Updated On : Apr-07,2020 Time Investment : ~30 mins

Interactive Maps using Folium

Table of Contents

Introduction

folium is a python map plotting library based on leaflet.js. After manipulating data in python, we can visualize it on an interactive map using folium. folium has a number of rich tilesets from OpenStreetMap, Mapbox, and Stamen, and supports custom tilesets with Mapbox or Cloudmade API keys.

Dependencies

folium is mainly dependent on below-mentioned libraries:

  • branca, jinja2, and requests.

Installation

  • pip install folium
  • conda install folium -c conda-forge

We'll explain basic usage of folium like plotting scatter map and choropleth map using geospatial datasets from kaggle. We'll also explain various tilesets with examples as well as few basic functionalities.

Let’s start loading required libraries.

import pandas as pd
import numpy as np
import folium

Loading Datasets

We'll be loading 4 datasets that have longitude and latitude data for various locations on earth. Please download all datasets from kaggle.com to follow along.

district_wise_census = pd.read_csv("datasets/indian-census-data-with-geospatial-indexing/district wise population and centroids.csv")
district_wise_census.head()
State District Latitude Longitude Population in 2001 Population in 2011
0 Andhra Pradesh Anantapur 14.312066 77.460158 3640478 4081148
1 Andhra Pradesh Chittoor 13.331093 78.927639 3745875 4174064
2 Andhra Pradesh East Godavari 16.782718 82.243207 4901420 5154296
3 Andhra Pradesh Guntur 15.884926 80.586576 4465144 4887813
4 Andhra Pradesh Krishna 16.143873 81.148051 4187841 4517398
state_wise_centroid = pd.read_csv("datasets/indian-census-data-with-geospatial-indexing/state wise centroids_2011.csv")
state_wise_census = district_wise_census.groupby(by="State").sum()[["Population in 2001","Population in 2011"]].reset_index()
state_wise_census = state_wise_centroid.merge(state_wise_census, left_on="State", right_on="State")
state_wise_census.head()
State Longitude Latitude Population in 2001 Population in 2011
0 Andhra Pradesh 79.916203 16.554124 36120039 39250184
1 Arunachal Pradesh 94.545327 27.725765 1072160 1354556
2 Assam 92.657310 26.321341 19963729 23415900
3 Bihar 85.636774 25.771394 74151567 92737812
4 Chandigarh 76.758725 30.742600 900635 1055450
starbucks_locations = pd.read_csv("datasets/starbucks_store_locations.csv")
starbucks_locations = starbucks_locations.dropna().reset_index()
starbucks_locations.head()
index Brand Store Number Store Name Ownership Type Street Address City State/Province Country Postcode Phone Number Timezone Longitude Latitude
0 0 Starbucks 47370-257954 Meritxell, 96 Licensed Av. Meritxell, 96 Andorra la Vella 7 AD AD500 376818720 GMT+1:00 Europe/Andorra 1.53 42.51
1 11 Starbucks 1579-122101 HCT Abu Dhabi Women's College Block Licensed Najda Street, Higher Colleges of Technology Abu Dhabi AZ AE 3167 26426280 GMT+04:00 Asia/Dubai 54.37 24.49
2 12 Starbucks 32595-122105 Standard Chartered Building Licensed Khalidiya St., Beside Union Cooperative Society Abu Dhabi AZ AE 3167 26359275 GMT+04:00 Asia/Muscat 55.69 24.19
3 20 Starbucks 32767-131566 Shangri-La Souq Licensed Shangri-La Souk, Um Al Nar Abu Dhabi AZ AE 3167 25581641 GMT+04:00 Asia/Dubai 54.51 24.42
4 45 Starbucks 32640-131563 Tawam Hospital Licensed Al Ain Abu Dhabi Rd, Khalifa Bin Zayed, Al Mak... Al Ain AZ AE 3167 37677581 GMT+04:00 Asia/Muscat 55.65 24.19
happiness_report = pd.read_csv("datasets/world_happiness_2019.csv")
happiness_report.head()
Overall rank Country or region Score GDP per capita Social support Healthy life expectancy Freedom to make life choices Generosity Perceptions of corruption
0 1 Finland 7.769 1.340 1.587 0.986 0.596 0.153 0.393
1 2 Denmark 7.600 1.383 1.573 0.996 0.592 0.252 0.410
2 3 Norway 7.554 1.488 1.582 1.028 0.603 0.271 0.341
3 4 Iceland 7.494 1.380 1.624 1.026 0.591 0.354 0.118
4 5 Netherlands 7.488 1.396 1.522 0.999 0.557 0.322 0.298

