mapbox-store-locator-patterns

SKILL.md

Store Locator Patterns Skill

Comprehensive patterns for building store locators, restaurant finders, and location-based search applications with Mapbox GL JS. Covers marker display, filtering, distance calculation, interactive lists, and directions integration.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when building applications that:

Display multiple locations on a map (stores, restaurants, offices, etc.)

Allow users to filter or search locations

Calculate distances from user location

Provide interactive lists synced with map markers

Show location details in popups or side panels

Integrate directions to selected locations

Dependencies

Required:

Mapbox GL JS v3.x

@turf/turf - For spatial calculations (distance, area, etc.)

Installation:

npm install mapbox-gl @turf/turf

Core Architecture

Pattern Overview

A typical store locator consists of:

Map Display - Shows all locations as markers

Location Data - GeoJSON with store/location information

Interactive List - Side panel listing all locations

Filtering - Search, category filters, distance filters

Detail View - Popup or panel with location details

User Location - Geolocation for distance calculation. For the blue dot location indicator, use the built-in mapboxgl.GeolocateControl — simpler than custom markers.

Directions - Route to selected location (optional)

Data Structure

GeoJSON format for locations:

{
  "type": "FeatureCollection",
  "features": [
    {
      "type": "Feature",
      "geometry": {
        "type": "Point",
        "coordinates": [-77.034084, 38.909671]
      },
      "properties": {
        "id": "store-001",
        "name": "Downtown Store",
        "address": "123 Main St, Washington, DC 20001",
        "phone": "(202) 555-0123",
        "hours": "Mon-Sat: 9am-9pm, Sun: 10am-6pm",
        "category": "retail",
        "website": "https://example.com/downtown"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Key properties:

id - Unique identifier for each location

name - Display name

address - Full address for display and geocoding

coordinates - [longitude, latitude] format

category - For filtering (retail, restaurant, office, etc.)

Custom properties as needed (hours, phone, website, etc.)

Basic Store Locator Implementation

Step 1: Initialize Map and Data

import mapboxgl from 'mapbox-gl';
import 'mapbox-gl/dist/mapbox-gl.css';

mapboxgl.accessToken = 'YOUR_MAPBOX_ACCESS_TOKEN';

// Store locations data
const stores = {
  type: 'FeatureCollection',
  features: [
    {
      type: 'Feature',
      geometry: {
        type: 'Point',
        coordinates: [-77.034084, 38.909671]
      },
      properties: {
        id: 'store-001',
        name: 'Downtown Store',
        address: '123 Main St, Washington, DC 20001',
        phone: '(202) 555-0123',
        category: 'retail'
      }
    }
    // ... more stores
  ]
};

const map = new mapboxgl.Map({
  container: 'map',
  style: 'mapbox://styles/mapbox/standard',
  center: [-77.034084, 38.909671],
  zoom: 11
});

Step 2: Add Markers to Map

Marker strategy by location count:

Count
Strategy
Reason

Fewer than 100
HTML Markers
Full DOM/CSS control; DOM node count is manageable

100–1,000
Symbol Layer (default)
Renders on the GPU via WebGL — one <canvas>, zero per-point DOM elements

More than 1,000
Clustering
Reduces visual clutter at large scale

HTML Markers create one DOM element per point. Beyond ~100 locations the browser spends too much time on layout/paint. Symbol layers bypass the DOM entirely — the GPU draws all points in a single WebGL draw call.

Symbol Layer implementation (best for 100–1,000 locations). For HTML Markers (fewer than 100) or Clustering (more than 1,000), see references/markers.md.

map.on('load', () => {
  // Add store data as source
  map.addSource('stores', {
    type: 'geojson',
    data: stores
  });

  // Add custom marker image
  map.loadImage('/marker-icon.png', (error, image) => {
    if (error) throw error;
    map.addImage('custom-marker', image);

