node-red-contrib-web-worldmap

A Node-RED node to provide a world map web page for plotting "things" on.

Updates

• v1.5.36 - Fix contextmenu $name substitution. Issue #84
• v1.5.35 - Add msg.delete command to remove any layers not needed at start (array of names). Issue #83.
• v1.5.34 - Add command.contextmenu to set non-marker context menu (defaults to add marker).
• v1.5.33 - Let blank input disable contextmenu completely. Tidy up help, update dialog polyfill.
• v1.5.32 - Add .contextmenu custom right click menu, Fix map lock, Close websocket on unload
• v1.5.31 - Fix pan first at start, and coords overlay. Issues #81 and #82
• v1.5.30 - Add .tooltip option, ability to remove base layer, search on icon, show mouse pointer co-ordinates
• v1.5.29 - Remove lat/lon from popup if using .popup property. Allow icon to be loaded from http.
• v1.5.28 - Tidy up popup location and timing. Auto add countries overlay if no internet.
• v1.5.27 - Add hide right click option to config panel
• v1.5.26 - Ensure all map tiles loaded over https
• v1.5.25 - Add button command to allow user to add and remove buttons
• v1.5.24 - Ensure hiderightclick does do that, and popup always has close button. Issue #69, #70
• v1.5.23 - Let icon support use of emoji specified as :emoji name:
• v1.5.22 - Slight adjust to label positions for default map marker icon. Add .lineColor for bearing lines
• v1.5.21 - Add .label option to display permanent label. Clean up some excess debug logging
  • ...

see CHANGELOG for full list.

Install

Either use the Manage Palette option in the Node-RED Editor menu, or run the following command in your Node-RED user directory - typically ~/.node-red

    npm i --save node-red-contrib-web-worldmap

Usage

Plots "things" on a map. By default the map will be served from {httpRoot}/worldmap, but this can be configured in the configuration panel.

Use keyboard shortcut ⌘⇧m, ctrl-shift-m to jump to the map.

The minimum msg.payload must contain name, lat and lon properties, for example

    msg.payload = { "name":"Jason", "lat":51.05, "lon":-1.35 }

name must be a unique identifier across the whole map. Repeated location updates to the same name move the marker.

Optional properties include

• deleted : set to true to remove the named marker. (default false)
• draggable : set to true to allow marker to be moved. (default false)
• layer : specify a layer on the map to add marker to. (default unknown)
• speed : when combined with bearing, draws a vector.
• bearing : when combined with speed, draws a vector.
• accuracy : when combined with bearing, draws a polygon of possible direction.
• lineColor : CSS color name or #rrggbb value for bearing line or accuracy polygon
• icon : font awesome icon name, :emoji name:, or http://
• iconColor : Standard CSS colour name or #rrggbb hex value.
• SIDC : NATO symbology code (can be used instead of icon). See below.
• building : OSMbulding GeoJSON feature set to add 2.5D buildings to buildings layer. See below.
• ttl : time to live, how long an individual marker stays on map in seconds (overrides general maxage setting, minimum 20 seconds)
• photoUrl : adds an image pointed at by the url to the popup box.
• videoUrl : adds an mp4 video pointed at by the url to the popup box. Ideally 320x240 in size.
• weblink : adds a link to an external page for more information. Either set a url as a string, or an object like {"name":"BBC News", "url":"http://news.bbc.co.uk", "target":"_new"}
• addtoheatmap : set to false to exclude point from contributing to the heatmap layer. (default true)
• intensity : set to a value of 0.1 - 1.0 to set the intensity of the point on the heatmap layer. (default 1.0)
• popped : set to true to automatically open the popup info box, set to false to close it.
• popup : html to fill the popup if you don't want the automatic default of the properties list.
• label : displays the contents as a permanent label next to the marker, or
• tooltip : displays the contents when you hover over the marker. (Mutually exclusive with label. Label has priority)
• contextmenu : an html fragment to display on right click of marker - defaults to delete marker. You can specify $name to pass in the name of the marker. Set to "" to disable just this instance.