1. Loading Maps

We'll start by showing a few examples of how to load maps with just single latitude and longitude. Below we are loading Surat city from the Gujarat State of India from where coderzcolumn developers belong.

surat_city_long = district_wise_census[district_wise_census["District"] == "Surat"].Longitude.values[0]
surat_city_lat = district_wise_census[district_wise_census["District"] == "Surat"].Latitude.values[0]

m = folium.Map(location=[surat_city_lat, surat_city_long])
m

Python Folium

Folium provides a list of tiles as mentioned below. We'll need APIs for using Cloudmade and Mapbox tiles.

  • "OpenStreetMap" (Default)
  • "Mapbox Bright" (Limited levels of zoom for free tiles)
  • "Mapbox Control Room" (Limited levels of zoom for free tiles)
  • "Stamen" (Terrain, Toner, and Watercolor)
  • "Cloudmade" (Must pass API key)
  • "Mapbox" (Must pass API key)
  • "CartoDB" (positron and dark_matter)

Below we are loading again same city map with tile Stamen Toner.

m = folium.Map(location=[surat_city_lat, surat_city_long], tiles="Stamen Toner",zoom_start=10)
m

Python Folium

Another map with Stamen Terrain tile. We have also added LatLongPopup to map so that it brings in a popup at a location in a graph where you click displaying Latitude and Longitude of that location.

m = folium.Map(location=[surat_city_lat, surat_city_long], tiles="Stamen Terrain",zoom_start=10)

folium.LatLngPopup().add_to(m)

m

Python Folium

Below we have loaded another map by taking center latitude and longitude for India and then have set bounds to cover in a map using FitBounds.

center_lat = state_wise_census.mean().Latitude
center_long = state_wise_census.mean().Longitude

m = folium.Map(location=[center_lat, center_long], tiles="Stamen Terrain")

folium.FitBounds([(center_lat-5,center_long-5), (center_lat+5,center_long+5)]).add_to(m)

m

Python Folium

2. Maps with Marker, Points, Polygon, Line, etc.

We'll start adding data to above-described maps with points, markers, polygon, lines plotted on it. We'll explain a few examples describing various features of folium.

2.1. Indian State Population Bubble Chart

We are plotting a state-wise census bubble chart for India using CircleMarker. We also have used tooltip and popup for displaying a count of the population for states. We also have taken population count to calculate the radius of the bubble by dividing it by 1e7 so that it stays within bounds and does not flood on map.

center_lat = state_wise_census.mean().Latitude
center_long = state_wise_census.mean().Longitude

m = folium.Map(location=[center_lat, center_long], zoom_start=4.5)

for state in state_wise_census["State"].unique():
    state_census = state_wise_census[state_wise_census["State"]==state]
    folium.CircleMarker(
        location=[state_census.Latitude.values[0], state_census.Longitude.values[0]],
        radius = float(state_census["Population in 2011"].values[0]/1e7),
        popup="Population 2011 : %s"%state_census["Population in 2011"].values[0],
        tooltip = state_census.State.values[0],
        color="black",
        fill_color="black"
    ).add_to(m)

m

Python Folium

2.2 Indian States Census Scatter Map

We have again plotted a map with a statewide census of India. We have used rectangle this time instead of circles.

center_lat = state_wise_census.mean().Latitude
center_long = state_wise_census.mean().Longitude

m = folium.Map(location=[center_lat, center_long], zoom_start=4.5, tiles="Stamen Toner")

for state in state_wise_census["State"].unique():
    state_census = state_wise_census[state_wise_census["State"]==state]
    lat, lon = state_census.Latitude.values[0], state_census.Longitude.values[0]
    population = state_census["Population in 2011"].values[0]
    folium.Rectangle(
        bounds=[(lat, lon), (lat+(population/1e8), lon+(population/1e8))],
        popup="Population 2011 : %s"%population,
        tooltip = state_census.State.values[0],
        color="red",
        fill_color="red"
    ).add_to(m)

m

Python Folium

2.3 US Statewise Starbucks Store Counts Scatter Map

We have first calculated the US states Starbucks store counts. We have then taken an average of latitude and longitude for the location of stores in each state. We are then plotting a scatter plot on it using CircleMarker where circle size represents a number of stores.

