OpenLayers is one of the most powerful open-source JavaScript mapping libraries for building rich, interactive GIS web applications. Whether you are rendering your first map tile, clustering 100,000 points without freezing the browser, or wiring vector tiles from a PostGIS backend, this hub gathers every OpenLayers tutorial on Spatial Dev Guru in one place — organised so you can follow a clear learning path from fundamentals to advanced production patterns.
Each tutorial below includes hands-on code, live demos, and downloadable source. Bookmark this page — it is updated whenever a new OpenLayers post goes live.
🚀 Start Here: OpenLayers Fundamentals
If you are brand new to OpenLayers, work through these foundational tutorials first. They cover the mental model behind the library — Map, View, Layer, and Source — and walk you through building your first working web map.
- Build Your First GIS Web App Using OpenLayers — Part 1
- View, Layer and Source in OpenLayers — Part 2
- Map Events in OpenLayers
- Layer’s ZIndex in OpenLayers
- Zoom Map to Lat/Long in OpenLayers
🎨 Styling, Symbology & Legends
Default styles get you started, but real applications demand custom symbology — fills, strokes, icons, labels, and data-driven styles. These tutorials cover everything from basic dynamic styling to advanced patterns.
✏️ Drawing, Editing & Interactions
Interactive editing is where OpenLayers shines. Learn how to draw, modify, snap, and constrain features the way professional GIS tools do.
- Modify Features in OpenLayers
- Draw Holes in OpenLayers Polygon
- Implement Advanced Snapping in OpenLayers
- Zoom In and Zoom Out by Box Selection
- Undo/Redo for Map Extent & Zoom
🛠️ Common Map Tools
Recreate the everyday tools your users expect from a GIS application — measurement, identification, and feature popups.
📍 Performance & Clustering
Plotting tens of thousands of markers will freeze any browser unless you cluster intelligently. These guides walk through OpenLayers’ built-in clustering and how to scale up to massive datasets.
- OpenLayers Clustering Tutorial: 100,000 Points Without Browser Freeze (Latest)
- Clustered Features in OpenLayers
🧩 Advanced Spatial Operations
OpenLayers does not ship with topological operations like union, buffer, or polygon splitting. Pair it with JSTS to unlock the kind of geometry processing you would normally find in PostGIS or Turf.
🗺️ Vector Tiles, Tile Services & Backend Integration
Once your data outgrows GeoJSON files, you need vector tiles and dynamic tile services. These tutorials show how to serve tiles from PostGIS or generate them in Python and consume them in OpenLayers.
- Serve Dynamic Vector Tiles from PostGIS via FastAPI
- Generate Vector Tiles with PostGIS & Python
- Build a GeoTIFF XYZ Tile Service with Caching
- Heatmap Tiles with Datashader Served to OpenLayers
🌐 Address Search & Geocoding
📚 OpenLayers + Vue.js Integration Series
Building a real-world map app means a real frontend framework. This six-part series walks through wiring OpenLayers into Vue.js — from a blank canvas to vector tiles, popups, and a Vite + Pinia + TypeScript rebuild.
- Part 1 — Create the Map
- Part 2 — Create a Layers Panel
- Part 3 — Style & Legend for Vector Layers
- Part 4 — Feature Information Popup on Click
- Part 5 — Rebuild with Vite, Pinia & TypeScript
- Part 6 — Vector Tiles & Dynamic Styling
🛰️ Street-Level & Specialty Integrations
🧠 Suggested Learning Path
- Begin with Build Your First GIS Web App and the View, Layer, Source primer.
- Learn interactions: Map Events, Modify Features, and Dynamic Styles.
- Add common tools: Measurement and Feature Popup.
- Tackle scale: Clustering, then Vector Tiles from PostGIS.
- Move into a real frontend: follow the full OpenLayers + Vue.js series.
- Finish with advanced spatial ops via JSTS and a tile service in Python.
New to GIS in general? Pair this hub with our Python GIS and PostGIS hubs for the complete full-stack workflow — from raw spatial data on disk to an interactive map in the browser.