Comparison of Mapping modules
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This page aims to provide developers and site builders some navigation on the sea of options for the mapping of location data sets in Drupal D7. This is by no means an extensive survey. The idea is that by listing a number of the most popular modules side by side with their features, it will make it easier for the reader to shortlist modules for their specific needs before examining details on the various project and documentation pages.
In general you'll need at least two modules to create maps from location data: one to provide a location data storage facility and one to render the locations as markers on a map.
Examples of location storage modules are: Location, Geofield and Geolocation field and Get Locations.
Additionally, while the table below indicates required location storage methods (such as "Geofield" for "Leaflets"), it is in fact possible to deploy a module such as Geocoder to, for example, use Location as a storage method for Leaflet or OpenLayers.
Examples of map rendering modules are: IP Geolocation Views and Maps, GMap, Get Locations, OpenLayers and Leaflet. We've used these map renderers as the main index into the comparison table below (first row).
Some of the location storage modules come with map renderers built in, although these are generally for a single location only, e.g. when viewing a node (example: Geolocation field). Geofield and Get Locations have their own Google Maps v3 interfaces to produce maps containing multiple location markers.
There is another related comparison page on geo module at Geospatial Modules Assessment.
Please edit this page if you find inaccuracies or want to add mapping modules or features to the list.
| Mapping module | IP Geolocation Views & Maps | GMap | Get Locations | OpenLayers | Leaflet |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Supported location storage modules | Geofield Geolocation field Get Locations Location any contrib module |
Location | Geofield Geolocation field Get Locations |
Geofield, PostGIS | Geofield |
| Maps generated from | access log, views with any lat-long field |
nodes & user accounts, views with Location module fields |
nodes & user accounts, views with Getlocations_fields field, Geolocation Field or Geofield fields |
views with Geofield fields | views with Geofield fields |
| Supported map providers | Google Maps v3, many others via its OpenLayers and Leaflet More Maps interfaces | Google Maps v2, Google Maps v3 (development release) | Google Maps v3, Leaflet, Openlayers | many | defaults to OSM Mapnik, many more via Leaflet More Maps |
| Dependencies & libraries to download | Views | (Views) | Libraries, marker image library, (Views) | Views, Proj4js, (Libraries) | Libraries, Leaflet library, Views | Availability | D7 | D6, D7 | D6, D7 | D6, D7 | D7,D8 |
| Display visitor marker amongst data locations | yes, with color configurable on all 3 map renderers | no | yes | no | no |
| Map centering options |
|
location of node arg. | configurable |
| yes, with the IP Geolocation Views & Maps module |
| Configurable marker balloon texts | yes, any fields from view | yes, any fields from view | yes, defaults to address or field from view | yes, any fields from view | yes, either one or all fields from view |
| Marker colors by taxonomy | yes, on all 3 map renderers | yes | yes | yes via OpenLayers Taxonomy | no |
| Marker colors by any Views field | yes, on all 3 map renderers | yes | no | no | no |
| Other module integrations | Commerce, Leaflet MarkerCluster | Colorbox, jquery_colorpicker, Smart IP, Countries | many, see project page | Leaflet MarkerCluster | |
| Comments | easy to use, OpenLayers interface much simplified compared to original. | “GMap is considered a legacy module” (project page) | easy to use, many config options | many canvases to choose from; hard to use at first but very flexible, see this tutorial for 7.x-2.x. Virtually no documentation for version 7.x-3.1+. Works well on mobile. | easy to use, few config options, colors etc. though Leaflet Moremaps adds to choices. Strong fit for mobile, very lightweight. |
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