📊 Poll: Map plugins - Leaflet vs. Map View

[Karjala]

Who those who use map plugins, which one do you use?

• Leaflet
• Map View
• Both
• Something else
• None

Would be also great to hear how you made your choice. Thanks!

GitHub - valentine195/obsidian-leaflet-plugin: Adds interactive maps to...

GitHub - esm7/obsidian-map-view: Interactive map view for Obsidian.md

[orand]

I too am interested in a comparison between Map View and Leaflet. Anyone who has used or looked at both care to give their opinion?

[Sil]

Hi. I’m trying both and, as far as I understand, with map view you can create your personal google map (useful to keep track of your movements over time or for bigger projects), while leaflet makes easier to create single, indipendent maps for specific trips, research or rpgs. This is just my opinion, I can’t find much content online

[esm90]

Hey, author of Map View here and I came to shed some light on the differences for whoever is trying to choose.
First, let me say that Obsidian Leaflet is a greatly written and greatly maintained plugin, and although I obviously prefer Map View for my own uses (otherwise I wouldn’t have invested so much time writing it), I think there are many cases on which Leaflet makes more sense to.

So a quick comparison from the top of my head:

What’s similar?

• Both plugins support creating maps from your notes, or a folder of notes, with extensive options for customization.
• Both support creating a map for a specific use (e.g. a trip plan), from a focused set of notes, embedding the map in a note etc.

Where are they different?

• Map View started as a view (similarly to Obsidian’s Graph View) rather than an embedded syntax. And while it now supports embedding maps in notes, the main interaction with it is with a GUI and not with a code block. Leaflet, in contrast, offers its customizations via code in its code block.
• Map View parses geolocations from the front-matter of notes and also from an inline syntax within notes (allowing multiple geolocations in a note), while Leaflet focuses on the front matter.
• Map View is meant to be a research tool based on your notes: it offers interactive queries through a UI, for example, in order to get insights from it or consult it when planning a trip or arriving to a location.
• Map View has powerful geolocation search tools that allow you to quickly add locations from within a note or from the map.
• Map View builds marker icons based on customizable rules, so you do stuff like “color all #food/* items in red”, on top of that “give #food/pizza a pizza icon”, and all pizza-tagged places will have a red pizza icon.
• Leaflet supports GPX files.
• Leaflet supports overlays and various shapes to be added to the map.
• Leaflet supports GeoJSON data structures.
• Given the stand-alone nature of its maps, Leaflet is probably more suitable for TTRPG maps. (These are also possible with Map View, but I believe it comes less naturally.)

This list may not be comprehensive, and surely both plugins contain or miss features that could make the difference for some users. Also, I’m naturally more familiar with Map View, and I can only hope that the above does justice to Leaflet, which again I think is great.