Note: As of 2021, this tool has been deprecated and the repository is no longer being maintained.

Pinpoint

A JavaScript library for creating beautifully simple maps in seconds, developed at The Wall Street Journal.

• Example on WSJ.com
• Blog post

Features

• Map settings are stored in a simple JSON format and can be generated using Pinpoint Editor.
• Fully responsive with touch-friendly "click-to-activate" behaviour.
• Powered by the awesome Leaflet.js.

Quickstart

Include:

• pinpoint.js
• pinpoint.css
• Leaflet (both the JS and CSS)
• Leaflet Minimap (both the JS and CSS)

In terms of HTML, just a single div is needed:

<div class="map-container"></div>

Then in your JavaScript file:

var options = {
    "element": ".map-container",
    "aspect-ratio": "wide",
    "dek": "",
    "hed": "The U.K.",
    "lat": 51.5049378,
    "lon": -0.0870377,
    "minimap": false,
    "zoom": 4,
    "markers": [
        {
            "lat": 51.5049378,
            "lon": -0.0870377,
            "text": "London"
        }
    ]
};
var map = new Pinpoint( options );

Options

Pinpoint accepts a JavaScript object for configuration.

option	type	default	description
element	string	"#map-el"	CSS selector for map parent element.
aspect-ratio	string	(required)	The shape of the map: "wide" (3x2), "square" (1x1), or "tall" (5x6)
lat	number	(required)	Latitude for map centre.
lon	number	(required)	Longitude for map centre.
markers	array	(required)	Array of markers/icons on map (see below for details).
zoom	number	(required)	Initial zoom level of map.
hed	string	(blank)	Headline for map (optional).
dek	string	(blank)	Dek for map (optional).
note	string	(blank)	Note to go below map (optional).
minimap	boolean	false	Set to true to enables zoomed-out smaller map in corner.
minimap-zoom-offset	number	-5	Zoom level of minimap relative to main map zoom. Should always be below 0.
basemap	string	"http://{s}.tile.osm.org/{z}/{x}/{y}.png"	Leaflet tile layer URL template (optional)
basemapCredit	string	"Leaflet | © OpenStreetMap contributors"	Credit for tilelayer. Goes at bottom, below note. (optional)
creation	boolean	false	Set to `true tot enables "creation mode" for use in admin tool.
dragend	function	undefined	Anonymous function called on Leaflet dragend event (ie. when dragging/panning map).
zoomend	function	undefined	Anonymous function called on Leaflet zoomend event (ie. when zooming).
markerdragend	function	undefined	Anonymous function called on Leaflet marker dragend event (ie. when dragging a marker around the map). Only works when creation is true.

Marker options

Markers are stored as an array of objects.

option	type	default	description
lat	number	(required)	Latitude of point.
lon	number	(required)	Longitude of point.
text	string	(blank)	Text for marker callout.
icon	string	"square"	Marker icon style: "circle", "square" or "none".
label	string	"callout"	Marker label style: "callout" or "plain".
label-direction	string	"north"	Marker label direction. Available directions varies between label styles.

Example configuration JSON

{
    "aspect-ratio": "wide",
    "dek": "",
    "hed": "The U.K.",
    "lat": 51.5049378,
    "lon": -0.0870377,
    "minimap": false,
    "minimap-zoom-offset": -5,
    "zoom": 4,
    "markers": [
        {
            "icon": "circle",
            "label": "plain",
            "label-direction": "north",
            "lat": 51.5049378,
            "lon": -0.0870377,
            "text": "London"
        },
        {
            "icon": "circle",
            "label": "plain",
            "label-direction": "north",
            "lat": 53.4779669,
            "lon": -2.0613722,
            "text": "Manchester"
        }
    ]
}

Public methods

• .remove(): Reset map container to empty element.

Compiling dist folder

You must have npm and grunt installed.

• npm install
• grunt (this will also run tests)

Note that the images in src/img are not auto-compiled - if they're changed, the SVG code will need to be copied into pinpoint.js.

Customising styles

The look of the map and its markers is mostly controlled with CSS/SASS. These files can be found in src/scss:

• main: Head and deck, scale line style
• overlay: "Zoom/pan" icon
• markers: Square, circle and plain/invisible marker styles
• marker-label-callout: Callout label with north and south styles
• marker-label-plain: Plain label with N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W and NW styles
• geojson: Styles for geojson objects

To change the map's basemap/tilelayer, use the basemap configuration variable. See above for more details.

Running tests

Tests are carried out with QUnit. To run tests, either open the HTML files in the test/ folder individually, or install NPM and Grunt (see above for details) and run grunt test.

Changelog

v1.1.1 (July 17, 2015)

• Fixed marker position bug

v1.1.0 (July 17, 2015)

• Removed jQuery dependency

v1.0.1 (July 9, 2015)

• Fix bug when no head or deck
• Throw useful error if Leaflet is missing
• Add basic tests

v1.0.0

• Initial release