Map Component
The Map component is the central orchestrator of the Leaflet library, responsible for managing the map view, coordinating layers, handling user interactions, and maintaining the geographic state. It serves as the primary interface between application code and the underlying mapping functionality, providing methods for view manipulation, layer management, and event handling.
For information about the event system that Map extends, see Events System. For details about coordinate systems and projections that Map uses, see Geographic Coordinates and Projections.
Class Structure and Inheritance
The Map class extends Evented, inheriting comprehensive event handling capabilities while adding map-specific functionality for view management, layer coordination, and user interaction.
Initialization and Lifecycle
The Map initialization process involves container setup, DOM structure creation, event binding, and handler registration. The Map can be instantiated with either a DOM element ID or an HTMLElement reference.
View State Management
The Map maintains geographical view state through center coordinates, zoom level, and bounds. View changes trigger events and coordinate system transformations throughout the layer hierarchy.
Layer Coordination
The Map serves as the central coordinator for all layers, managing their lifecycle, z-index ordering, and event propagation. It maintains layer collections and handles zoom level constraints from tile layers.
DOM Container and Panes
The Map creates a hierarchical DOM structure with specialized panes for different types of content. This structure enables proper layering, event handling, and CSS styling of map elements.
Coordinate System Integration
The Map integrates closely with the coordinate reference system (CRS) to handle transformations between geographical coordinates and pixel coordinates at different zoom levels.
Event System Integration
The Map extends the Evented class and serves as the central event hub, handling DOM events, layer events, and custom map events while providing event delegation and propagation.
Animation and Transitions
The Map provides sophisticated animation capabilities for smooth view transitions, including pan animations, zoom animations, and the advanced flyTo animation that combines panning and zooming.