Any other msg.payload properties will be added to the icon popup text box. This can be overridden by using the popup property to supply your own html content.

Icons

You may select any of the Font Awesome set of icons. If you use the name without the fa- prefix (eg male) you will get the icon inside a generic marker shape. If you use the fa- prefix (eg fa-male) you will get the icon on its own.

You can also specify an emoji as the icon by using the :emoji name: syntax - for example :smile:. Here is a list of emojis.

Or you can specify an image to load as an icon by setting the icon to http(s)://... It will be scaled to 32x32 pixels. For example "https://img.icons8.com/windows/32/000000/bird.png"

There are also several special icons...

• plane : a plane icon that aligns with the bearing of travel.
• ship : a ship icon that aligns with the bearing of travel.
• car : a car icon that aligns with the bearing of travel.
• uav : a small plane icon that aligns with the bearing of travel.
• arrow : a map GPS arrow type pointer that aligns with the bearing of travel.
• wind : a wind arrow that points in the direction the wind is coming FROM.
• satellite : a small satellite icon.
• iss : a slightly larger icon for the ISS.
• locate : a 4 corner outline to locate a point without obscuring it.
• friend : pseudo NATO style blue rectangle.
• hostile : pseudo NATO style red circle.
• neutral : pseudo NATO style green square.
• unknown : pseudo NATO style yellow square.
• earthquake : black circle - diameter proportional to msg.mag.

NATO Symbology

You can use NATO symbols from milsymbol.js. To do this you need to supply a msg.SIDC instead of an icon, for example:

msg.payload = { "name": "Emergency Medical Operation",
    "lat": 51.05,
    "lon": -1.35,
    "SIDC": "ENOPA-------",
    "options": { "fillOpacity":0.8 }
}

SIDC codes can be generated using the online tool - https://spatialillusions.com/unitgenerator/

There are lots of extra options you can specify as msg.options - see the milsymbol docs here.

Buildings

The OSM Buildings layer is available in the layers menu. You can replace this with a building of your own by sending a msg.payload.command.map containing an overlay and a geojson property. The geojson property should be a GeoJSON Feature Collection as per the OSMBuildings spec. For example in a function node:

var geo = { "type": "FeatureCollection",
"features": [
  {
    "type": "Feature",
    "properties": {
      "color": "rgb(0,0,255)",
      "roofColor": "rgb(128,128,255)",
      "height": 20,
      "minHeight": 0
    },
    "geometry": {
      "type": "Polygon",
      "coordinates": [
        [
        [-1.356221,51.048611],
        [-1.356039,51.048672],
        [-1.355765,51.048311],
        [-1.355937,51.048237],
        [-1.356221,51.048611]
        ]
      ]
    }
  }
]
}
var m = {overlay:"Golf Clubhouse", geojson:geo, fit:true};
msg.payload = {command:{map:m, lat:51.0484, lon:-1.3558}};
return msg;

Note: the object you supply will replace the whole buildings layer. To delete the building send a msg with a name and the building property set to "" (blank string).

Buildings 3D view

A 3D map view has now been added as worldmap/index3d.html using the mapbox api - the msg can support msg.command.pitch and msg.command.bearing to angle the view, for example:

msg.payload = { "command": { "zoom":18, "pitch":60, "bearing":80 } }

The icon can be specified as a person, block, bar, or "anything else" - they will render slightly differently - all units are approximate. They will be positioned at the lat, lon as normal but also at the msg.payload.height - where height is in meters above the surface of the map (which may or may not relate to altitude...)

msg.payload.icon can be

• person : 1m x 1m x 2m tall
• block : 5m x 5m x 5m cube
• bar : a bar from the surface up to the specified minHeight
• (else) : 1.5m x 1.5m x 1.5m cube

in addition existing male, female, fa-male and fa-female icons are all represented as the person shape. msg.iconColor can be used to colour the icons.