starbucks_us = starbucks_locations[starbucks_locations["Country"] == "US"].reset_index()
starbucks_us_state_count = starbucks_us.groupby(by="State/Province").count()[["index"]].rename(columns={"index":"Count"}).reset_index()
starbucks_us_lat_lon = starbucks_us.groupby(by="State/Province").mean()[["Latitude", "Longitude"]].reset_index()
starbucks_us = starbucks_us_state_count.merge(starbucks_us_lat_lon, right_on="State/Province", left_on="State/Province").reset_index()

center_lat = starbucks_us.mean().Latitude
center_long = starbucks_us.mean().Longitude

m = folium.Map(location=[center_lat, center_long], zoom_start=4, tiles="Stamen Toner")

for idx in starbucks_us.index:
    row = starbucks_us.iloc[idx]
    lat, long = row.Latitude, row.Longitude
    folium.CircleMarker(
        location=[lat, long],
        radius = float(row.Count/100),
        draggable = False,
        color="red",
        popup = row["State/Province"],
        tooltip = str(row["State/Province"]) + ", " + str(row["Count"]),
        fill_color="yellow"
        ).add_to(m)
m

Python Folium

2.4 Indian State (Gujarat) Districts Census Scatter Map

We have created another scatter map that represents district wise census for the Gujarat state of India. We have used tile CartoDB dark_matter for this chart. Each bubble in the map represents the population of that districts. We have also used tooltip and popup for displaying census of the district.

gujarat_districts = district_wise_census[district_wise_census["State"]=="Gujarat"]

center_lat = gujarat_districts.mean().Latitude
center_long = gujarat_districts.mean().Longitude

m = folium.Map(location=[center_lat, center_long], zoom_start=6.5, tiles="CartoDB dark_matter")

for district in gujarat_districts["District"].unique():
    district_census = gujarat_districts[gujarat_districts["District"]==district]
    folium.Circle(
        location=[district_census.Latitude.values[0], district_census.Longitude.values[0]],
        radius = float(district_census["Population in 2011"].values[0]/100),
        color="orange",
        fill_color="orange",
        popup="Population 2011 : %s"%district_census["Population in 2011"].values[0],
        tooltip = district_census.District.values[0],
    ).add_to(m)

m

Python Folium

2.5 Indian State (Gujarat) Districts Census Scatter Map

The below the map is almost the same as above map with bubbles replaced by RegularPolygonMarker.

gujarat_districts = district_wise_census[district_wise_census["State"]=="Gujarat"]

center_lat = gujarat_districts.mean().Latitude
center_long = gujarat_districts.mean().Longitude

m = folium.Map(location=[center_lat, center_long], zoom_start=6.5, tiles="CartoDB dark_matter")

for district in gujarat_districts["District"].unique():
    district_census = gujarat_districts[gujarat_districts["District"]==district]
    folium.RegularPolygonMarker(
        location=[district_census.Latitude.values[0], district_census.Longitude.values[0]],
        radius = float(district_census["Population in 2011"].values[0]/100000),
        rotation=0,
        color="beige",
        popup="Population 2011 : %s"%district_census["Population in 2011"].values[0],
        tooltip = district_census.District.values[0],
        fill_color="white"
    ).add_to(m)

m

Python Folium

2.6 Indian State (Gujarat) Districts Census with Markers

We have plotted a map with markers on various districts of Gujarat state of India. We have also used popup and tooltip to display census for district in 2011.

gujarat_districts = district_wise_census[district_wise_census["State"]=="Gujarat"]

center_lat = gujarat_districts.mean().Latitude
center_long = gujarat_districts.mean().Longitude

m = folium.Map(location=[center_lat, center_long], zoom_start=6.5, tiles="CartoDB positron")

for district in gujarat_districts["District"].unique():
    district_census = gujarat_districts[gujarat_districts["District"]==district]
    folium.Marker(
        location=[district_census.Latitude.values[0], district_census.Longitude.values[0]],
        popup="Population 2011 : %s"%district_census["Population in 2011"].values[0],
        tooltip = district_census.District.values[0],
        icon=folium.Icon(icon='info-sign', color="red"),
        draggable=False
    ).add_to(m)

m

Python Folium

2.7 New York City Starbucks Locations Map with Markers

Below we are using markers on the new york city map where each marker represents the Starbucks store. We have also used popup and tooltip which displays store address.

