Leaflet is a powerful Javascript library for interactive maps. I’ve wanted to have a go at using Leaflet for a while, but learning Javascript for just one library seemed over the top. Thankfully I’ve recently found Folium – a python package that makes it easy to produce a Python Leaflet map.

A Simple Python Leaflet Map

Here’s a simple example of the kind of map that is possible in Leaflet (taken from a post of mine). This example has a base layer of an OpenStreetMap map centred on Colchester in the UK. Overlaid on the map are some markers, which when you click on them reveal a label indicating the location of the marker (in this case public toilets).

Find out more about this map, and download the python code here.

How to Install Folium

For a full install guide visit the Folium docs, but to get you going you can just run

$ pip install folium

Creating a map is then simple:

import folium
map_osm = folium.Map(location=[45.5236, -122.6750])
map_osm.save('london.html')

which saves a map that looks a bit like this:

Visit the Folium Getting Started guide for more tips to get you going.

Folium Features

Visit the Folium pypi page for more about its features. You can also find a features library filled with examples here and here.

Folium is still very much under development, so also check out the project’s github page for more updates and information.