NOTES

• There is currently no way to add labels, popups, or make the icons clickable.
• The 3D only really works at zoomed in scales 16+ due to the small size of the icons. They are not scale independent like icons on the normal map.
• As this uses the mapbox api you may wish to edit the index3d.html code to include your api key to remove any usage restrictions.
• This view is a side project to the Node-RED Worldmap project so I'm happy to take PRs but it probably won't be actively developed.

Areas and Lines

If the msg.payload contains an area property - that is an array of co-ordinates, e.g.

... , "area": [ [51.05, -0.08], [51.5, -1], [51.2, -0.047] ], ...

then rather than draw a point and icon it draws the polygon. Likewise if it contains a line property it will draw the polyline.

• color : can set the colour of the polygon or line.
• fillColor : can set the fill colour of the polygon.
• fillOpacity : can set the opacity of the polygon fill colour.
• dashArray : optional dash array for polyline.
• name : is used as the id key - so can be redrawn/moved.
• layer : declares which layer you put it on..

Circles

If the msg.payload contains a radius property, as well as name, lat and lon, then rather than draw a point it will draw a circle. The radius property is specified in meters.

msg.payload = { "name":"A3090", "lat":51.05, "lon":-1.35, "radius":3000 }

As per Areas and Lines you may also specify color, fillColor, and layer.

If the payload contains a sdlat and sdlon property instead of radius an ellipse will be drawn. The sdlat and sdlon propertys specify the semi-axes of the ellipse. These are specified in the Latitude/Longitude format.

Options

Areas, Lines and Circles can also specify more optional properties:

• color
• fillColor
• stroke
• weight
• opacity
• fill
• fillOpacity
• dashArray
• clickable (if true sets the passed in name as Popup)

Drawing

A single right click will allow you to add a point to the map - you must specify the name and optionally the icon and layer.

Right-clicking on an icon will allow you to delete it.

If you select the drawing layer you can also add polylines, polygons and rectangles.

Events from the map

The worldmap in node can be used to receive various events from the map. Examples of messages coming FROM the map include:

{ "action": "connected" }  // useful to trigger delivery or redraw of points
{ "action": "disconnect", "clients": 1 }  // when a client disconnects - reports number remaining

{ "action": "click", "name":"Jason", "layer":"gps", "icon":"male", "iconColor":"blue", "lat":51.024985, "lon":-1.39698 }   // when a marker is clicked
{ "action": "move", "name":"Jason", "layer":"gps", "icon":"male", "iconColor":"blue", "lat":51.044632, "lon":-1.359901 }    // when a marker is moved
{ "action": "delete", "name": "Jason" }  // when a point or shape is deleted

{ "action": "point", "lat": "50.60634", "lon": "-1.66580", "point": "Jason,male,gps" }
{ "action": "draw", "type": "rectangle", "points": [ { "lat": 50.61243889044519, "lng": -1.5913009643554688 }, { "lat": 50.66665471366635, "lng": -1.5913009643554688 }, { "lat": 50.66665471366635, "lng": -1.4742279052734375 }, { "lat": 50.61243889044519, "lng": -1.4742279052734375 } ] }

{ "action": "layer", "name": "myLayer" }      // when a map layer is changed
{ "action": "addlayer", "name": "myLayer" }   // when a new map layer is added
{ "action": "dellayer", "name": "myLayer" }   // when a new map layer is deleted

{ "action": "button", "name": "My Fancy Button" } // when a user defined button is clicked

{ "action": "feedback", "name": "some name", "value": "some value" } // when a user calls the feedback function - see below

There is a function available to make sending date to Node-RED easier (e.g. from inside a user defined popup), called feedback() - it takes two parameters, name and value, and can be used inside something like an input tag - onchange='feedback(this.name,this.value)'. Value can be a more complex object if required as long as it is serialisable.

All actions also include a msg._sessionid property that indicates which client session they came from. Any msg sent out that includes this property will ONLY be sent to that session - so you can target map updates to certain sessions only if required.

Controlling the map

You can also control the map via the node, by sending in a msg.payload containing a command object. Multiple parameters can be specified in one command.