starbucks_ny = starbucks_locations[starbucks_locations["City"] == "New York"].reset_index()

center_lat = starbucks_ny.mean().Latitude
center_long = starbucks_ny.mean().Longitude

m = folium.Map(location=[center_lat, center_long], zoom_start=11.5, )#tiles="Stamen Toner")

for idx in starbucks_ny.index:
    row = starbucks_ny.iloc[idx]
    lat, long = row.Latitude, row.Longitude
    folium.Marker(
        location=[lat, long],
        draggable=False,
        popup= row["Store Name"],
        tooltip = str(row["Street Address"]) + ", " + str(row["City"]),
        icon=folium.Icon(icon='info-sign', color="green")
        ).add_to(m)


m

Python Folium

2.8 Indian State (Gujarat) Districts Census with Markers & Lines Connecting Districts

Below we are plotting markers on the state of Gujarat (India) where each marker represents districts of the state. We have then tried to link all districts by using PolyLine. PolyLine lets us display lines on the map.

gujarat_districts = district_wise_census[district_wise_census["State"]=="Gujarat"]

center_lat = gujarat_districts.mean().Latitude
center_long = gujarat_districts.mean().Longitude

m = folium.Map(location=[center_lat, center_long], zoom_start=6.5, tiles="Stamen Terrain")

for district in gujarat_districts["District"].unique():
    district_census = gujarat_districts[gujarat_districts["District"]==district]
    folium.Marker(
        location=[district_census.Latitude.values[0], district_census.Longitude.values[0]],
        popup="Population 2011 : %s"%district_census["Population in 2011"].values[0],
        tooltip = district_census.District.values[0],
        icon=folium.Icon(icon='info-sign', color="orange")
    ).add_to(m)

folium.PolyLine(
    locations=sorted(zip(gujarat_districts.Latitude, gujarat_districts.Longitude)),
    popup="Path",
    tooltip = "Path",
    color="green",
).add_to(m)

m

Python Folium

2.9 Indian State (Gujarat) Districts Census with Markers & Polygons

Below we are plotting markers on the state of Gujarat (India) where each marker represents districts of the state. We are then plotting polygons to identify a particular area by calling Polygon method of folium passing it list of locations. We are plotting 2 random polygons to display use of it.

gujarat_districts = district_wise_census[district_wise_census["State"]=="Gujarat"]

center_lat = gujarat_districts.mean().Latitude
center_long = gujarat_districts.mean().Longitude

m = folium.Map(location=[center_lat, center_long], zoom_start=6.5, tiles="Stamen Toner")

for district in gujarat_districts["District"].unique():
    district_census = gujarat_districts[gujarat_districts["District"]==district]
    folium.Marker(
        location=[district_census.Latitude.values[0], district_census.Longitude.values[0]],
        popup="Population 2011 : %s"%district_census["Population in 2011"].values[0],
        tooltip = district_census.District.values[0],
        icon=folium.Icon(icon='info-sign', color="darkpurple")
    ).add_to(m)

folium.Polygon(
    locations=list(zip(gujarat_districts.Latitude, gujarat_districts.Longitude))[:3],
    popup="Path",
    tooltip = "Path",
    color="green",
    fill_color="green"
).add_to(m)

folium.Polygon(
    locations=list(zip(gujarat_districts.Latitude, gujarat_districts.Longitude))[8:12],
    popup="Path",
    tooltip = "Path",
    color="red",
    fill_color="red"
).add_to(m)

m

Python Folium

3. Choropleth Maps

We'll now explain how to plot choropleth maps using folium.

