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Documentation Index

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Argenmap is a free and open-source interactive map viewer developed by Argentina’s Instituto Geográfico Nacional (IGN), released under the GPL-3.0 license. Built on the Leaflet JavaScript library, it lets you publish a fully functional geoportal — complete with base maps, overlay layers, drawing tools, measurement, and data querying — without any build pipeline. Drop the static files onto a web server, supply two JSON configuration files, and the viewer is live.

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How Argenmap works

Argenmap is entirely configuration-driven. Two JSON files in src/config/ control everything the viewer displays:
FilePurpose
data.jsonDefines base maps, WMS/WMTS overlay layers, and section groupings shown in the layer panel
preferences.jsonControls map center, zoom levels, theme colors, toolbar options, search bar, and meta tags
When a visitor opens index.html, Leaflet initializes, reads these two files, and renders a collapsible sidebar panel populated with every layer section declared in data.json. No compilation, no Node.js, no database — just static files served over HTTP.
Configuration changes take effect after reloading the page in the browser, just like any standard web page.

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Key capabilities

Argenmap ships with a broad set of built-in features organized around three themes: data sources, spatial tools, and user experience. Data sources and layers
  • Load overlay layers from WMS and WMTS services
  • Add base maps from TMS and XYZ tile services (configured in data.json)
  • Import local files: GeoJSON, KML, GPX, Shapefile (ZIP), WKT (.txt / .wkt), and TopoJSON (.json)
  • Add layers from a service URL at runtime
Spatial and geoprocessing tools
  • Draw geometries, modify their styles, and download them
  • Query attribute data of active layers by clicking the map or filtering with a drawn geometry
  • Measure area and distance
  • Run geoprocessing operations (contour lines, elevation profile, buffer, flood-level simulation) via WPS services
  • Display a coordinate grid (graticule)
User experience and sharing
  • Copy cursor coordinates to the clipboard
  • Capture the map as a PNG image or export a PDF with scale, orientation, and legends
  • Full-screen view
  • Show current user location
  • Filter the layer panel with a search box
  • Encode the current map position, zoom, and active layers into the URL for easy sharing
  • Accessibility panel and built-in help tour

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Architecture overview

The entire application is a single index.html page that loads Leaflet 1.6, Bootstrap 3, jQuery, Font Awesome, and a collection of Leaflet plugins (drawing, measurement, graticule, minimap, locate, mouse position, and more) from CDN or local paths. The core application scripts in src/js/ wire up the UI components — sidebar, toolbar, basemap selector, file loader, and query panel — and read src/config/data.json and src/config/preferences.json at startup. 
argenmap/
├── index.html              ← single entry point
├── src/
│   ├── config/
│   │   ├── default/        ← shipped default configs (read-only reference)
│   │   │   ├── data.json
│   │   │   └── preferences.json
│   │   ├── data.json       ← your active config (copy from default/)
│   │   └── preferences.json
│   ├── js/                 ← Leaflet, plugins, app scripts
│   └── styles/             ← CSS and images
The layer panel on the left sidebar groups layers into collapsible sections as declared in data.json. Each section can hold multiple WMS, WMTS, or TMS layers. Argenmap ships with Argentina’s official base map pre-configured as the default TMS layer.

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When to use Argenmap

Argenmap is a strong fit whenever you need a production-ready map viewer without the overhead of a full GIS web application:
  • Government and public geoportals — publish official cartography from IGN or any WMS/WMTS endpoint
  • Spatial data viewers — let users explore GeoJSON, KML, or Shapefile datasets without a desktop GIS application
  • Geographic context in websites — embed a configurable interactive map alongside other web content
  • Rapid prototyping — stand up a working viewer in minutes using the default configuration

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Requirements

Argenmap has a single runtime dependency: a web server. Any HTTP server that can serve static files will work.
OptionUse case
VS Code Live ServerLocal development, one-click start
NginxProduction deployments
ApacheProduction deployments
lighttpdLightweight production server
python3 -m http.serverQuick local testing, no install
Argenmap must be served over HTTP or HTTPS. Opening index.html directly as a file:// URL will cause browser CORS restrictions to block all WMS and tile requests, and the map will fail to load layers.

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Explore further

Quickstart

Deploy a working Argenmap viewer in five minutes with Git and a local web server.

Deployment

Step-by-step instructions for Apache, Nginx, and local development servers.

Configure data.json

Define base maps, WMS/WMTS overlay layers, and layer panel sections.

Map Layers

Learn how WMS, WMTS, TMS, and file-based layers work inside Argenmap.

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