Optional properties include

• lat - move map to specified latitude.
• lon - move map to specified longitude.
• zoom - move map to specified zoom level (1 - world, 13 to 20 max zoom depending on map).
• layer - set map to specified base layer name - {"command":{"layer":"Esri"}}
• search - search markers on map for name containing string. If not found in existing markers, will then try geocoding looking using Nominatim. An empty string "" clears the search results. - {"command":{"search":"Winchester"}}
• showlayer - show the named overlay(s) - {"command":{"showlayer":"foo"}} or {"command":{"showlayer":["foo","bar"]}}
• hidelayer - hide the named overlay(s) - {"command":{"hidelayer":"bar"}} or {"command":{"hidelayer":["bar","another"}}
• side - add a second map alongside with slide between them. Use the name of a baselayer to add - or "none" to remove the control. - {"command":{"side":"Esri Satellite"}}
• split - once you have split the screen - the split value is the % across the screen of the split line. - {"command":{"split":50}}
• map - Object containing details of a new map layer:
  • name - name of the map base layer OR overlay - name of overlay layer
  • url - url of the map layer
  • opt - options object for the new layer
  • wms - boolean, specifies if the data is provided by a Web Map Service
  • bounds - sets the bounds of an Overlay-Image. 2 Dimensional Array that defines the top-left and bottom-right Corners (lat/lon Points)
  • delete - name or array of names of base layers and/or overlays to delete and remove from layer menu.
• heatmap - set heatmap options object see https://github.com/Leaflet/Leaflet.heat#reference
• clear - layer name - to clear a complete layer and remove from layer menu
• panlock - lock the map area to the current visible area. - {"command":{"panlock":true}}
• zoomlock - locks the zoom control to the current value and removes zoom control - {"command":{"zoomlock":true}}
• hiderightclick - disables the right click that allows adding or deleting points on the map - {"command":{"hiderightclick":true}}
• coords - turns on and off a display of the current mouse co-ordinates. Values can be "deg", "dms", or "none" (default). - {"command":{"coords":"deg"}}
• button - if supplied with a name and icon property - adds a button to provide user input - sends a msg {"action":"button", "name":"the_button_name"} to the worldmap in node. If supplied with a name property only, it will remove the button. Optional position property can be 'bottomright', 'bottomleft', 'topleft' or 'topright' (default).
• contextmenu - html string to define the right click menu when not on a marker. Defaults to the simple add marker input. Empty string "" disables this right click.

To switch layer, move map and zoom

msg.payload = { "command": { "layer":"Esri Satellite", "lat":51, "lon":3, "zoom":10 }};

You can also use the name "none" to completely remove the base layer,

msg.payload = { "command": { "layer":"none" }};

To add and remove a user defined button

to add a button bottom right

msg.payload.command = { "button": { "name":"My Fancy Button", "icon": "fa-star", "position":"bottomright" } };

When clicked the button will send an event to the worldmap in node containing {"action":"button", "name","My Fancy Button"} - this can then be used to trigger other map commands or flows.

to remove

msg.payload.command = { "button": { "name":"My Fancy Button" } };

To add a custom popup or contextmenu

You can customise a marker's popup, or context menu (right click), by setting the appropriate property to an html string. Often you will need some embedded javascript in order to make it do something when you click a button for example. You need to be careful escaping quotes, and that they remain matched.

For example a popup with a slider (note the \ escaping the internal ' )

popup: '<input name="slide1" type="range" min="1" max="100" value="50" onchange=\'feedback(this.name,this.value)\' style="width:250px;">'

Or a contextmenu with a button

contextmenu: '<button name="Clicker" onclick=\'feedback(this.name)\'>Click me</button>'

To draw a heavily customised Circle on a layer

msg.payload.command =  {
    "name": "circle",
    "lat": 51.515,
    "lon": -0.1235,
    "radius": 10,
    "layer": "drawing",
    "iconColor": '#464646',
    "stroke": false,
    "fillOpacity": 0.8,
    "clickable": true
};

