Map libraries

Mapy.cz REST API is a data and functional API. Therefore, it is not tied to any specific display technology or component. Developers can choose a display technology that best suits their project. The common approach is to utilize one of the existing Map Libraries.

Map library/map renderer takes care of displaying the map, composing it from individual map tiles, panning, zooming, animations, rendering additional data and layers on top of the map, and other map-related functions.

We can recommend the following open-source JavaScript map libraries:

• Leaflet – a popular library used for creating web mapping applications based on raster map tiles. It has a small library size (only 42kB).
• OpenLayers – a robust library that works with both raster and vector map data. It has a larger library size (and more features) compared to Leaflet.
• MapLibre – a library that uses WebGL and focuses on working with vector tiles, but also supports raster tiles. It is based on the last open-source version of mapbox-gl-js and is further developed independently.
• Cesium JS – a library for 3D geospatial visualization.

You can see specific implementations for some libraries in the Tutorials.