Web Cartography 7

Leaflet basics

written for 0.7.x

Pros

open-source
lightweight
extensible with plugins
clean API
easy-to-understand
not too much OOP clutter
proj4 support
used by Mapbox and many more

Cons

no basemap included (OSM ftw)
development a bit too slow

L.*

Options are almost always optional (wow) and passed as an object. Behold:

var map = L.map("map", {
    option1: false,
    option2: true
});

Syntax sugar

new L.Map("map") = L.map("map"); // because of class factories

Passing options

Always peep into the docs before reinventing the wheel

Fluent interface

map.setZoom(5)
    .setView([10, 10])
    .addLayer(layer); // very addictive

L.map

the most important class
no L.map means no fun
no center and zoom means no map

var options = {
    center: [0, 0],
    zoom: 5
    // other properties (see the docs!)
};

var map = L.map(document.getElementById("map"), options); // produces the same as
var map = L.map("map", options);

Raster layers

L.tileLayer

no basemap, remember?
implements ILayer interface

L.tileLayer('http://{s}.tile.osm.org/{z}/{x}/{y}.png').addTo(map);

L.tileLayer.wms
L.tileLayer.canvas
L.imageOverlay

Vector layers

Vector layers inherit from abstract L.path class

and implement ILayer interface

L.path
- L.polyline
- L.polygon
  - L.rectangle
- L.circle
  - L.circleMarker

They all share methods and properties defined by L.path!

Thanks to the ILayer interface you add them the same way like raster layers