To add a new base layer

The layer will be called name. By default it expects a leaflet Tilelayer style url. You can also use a WMS style server by adding a property wms: true. (see overlay example below)

msg.payload.command.map = {
    "name":"OSMhot",
    "url":"https://{s}.tile.openstreetmap.fr/hot/{z}/{x}/{y}.png",
    "opt":{ "maxZoom":19, "attribution":"© OpenStreetMap" }
};

To remove base or overlay layers

To remove several layers, either base layers or overlays, you can pass an array of names as follows. This can be used to tidy up the initial selections available to the user layer menu.

msg.payload.command.map = {
    "delete":["Watercolor","Ship Nav","Heatmap"]
};

To add a WMS overlay layer - eg US weather radar

To add an overlay instead of a base layer - specify the overlay property instead of the name.

msg.payload.command.map = {
    "overlay": "NowCoast",
    "url": "https://nowcoast.noaa.gov/arcgis/services/nowcoast/radar_meteo_imagery_nexrad_time/MapServer/WmsServer?",
    "opt":  {
        "layers": "1",
        "format": 'image/png",
        "transparent": true,
        "attribution": "NOAA/NWS"
    },
    "wms": true
}

To add a new geoJSON overlay

msg.payload.command.map = {
    "overlay": "myGeoJSON",
    "geojson": { your geojson feature as an object },
    "opt": { optional geojson options, style, etc },
    "fit": true
};

The geojson features may contain a properties property. That may also include a style with properties - stroke, stroke-width, stroke-opacity, fill, fill-opacity. Any other properties will be listed in the popup.

The opt property is optional. See the Leaflet geojson docs for more info on possible options. Note: only simple options are supported as functions cannot be serialised.

The fit property is optional. If present the map will automatically zoom to fit the area relevant to the geojson.

see http://leafletjs.com/examples/geojson/ for more details about options for opt.

To add a new KML, GPX, or TOPOJSON overlay

As per the geojson overlay you can also inject a KML layer, GPX layer or TOPOJSON layer. The syntax is the same but with either a kml property containing the KML string - a gpx property containing a GPX string - or a topojson property containing the topojson.

msg.payload.command.map = {
    "overlay": "myKML",
    "kml": "<kml>...your kml placemarks...</kml>"
};

For GPX and KML layers, it is possible to define which icon to use for point markers by adding the following properties to msg.payload.command.map:

• icon : font awesome icon name.
• iconColor : Standard CSS colour name or #rrggbb hex value.

Again the fit property can be added to make the map zoom to the relevant area.

To add a Velocity Grid Overlay

msg.payload.command.map = {
    "overlay": "myWind",
    "velocity": { 	
        "displayValues": true,
        "displayOptions": {
            "velocityType": "Global Wind",
            "displayPosition": "bottomleft",
            "displayEmptyString": "No wind data"
        },
        "maxVelocity": 15,
        "data": [Array of data as per format referenced below]
    }
};

see https://github.com/danwild/leaflet-velocity for more details about options and data examples.

To add an Image Overlay

in a function node:

var imageBounds = [[40.712216, -74.22655], [40.773941, -74.12544]];
msg.payload = { command : { lat:40.74, lon:-74.175, zoom:13 } };
msg.payload.command.map = {
    overlay: "New York Historical",
    url: 'https://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/newark_nj_1922.jpg',
    bounds: imageBounds,
    opt: { opacity:0.8, attribution:"© University of Texas" }
};

To clear all markers from a layer, or an overlay from the map

msg.payload.command.clear = "name of your layer/overlay to remove";

Using a local Map Server (WMS server)

IMHO the easiest map server to make work is the mapserver package in Ubuntu / Debian. Usually you will start with

sudo apt-get install mapserver-bin cgi-mapserver gdal-bin

Configuring that, setting up your tiles, and creating a .map file is way beyond the scope of this README so I will leave that as an exercise for the reader. Once set up you should have a cgi process you can run called mapserv, and a .map file that describes the layers available from the server.

