React Leaflet and HERE API

Playing with React Leaflet for displaying maps and HERE API for geocoding.

React Leaflet

React Leaflet is a good library for using Leaflet maps in React.

From the official documentation:

React Leaflet provides bindings between React and Leaflet. It does not replace Leaflet, but leverages it to abstract Leaflet layers as React components.

I personally think that Leaflet is a valid alternative to Google Maps API - although Google has the best mapping features all-in-one - so the React abstraction of Leaflet is a good set of components to consider.

React Leaflet installation

Install react, react-dom and leaflet dependencies (if not already present):

yarn add react react-dom leaflet

Then install react-leaflet:

yarn add react-leaflet

If you are using TypeScript - like me in this repo - you have to add the TS definitions:

yarn add -D @types/leaflet

React Leaflet usage

Once installed, you can use the react-leaflet components importing them. E.g.:

import { MapContainer, TileLayer, Marker, Popup } from 'react-leaflet'

HERE API

I was looking for a good API for geocoding as alternative to the vast Google Maps API:

• firstly I tried positionstack but it didn't convince me;
• then I tried HERE and I felt in love.

HERE's claim from the official website is quite self-describing:

High precision data, advanced tooling and 35 years expertise for a safer, more efficient and cleaner world

HERE API usage (geocode)

• Create an account on HERE's developer portal
• Create an API key
• Use the API key for the endpoint call. I personally use Axios for the HTTPS call, so ensure to install it before with the following command: yarn add axios

API key security concerns

You should never save your API keys in the code.

create-react-app documentation is quite clear about this:

WARNING: Do not store any secrets (such as private API keys) in your React app! Environment variables are embedded into the build, meaning anyone can view them by inspecting your app's files.

Just for testing locally the app, you could:

• add the API Key in a .env file (after adding .env in the .gitignore), then removing after testing
• add a temporary environment variable in the shell

Anyway, never build and publish a React application that has API keys in the code, because the environment variables are embedded in the build.

Troubleshooting

You could face an error with npm or yarn regarding leaflet modules.

In that case, follow the steps described in this StackOverflow thread:

• in package.json change the browserslist to:

"browserslist": [
   ">0.2%",
  "not dead",
  "not op_mini all"
]

• then delete the node_modules/.cache/ directory (if necessary using the shell rm -rf node_modules/.cache/)
• retry to do yarn for installing (or npm install)
• finally restart yarn start (or npm start)

---

Why I'm using yarn

I personally prefer yarn as package manager mainly for better security reasons.

But I'll give you a good read where you can find analysis to help you to be choose your favourite between yarn and npm.

P.S. as you can see from the following part of this README.md, the good fellas behing React (aka a team of Facebook's devs) seem to prefer yarn. So...

---

Create React App Stuff

This project was bootstrapped with Create React App.

Available Scripts

In the project directory, you can run:

yarn start

Runs the app in the development mode.
Open http://localhost:3000 to view it in the browser.

The page will reload if you make edits.
You will also see any lint errors in the console.

yarn test

Launches the test runner in the interactive watch mode.
See the section about running tests for more information.

yarn build

Builds the app for production to the build folder.
It correctly bundles React in production mode and optimizes the build for the best performance.

The build is minified and the filenames include the hashes.
Your app is ready to be deployed!

See the section about deployment for more information.

yarn eject

Note: this is a one-way operation. Once you eject, you can’t go back!

If you aren’t satisfied with the build tool and configuration choices, you can eject at any time. This command will remove the single build dependency from your project.

Instead, it will copy all the configuration files and the transitive dependencies (webpack, Babel, ESLint, etc) right into your project so you have full control over them. All of the commands except eject will still work, but they will point to the copied scripts so you can tweak them. At this point you’re on your own.

You don’t have to ever use eject. The curated feature set is suitable for small and middle deployments, and you shouldn’t feel obligated to use this feature. However we understand that this tool wouldn’t be useful if you couldn’t customize it when you are ready for it.

Learn More

You can learn more in the Create React App documentation.

To learn React, check out the React documentation.