How to display a map in Angular using MapLibre GL JS

In this step-by-step tutorial, you’ll learn how to create an Angular component to render a map using MapLibre GL JS. Together we will make a simple full-screen map application, serving as a practical example of how to seamlessly integrate MapTiler maps with MapLibre GL JS into your Angular app.

By the end of this tutorial, you will be able to create a full-screen map with a marker placed at a specified location. Your final map will look like this:

Getting started

Minimal requirements for completing this tutorial.

• Some experience with Angular You don’t need a lot of experience using Angular for this tutorial, but you should be familiar with basic concepts and workflow.

• MapTiler API key. Your MapTiler account access key is on your MapTiler Cloud account page or Get API key for FREE.

• MapLibre GL JS. JavaScript library for building web maps. In this tutorial, you will learn how to install it.

• Node.js and npm. Necessary to run your Angular app locally. Node.js

• Angular CLI. You need to have the Angular CLI installed. To install the Angular CLI, open a terminal window and run the following command:

npm install -g @angular/cli

Create an app

In this step, we are going to learn how to create an Angular app.

To create a new Angular project, run in your command-line:

ng new my-angular-map

The ng new command prompts you for information about features to include in the initial app. Accept the defaults by pressing the Enter or Return key. This installs the necessary Angular npm packages and other dependencies and creates a new workspace and a simple Welcome app, ready to run. For more information, follow Create a workspace and initial application.

Navigate to the newly created project folder my-angular-map

cd my-angular-map

Inside the newly created project folder, run ng serve --open to start your local environment. You will find your app running on the address http://localhost:4200/.

Now you should see the app in your browser.

Installation and setting up

Install MapLibre GL library and TypeScript types for our map. Navigate to your project folder and run the command:

npm i maplibre-gl @types/maplibre-gl @types/geojson

Open the tsconfig.json file and add the allowSyntheticDefaultImports: true option to the compilerOptions list:

Next, you will need to include the MapLibre CSS file in the global CSS file. In our case, located at src/styles.css

@import '~maplibre-gl/dist/maplibre-gl.css';

Now we will create a global styling for our app. Add the following code to your styles.css file:

body {
  margin: 0;
  font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', 'Roboto', 'Oxygen',
    'Ubuntu', 'Cantarell', 'Fira Sans', 'Droid Sans', 'Helvetica Neue',
    sans-serif;
  -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;
  -moz-osx-font-smoothing: grayscale;
}

code {
  font-family: source-code-pro, Menlo, Monaco, Consolas, 'Courier New',
    monospace;
}

Now navigate to the src/app folder and delete all the content of the app.component.html file

Write the following lines in the app.component.html file

<div class="App">
  This is my map App
</div>

Now you should see “This is my map App“ in your browser.

Open the app.component.css file and add these lines to center the content:

.App {
  text-align: center;
}

Create a navbar component

In this step, we will create a simple heading navbar component.

To create a new Angular component run in your command-line:

ng generate component navbar

Navigate to the newly created component folder src/app/navbar

Remove the placeholder element in the template file created by the Angular CLI (called navbar.component.html) and write the following lines:

<div class="heading">
  <h1>This is my map App</h1>
</div>

Next, we are going to stylize our component to make a black navbar. Open the navbar.component.css file and write these lines:

.heading {
  margin: 0;
  padding: 0px;
  background-color: black;
  color: white;
}

.heading > h1 {
  padding: 20px;
  margin: 0;
}

The generator automatically added the NavbarComponent to the AppModule to make it available to other components in the application.

Finally, to display the NavbarComponent as a child of the element of AppComponent, add the <app-navbar> element to app.component.html. Replace the text This is my map App with <app-navbar></app-navbar>. Your app.component.html file should look like this:

Now you should see the black navbar at the top of your browser.

