Chris Youderian is a web developer living in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is the founder of SimpleMaps, an interactive map library and customization tool. He loves the web and enjoys creating things with JavaScript and Python.
Interactive maps are a fantastic way to present geographic data to your visitors. Libraries like Google Maps and Open Street Maps are a popular choice to do this and they excel at visualizing street-level data. However, for small-scale maps, SVG maps are often a better option. They are lightweight, fully customizable and are not encumbered by any licensing restrictions.
It’s possible to find a number of SVG maps released under permissible licenses in the Wikimedia Commons. Unfortunately, it’s likely that you will eventually find these options lacking. The map you need may not exist, may be out of date (as borders change), or may not be well-formatted for web use. This article will explain how to create your own SVG maps using Natural Earth data and open source tools. You will then be able to create SVG maps of any area of the world, using any projection, at any resolution. As an illustration, we will create an SVG world map.
Read more…