3.1 US States Starbucks Stores Counts Choropleth

We need polygon (list of latitudes and longitudes) representing the region to plot choropleth maps with folium. Below we are downloading USA states geo JSON which has polygon for each states of US. We are then linking it to columns of Starbucks locations dataframe. The linking between polygon JSON and pandas dataframe happens based on one key column the same between them. We then pass another column to columns attribute of Choropleth() for which we need to create choropleth maps.

url = 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/python-visualization/folium/master/examples/data'
state_geo = f'{url}/us-states.json'

starbucks_us_state_count = starbucks_locations.groupby(by="State/Province").count()[["index"]].rename(columns={"index":"Count"}).reset_index()

m = folium.Map(location=[48, -102], zoom_start=3)

folium.Choropleth(
    geo_data=state_geo,
    name='choropleth',
    data=starbucks_us_state_count,
    columns=['State/Province', 'Count'],
    key_on='feature.id',
    fill_color='YlGn',
    fill_opacity=0.9,
    line_opacity=0.2,
    legend_name='Starbucks Store Count'
).add_to(m)

folium.LayerControl().add_to(m)

m

Python Folium

3.2 World Happiness Score Choropleth

For this map, we need to download geo JSON for a world with polygon representing each country of the earth. We suggest that you download it from here. We noticed that feature key of JSON has a key named properties which has a dictionary with a key named sovereignt that maintains country name. The country named mentioned in JSON at feature.properties.sovereignt matches with a country named mentioned in Country or region column of happiness report dataframe.

m = folium.Map(location=[0,0], zoom_start=1.5)

folium.Choropleth(
    geo_data="datasets/custom.geo.json",
    name='choropleth',
    data=happiness_report,
    columns=['Country or region', 'Score'],
    key_on='feature.properties.sovereignt',
    fill_color='BrBG',
    fill_opacity=0.9,
    line_opacity=0.2,
    legend_name='Happiness Score'
).add_to(m)

folium.LayerControl().add_to(m)

m

Python Folium

3.3 World GDP Per Capita Choropleth Map

Below is another choropleth map linking GDP per capita column of happiness report dataframe with a world map.

m = folium.Map(location=[0,0], zoom_start=1.5)

folium.Choropleth(
    geo_data="datasets/custom.geo.json",
    name='choropleth',
    data=happiness_report,
    columns=['Country or region', 'GDP per capita'],
    key_on='feature.properties.sovereignt',
    fill_color='PuOr',
    fill_opacity=0.9,
    line_opacity=0.2,
    legend_name='GDP per capita'
).add_to(m)

folium.LayerControl().add_to(m)

m

Python Folium

3.4 World Perception of Corruption Choropleth Map

Below is another choropleth map linking Perceptions of corruption column of happiness report dataframe with a world map.

m = folium.Map(location=[0,0], zoom_start=1.5)

folium.Choropleth(
    geo_data="datasets/custom.geo.json",
    name='choropleth',
    data=happiness_report,
    columns=['Country or region', 'Perceptions of corruption'],
    key_on='feature.properties.sovereignt',
    fill_color='PiYG',
    fill_opacity=0.9,
    line_opacity=0.2,
    legend_name='Perceptions of corruption'
).add_to(m)

folium.LayerControl().add_to(m)

m

Python Folium

3.5 World Freedom to Make Life Choices Choropleth Map

Below is another choropleth map linking Freedom to make life choices column of happiness report dataframe with a world map.

m = folium.Map(location=[0,0], zoom_start=1.5)

folium.Choropleth(
    geo_data="datasets/custom.geo.json",
    name='choropleth',
    data=happiness_report,
    columns=['Country or region', 'Freedom to make life choices'],
    key_on='feature.properties.sovereignt',
    fill_color='RdYlGn',
    fill_opacity=0.9,
    line_opacity=0.2,
    legend_name='Freedom to make life choices'
).add_to(m)

folium.LayerControl().add_to(m)

m

Python Folium

3.6 World Healthy Life Expectancy Choropleth Map

Below is another choropleth map linking Healthy life expectancy column of happiness report dataframe with a world map.

m = folium.Map(location=[0,0], zoom_start=1.5)

folium.Choropleth(
    geo_data="datasets/custom.geo.json",
    name='choropleth',
    data=happiness_report,
    columns=['Country or region', 'Healthy life expectancy'],
    key_on='feature.properties.sovereignt',
    fill_color='RdGy',
    fill_opacity=0.9,
    line_opacity=0.2,
    legend_name='Healthy life expectancy'
).add_to(m)

folium.LayerControl().add_to(m)

m

Python Folium

We can change various colormaps for choropleth maps. Please look at this link to try various colormaps.

4. Saving Maps as HTML

We can save folium plots as HTML files by calling save() method on map objects.

m.save("Healthy life expectancy.html")
Sunny Solanki  Sunny Solanki

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