Leaflet

While modern programming languages can accomplish a lot on their own, making a site or app that really stands out from the crowd often requires the use of external libraries. Leaflet is a particularly specific library built off of JavaScript, designed to expedite the process of incorporating maps into a site or application. The specificity of its focus allows Leaflet to accomplish its goals admirably, putting it in competition with more well-backed, closed source map design programs like the Bing Maps API and the Google Maps API. The first thing developers will probably notice about Leaflet is how compact it is. The entire library weighs in at 38 kilobytes, making it light and easy to deploy. But it manages to pack a lot into its small frame. Developers who have used the Google Maps API will find Leaflet familiar, as it builds off of many of the same principles. Deploying your map is as easy as nesting it in a CSS div, and from there, you have a number of customization options available to you. Leaflet uses tile layers to achieve its results, and that means that developers can scale their map's functionality to their specific needs. Moreover, by allowing users to stratify their map's features into different layers, you can segregate various functions of your displayed map and make adjustments while spending less time worrying about the effect these changes will have on different aspects of your code. The basic library contains all the functions that users come to expect from a modern web-based map. This includes map dragging, marker dragging, and zoom functionality customized for intuitive use with both desktops and mobile devices. Keyboards and touch gestures are both supported and easily implemented into the maps. Stylistic elements like animations for zooming and popup fades can help your site or app stand apart from the pack. The default UI is clean and easy on the eye, but developers have further control of how they want their maps to look with prepackaged customization options. Pure CCS3 popups and controls mean that web developers can easily style their maps using a language they're comfortable with, and image and HTML based markers provide more versatility to the customization experience. Leaflet's core library lacks some of the fundamental features that Google Maps and Bing Maps can offer. Since Leaflet is open source rather than proprietary software from a major company, developers won't have access to the updated satellites and GPS information you'll find from these larger companies. But this commitment to open source design is also one of Leaflet's major strengths. The community around Leaflet is large, and the crowdsourced nature of its development means that bugs are usually ironed out quickly. This also means that there's a vast resource of external plug-ins that fill in many of the features not available in the core library, and since Leaflet runs on JavaScript, there's no need to learn a new interface.