When working with the ArcGIS JavaScript API, one of the first things you'll want to do is to create a map. The map transforms a simple div element into an interactive canvas where you can display, request, and even edit geographic data. The map is a complicated object, so we'll spend a significant amount of time focusing on it. Let's learn how to make a map in our scripts.
When a map is first created using the ArcGIS JavaScript API, the developer has numerous parameters that can be used to configure the map. We were exposed to some of those parameters in the previous chapter, when we created our first map application. Let's look into a few of them a little more closely.