Getting started with OpenLayers
Introduction
OpenLayers is a complete JavaScript library for creating simple like advanced maps. It uses a permissive BSD open-source license so can be incorporated into any site without legal worries. Its source code is available on GitHub.
Here, we restrict ourselves to a small, self-contained example and refer to the official tutorials and API for elaborate usages.
Getting started
Copy the following content to a file openlayers.html and open it in your browser:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8" />
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, maximum-scale=1.0, user-scalable=no">
<title>Simple Map</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="http://openlayers.org/en/v3.18.2/css/ol.css" type="text/css">
<style>
html, body {
height: 100%;
padding: 0;
margin: 0;
}
#map {
/* configure the size of the map */
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
}
</style>
<!-- The line below is only needed for old environments like Internet Explorer and Android 4.x -->
<script src="http://cdn.polyfill.io/v2/polyfill.min.js?features=requestAnimationFrame,Element.prototype.classList,URL"></script>
<script src="http://openlayers.org/en/v3.18.2/build/ol.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
<div id="map" class="map"></div>
<div id="popup" style="padding: 10px;background-color: white;"></div>
<script>
var map = new ol.Map({
layers: [
new ol.layer.Tile({
// This illustrates a custom tiles source but for using
// official OpenStreetMap server new ol.source.OSM()
// instead of new ol.source.XYZ(...) is enough
source: new ol.source.XYZ({
attributions: [
ol.source.OSM.ATTRIBUTION,
'Tiles courtesy of ' +
'<a href="http://openstreetmap.org">' +
'OpenStreetMap' +
'</a>'
],
url: 'http://{a-c}.tile.openstreetmap.org/{z}/{x}/{y}.png'
})
})
],
controls: ol.control.defaults({
// Set to display OSM attributions on the bottom right control
attributionOptions: {
collapsed: false
}
}).extend([
new ol.control.ScaleLine() // Add scale line to the defaults controls
]),
target: 'map',
view: new ol.View({
center: ol.proj.fromLonLat([0, 0]),
zoom: 2
})
});
// Add vector layer with a feature and a style using an icon
var vectorLayer = new ol.layer.Vector({
source: new ol.source.Vector({
features: [
new ol.Feature({
geometry: new ol.geom.Point(
ol.proj.fromLonLat([0, 0])
),
name: 'The center of the world'
})
]
}),
style: new ol.style.Style({
image: new ol.style.Icon({
anchor: [0.5, 46],
anchorXUnits: 'fraction',
anchorYUnits: 'pixels',
src: 'http://openlayers.org/en/latest/examples/data/icon.png'
})
})
});
map.addLayer(vectorLayer);
// Overlay to manage popup on the top of the map
var popup = document.getElementById('popup');
var overLay = new ol.Overlay({
element: popup,
position: ol.proj.fromLonLat([0, 0])
});
map.addOverlay(overLay);
// Manage click on the map to display/hide popup
map.on('click', function(e) {
var info = [];
map.forEachFeatureAtPixel(e.pixel, function (feature) {
info.push(feature.get('name'));
});
if (info.length > 0) {
popup.innerHTML = info.join(',');
popup.style.display = 'inline';
} else {
popup.innerHTML = ' ';
popup.style.display = 'none';
}
});
</script>
</body>
</html>Further links
You want to …
- use a different background? → Openlayers natively supports TMS and WMS. See Openlayers official examples and the API to see which options are supported.
- add all of your company’s locations? → Provide them as GeoJSON and include them in the map.
- use a different map projection? → OpenLayers support all Proj4 projections as long as you include proj4js JavaScript library. Moreover, client-side raster reprojection is supported so you can use OpenStreetMap tiles in your local projection.