    // Add symbol layer
    map.addLayer({
      id: 'stores-layer',
      type: 'symbol',
      source: 'stores',
      layout: {
        'icon-image': 'custom-marker',
        'icon-size': 0.8,
        'icon-allow-overlap': true,
        'text-field': ['get', 'name'],
        'text-font': ['Open Sans Bold', 'Arial Unicode MS Bold'],
        'text-offset': [0, 1.5],
        'text-anchor': 'top',
        'text-size': 12
      }
    });
  });

  // Handle marker clicks using Interactions API (recommended)
  map.addInteraction('store-click', {
    type: 'click',
    target: { layerId: 'stores-layer' },
    handler: (e) => {
      const store = e.feature;
      flyToStore(store);
      createPopup(store);
    }
  });

  // Or using traditional event listener:
  // map.on('click', 'stores-layer', (e) => {
  //   const store = e.features[0];
  //   flyToStore(store);
  //   createPopup(store);
  // });

  // Change cursor on hover
  map.on('mouseenter', 'stores-layer', () => {
    map.getCanvas().style.cursor = 'pointer';
  });

  map.on('mouseleave', 'stores-layer', () => {
    map.getCanvas().style.cursor = '';
  });
});

Step 3: Build Interactive Location List

function buildLocationList(stores) {
  const listingContainer = document.getElementById('listings');

  stores.features.forEach((store, index) => {
    const listing = listingContainer.appendChild(document.createElement('div'));
    listing.id = `listing-${store.properties.id}`;
    listing.className = 'listing';

    const link = listing.appendChild(document.createElement('a'));
    link.href = '#';
    link.className = 'title';
    link.id = `link-${store.properties.id}`;
    link.innerHTML = store.properties.name;

    const details = listing.appendChild(document.createElement('div'));
    details.innerHTML = `
      <p>${store.properties.address}</p>
      <p>${store.properties.phone || ''}</p>
    `;

    // Handle listing click
    link.addEventListener('click', (e) => {
      e.preventDefault();
      flyToStore(store);
      createPopup(store);
      highlightListing(store.properties.id);
    });
  });
}

function flyToStore(store) {
  map.flyTo({
    center: store.geometry.coordinates,
    zoom: 15,
    duration: 1000
  });
}

function createPopup(store) {
  const popups = document.getElementsByClassName('mapboxgl-popup');
  // Remove existing popups
  if (popups[0]) popups[0].remove();

  new mapboxgl.Popup({ closeOnClick: true })
    .setLngLat(store.geometry.coordinates)
    .setHTML(
      `<h3>${store.properties.name}</h3>
       <p>${store.properties.address}</p>
       <p>${store.properties.phone}</p>
       ${store.properties.website ? `<a href="${store.properties.website}" target="_blank">Visit Website</a>` : ''}`
    )
    .addTo(map);
}

// IMPORTANT: highlightListing MUST include scrollIntoView — without it,
// selecting a marker on the map won't scroll the sidebar to the listing.
function highlightListing(id) {
  // Remove existing highlights
  const activeItem = document.getElementsByClassName('active');
  if (activeItem[0]) {
    activeItem[0].classList.remove('active');
  }

  // Add highlight to selected listing
  const listing = document.getElementById(`listing-${id}`);
  listing.classList.add('active');

  // Scroll the selected listing into view (critical UX requirement)
  listing.scrollIntoView({ behavior: 'smooth', block: 'nearest' });
}

// Build the list on load
map.on('load', () => {
  buildLocationList(stores);
});

Reference Files

Load these references for additional patterns as needed:

Reference
File
Contents

HTML Markers & Clustering
references/markers.md
HTML Markers (< 100 locations), Clustering (> 1000 locations)

Search & Filter
references/search-filter.md
Text search, category filter

Geolocation & Directions
references/geolocation-directions.md
User location, distance calculation, route directions

Styling & Layout
references/styling-layout.md
Full HTML/CSS layout, custom marker CSS

Performance & A11y
references/optimization-a11y.md
Debounced search, data management, error handling, accessibility

Variations & React
references/variations-react.md
Mobile-first, fullscreen, map-only, React implementation

Resources

Turf.js - Spatial analysis library (recommended for distance calculations)

Mapbox GL JS API

Interactions API Guide

GeoJSON Specification

Directions API

Store Locator Tutorial