Making OpenEI Maps - It Really Is That Easy

A blog entry in February about OpenEI's International Clean Energy Analysis Gateway included a segment of wiki coding needed to make maps. Since then, some people have asked - is it really that easy to make maps? The answer is, yes, it really is that easy.

To demonstrate, OpenEI's resident video instructor, Graham, put together a brief OpenEI mapmaking video. He shows how you can simply copy the necessary piece of wiki coding from an OpenEI page with an existing map and paste it into a new page. It's then just as easy to change the category being mapped--you just overwrite the old category with the new.

This process works equally well for other OpenEI attributes. Do you want a sidebar on your page? A linked icon? A table? Chances are, another OpenEI user has already created what you need. All you need to do is copy their code and modify it for your own purposes. It's one of the great advantages of an open format.