Book Image

Mastering OpenLayers 3

By : Gábor Farkas
Book Image

Mastering OpenLayers 3

By: Gábor Farkas

Overview of this book

OpenLayers 3 allows you to create stunning web mapping and WebGIS applications. It uses modern, cutting edge browser technologies. It is written with Closure Library, enabling you to build browser-independent applications without painful debugging ceremonies, which even have some limited fallback options for older browsers. With this guide, you will be introduced to the world of advanced web mapping and WebGIS. First, you will be introduced to the advanced features and functionalities available in OpenLayers 3. Next, you will be taken through the key points of creating custom applications with OpenLayers 3. You will then learn how to create the web mapping application of yours (or your company's) dream with this open source, expense-free, yet very powerful library. We’ll also show you how to make amazing looking thematic maps and create great effects with canvas manipulation. By the end of this book, you will have a strong command of web mapping and will be well on your way to creating amazing applications using OpenLayers 3.

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Mastering OpenLayers 3
Gábor Farkas
Jan, 2016 | 308 pages
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Table of Contents (17 chapters)
Mastering OpenLayers 3
Mastering OpenLayers 3
Credits
Credits
About the Author
About the Author
About the Reviewer
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Preface
Free Chapter
1
Creating Simple Maps with OpenLayers 3
Creating Simple Maps with OpenLayers 3
Before getting started
Structure of OpenLayers 3
Building the layout
Using the API documentation
Debugging the code
Summary
2
Applying Custom Styles
Applying Custom Styles
Before getting started
Customizing the default appearance
Styling vector layers
Customizing the appearance with JavaScript
Creating a WebGIS client layout
Summary
3
Working with Layers
Working with Layers
Before getting started
Building a layer tree
Adding layers dynamically
Adding vector layers with the File API
Adding vector layers with a library
Removing layers dynamically
Changing layer attributes
Changing the layer order with the Drag and Drop API
Clearing the message bar
Summary
4
Using Vector Data
Using Vector Data
Before getting started
Accessing attributes
Setting attributes
Validating attributes
Creating thematic layers
Saving vector data
Saving with WFS-T
Modifying the geometry
Summary
5
Creating Responsive Applications with Interactions and Controls
Creating Responsive Applications with Interactions and Controls
Before getting started
Building the toolbar
Mapping interactions to controls
Building a set of feature selection controls
Adding new vector layers
Building a set of drawing tools
Modifying and snapping to features
Creating new interactions
Building a measuring control
Summary
6
Controlling the Map – View and Projection
Controlling the Map – View and Projection
Before getting started
Customizing a view
Constraining a view
Creating a navigation history
Working with extents
Rotating a view
Changing the map's projection
Creating custom animations
Summary
7
Mastering Renderers
Mastering Renderers
Before getting started
Using different renderers
Creating a WebGL map
Drawing lines and polygons with WebGL
Blending layers
Clipping layers
Exporting a map
Creating a raster calculator
Creating a convolution matrix
Clipping a layer with WebGL
Summary
8
OpenLayers 3 for Mobile
OpenLayers 3 for Mobile
Before getting started
Responsive styling with CSS
Generating geocaches
Adding device-dependent controls
Vectorizing the mobile version
Making the mobile application interactive
Summary
9
Tools of the Trade – Integrating Third-Party Applications
Tools of the Trade – Integrating Third-Party Applications
Before getting started
Exporting a QGIS project
Importing shapefiles
Spatial analysis with Turf
Spatial analysis with JSTS
3D rendering with Cesium
Summary
10
Compiling Custom Builds with Closure
Compiling Custom Builds with Closure
Before getting started
Configuring Node JS
Compiling OpenLayers 3
Bundling an application with OpenLayers 3
Extending OpenLayers 3
Creating rich documentation with JSDoc
Summary
Index
Index

Before getting started

Take a look at the code provided with the book. You should see a js folder in which the required libraries are stored. For the first few chapters, ol.js, and ol.css in the ol3-3.11.0 folder will be sufficient. The code is also available on GitHub. You can download a copy from the following URL: https://github.com/GaborFarkas/mastering_openlayers3/releases. Take a look at the following screenshot:

Note

You can download the latest release of OpenLayers 3 from its GitHub repository at https://github.com/openlayers/ol3/releases. For now, grabbing the distribution version (v3.11.0-dist.zip) should be enough.

Creating a working environment

There is a security restriction in front end development, called Cross Origin Resource Sharing (CORS). By default, this restriction prevents the application from grabbing content from a different domain. On top of that, some browsers disallow reaching content from the hard drive when a web page is opened from the file system. To prevent this behavior, please make sure you possess one of the following:

  • A running web server (highly recommended)

  • Firefox web browser with security.fileuri.strict_origin_policy set to false (you can reach flags in Firefox by opening about:config from the address bar)

  • Google Chrome web browser started with the --disable-web-security parameter (make sure you have closed every other instance of Chrome before disabling security)

  • Safari web browser with Disable Local File Restrictions (in the Develop menu, which can be enabled in the Advanced tab of Preferences)

Tip

You can easily create a web server if you have Python 2 with SimpleHTTPServer, or if you have Python 3 with http.server. For basic tutorials, you can consult the appropriate Python documentation pages.

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