Create a map component

In this step, we will create a simple map component. To create the map component run in your command-line:

ng generate component map

Navigate to the newly created component folder src/app/map

Remove the placeholder element in the template file created by the Angular CLI (called map.component.html) and write the following lines:

Next, we are going to stylize our component to make a full-screen map. Open the map.component.css file and write these lines:

.map-wrap {
  position: relative;
  width: 100%;
  height: calc(100vh - 77px); /* calculate height of the screen minus the heading */
}

.map {
  position: absolute;
  width: 100%;
  height: 100%;
}

.watermark {
  position: absolute;
  left: 10px;
  bottom: 10px;
  z-index: 999;
}

We use position: absolute on the map itself and position: relative on the wrap around the map for more possibilities in future styling.

Now we are going to modify the logic of our component to create a map using MapLibre GL. Open the map.component.ts file and update the top of the file to import ViewChild, ElementRef, AfterViewInit, OnDestroy from @angular/core.

Add the AfterViewInit, OnDestroy lifecycle hooks to the MapComponent

Right after the @angular/core imports, import the Map object from MapLibre GL

Create the map property where we are going to save the MapLibre map object. Write the following line just before the constructor function:

Add the reference to the element where the map will be displayed. On the line next to the map property, add these lines:

We use @ViewChild to get an instance of the native element <div class = "map" #map></div> declared in the component template map.component.html

Define the ngAfterViewInit function to create our map. After the ngOnInit function, add these lines:

Here you will need to replace YOUR_MAPTILER_API_KEY_HERE with your actual MapTiler API key.

1. The container option sets the DOM element in which the map will be rendered. We will assign the ElementRef (obtained thanks to the @ViewChild) expected by our component to an HTML element, which will act as a container. Keep in mind that it can only be used after the execution of the ngAfterViewInit hook.

2. The style option defines what style is the map going to use.

3. The center and zoom options set the starting position of the map.

Define the ngOnDestroy function for cleanup that needs to occur when the instance is destroyed. After the ngAfterViewInit function write:

Your map.component.ts file should look like this:

Render a map

Finally, to display the MapComponent as a child of the element of AppComponent, add the <app-map> element to app.component.html. Your app.component.html file should look like this:

With everything done up until now, you should be able to see your beautiful map in your browser.

Basic additional options

The last topic of this tutorial will be adding basic objects to your map. For more detailed information you can visit the MapLibre documentation.

Map Controls

We will navigate back to our map.component.ts file and add map navigation controls to our map.

Add the NavigationControl next to the Map object import from MapLibre GL.

On line 28 (just after the initialization of the map) of the map.component.ts file, add the following line:

new NavigationControl() will create a new controls object which we add to the current map using the addControl() function in the 'top-right' position.

Map marker

Another basic thing to add to your map could be a marker of some location.

Add the Marker next to the Map object import from MapLibre GL.

In the following line where we declare the navigation control, we add these lines:

We create a new marker using the Marker function. We added the color option to make it red, then set Lng/Lat of the marker using .setLngLat() function, and finally added it to the current map using .addTo() function.

We are finished with our basic map objects, your map.component.ts file should look like this:

Full code to download

We have created a template with the result of this tutorial that will serve as a basis to build future applications. You can access the template repository at Angular template for MapLibre.

Online demo:

You can see an online demo at https://labs.maptiler.com/angular-template-maplibre-gl-js/

Conclusion

Congratulations! You have finished your simple full-screen map app using Angular, showing Tokyo with a marker on Tokyo Imperial Palace. You can explore more about MapLibre GL JS for your map in the MapLibre API reference.

Useful links

MapTiler - JavaScript Maps API

Angular - Getting started

NPM - MapLibre GL

MapLibre official web

MapTiler Cloud - Customize

Learn more

Angular with MapTiler maps

If you’re looking to develop Angular applications with MapTiler SDK JS, check out our tutorial titled Angular with MapTiler maps. This step-by-step tutorial will provide you with the necessary guidance and examples to create an Angular component that leverages the power of MapTiler SDK JS mapping library to render maps.