES_DIR=./mbtiles
+
+mkdir -p $GEOJSON_DIR
+mkdir -p $MBTILES_DIR
+
+# TODO gpkg too?
+for i in **/*.shp; do
+  [ -f "$i" ] && echo ${i%.*}
+
+  # Use gdal to convert to geojson
+  mkdir -p $GEOJSON_DIR/$(dirname $i)
+  ogr2ogr -t_srs EPSG:4326 -f GeoJSON $GEOJSON_DIR/${i%.*}.geojson $i
+
+  # Use tippecanoe to convert to mbtiles
+  mkdir -p $MBTILES_DIR/$(dirname $i)
+  tippecanoe --force -zg -o $MBTILES_DIR/${i%.*}.mbtiles --drop-densest-as-needed $GEOJSON_DIR/${i%.*}.geojson
+done
+
+# Use tile-join to merge mbtiles
+#
+# --overzoom is significant here since it gets the separate tiles to work on the
+# same zooms
+tile-join --force --overzoom -o ${PWD##*/}.mbtiles $MBTILES_DIR/**/*.mbtiles
+
+# .mbtiles need a server to open them and serve the tiles within them.
+# Alternatively, we could output to a directory of vector tiles like this:
+#
+# tile-join --force --overzoom -output-to-directory=./vector-tiles $MBTILES_DIR/**/*.mbtiles