Create and edit these into an executeable file called mapserv, located in this node's directory, typically ~/.node-red/node_modules/node-red-contrib-web-worldmap/mapserv, for example:

#! /bin/sh
# set this to the path of your WMS map file (which in turn points to your tiles)
MS_MAPFILE=/home/pi/maps/gb.map
export MS_MAPFILE
# and set this to the path of your cgi-mapserv executable
/usr/bin/mapserv

You can then add a new WMS Base layer by injecting a message like

msg.payload = { command : { map : {
    "name": "Local WMS",
    "url": "/cgi-bin/mapserv",   // we will serve the tiles from this node locally.
    "opt": {
        "layers": "gb",                         // specifies a layer in your map file
        "format": "image/png",
        "transparent": true,
        "attribution": "© Ordnance Survey, UK"
    },
    "wms": true                                 // set to true for WMS type mapserver
}}}

Demo Flow

The following example gets recent earthquakes from USGS, parses the result, formats up the msg as per above and sends to the node to plot on the map. It also shows how to zoom and move the map or add a new layer.

[{"id":"86457344.50e6b","type":"inject","z":"745a133b.dd6dec","name":"","topic":"","payload":"","payloadType":"none","repeat":"","crontab":"","once":false,"x":190,"y":2420,"wires":[["9a142026.fa47f"]]},{"id":"9a142026.fa47f","type":"function","z":"745a133b.dd6dec","name":"add new layer","func":"msg.payload = {};\nmsg.payload.command = {};\n\nvar u = 'http://{s}.tile.openstreetmap.fr/hot/{z}/{x}/{y}.png';\nvar o = { maxZoom: 19, attribution: '© OpenStreetMap'};\n\nmsg.payload.command.map = {name:\"OSMhot\", url:u, opt:o};\nmsg.payload.command.layer = \"OSMhot\";\n\nreturn msg;","outputs":1,"noerr":0,"x":420,"y":2420,"wires":[["c643e022.1816c"]]},{"id":"c643e022.1816c","type":"worldmap","z":"745a133b.dd6dec","name":"","x":750,"y":2460,"wires":[]},{"id":"2998e233.4ba64e","type":"function","z":"745a133b.dd6dec","name":"USGS Quake monitor csv re-parse","func":"msg.payload.lat = msg.payload.latitude;\nmsg.payload.lon = msg.payload.longitude;\nmsg.payload.layer = \"earthquake\";\nmsg.payload.name = msg.payload.id;\nmsg.payload.icon = \"globe\";\nmsg.payload.iconColor = \"orange\";\n\ndelete msg.payload.latitude;\ndelete msg.payload.longitude;\t\nreturn msg;","outputs":1,"noerr":0,"x":540,"y":2560,"wires":[["c643e022.1816c"]]},{"id":"e72c5732.9fa198","type":"function","z":"745a133b.dd6dec","name":"move and zoom","func":"msg.payload = { command:{layer:\"Esri Terrain\",lat:0,lon:0,zoom:3} };\nreturn msg;","outputs":1,"noerr":0,"x":420,"y":2460,"wires":[["c643e022.1816c"]]},{"id":"12317723.589249","type":"csv","z":"745a133b.dd6dec","name":"","sep":",","hdrin":true,"hdrout":"","multi":"one","ret":"\\n","temp":"","x":390,"y":2500,"wires":[["2998e233.4ba64e"]]},{"id":"10e5e5f0.8daeaa","type":"inject","z":"745a133b.dd6dec","name":"","topic":"","payload":"","payloadType":"none","repeat":"","crontab":"","once":false,"x":190,"y":2460,"wires":[["e72c5732.9fa198"]]},{"id":"b6917d83.d1bac","type":"http request","z":"745a133b.dd6dec","name":"","method":"GET","url":"http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/feed/v1.0/summary/2.5_day.csv","x":270,"y":2560,"wires":[["12317723.589249"]]},{"id":"3842171.4d487e8","type":"inject","z":"745a133b.dd6dec","name":"Quakes","topic":"","payload":"","payloadType":"none","repeat":"900","crontab":"","once":false,"x":200,"y":2500,"wires":[["b6917d83.d1bac"]]}]

Car icon made by Freepik from www.flaticon.com is licensed by CC 3.0 BY.