In many web applications, we often need to store user-specific data to provide a personalized experience. One common requirement is to store and retrieve map markers and overlays based on the user’s preferences. In this blog post, we’ll explore how to use the Session Storage API in JavaScript to achieve this functionality.

What is Session Storage?

Session Storage is a web storage API provided by modern browsers that allows us to store key-value pairs. Unlike local storage, session storage data is only available for the duration of the browser session and is cleared as soon as the session ends.

Storing Map Markers and Overlays

To store map markers and overlays in the session storage, we need to follow these steps:

1. Convert the map markers and overlays into a serializable format such as JSON.
2. Store the serialized data in the session storage using a unique key.
3. Retrieve the serialized data from the session storage when needed.
4. Deserialize the data and use it to recreate the map markers and overlays.

Let’s see how this can be done in JavaScript using the Leaflet library for interactive maps:

// Serialize map markers and overlays
const markers = [
    { lat: 51.5074, lng: -0.1278, title: 'London' },
    { lat: 48.8566, lng: 2.3522, title: 'Paris' }
];
const overlays = ['restaurants', 'hotels'];

const data = { markers, overlays };
const serializedData = JSON.stringify(data);

// Store serialized data in session storage
sessionStorage.setItem('mapData', serializedData);

// Retrieve and deserialize data from session storage
const retrievedData = sessionStorage.getItem('mapData');
const deserializedData = JSON.parse(retrievedData);

// Recreate map markers and overlays
const { markers, overlays } = deserializedData;

// Use the markers and overlays in your map creation logic
// ...

Benefits of Using Session Storage

Using session storage for storing user-specific map markers and overlays offers several benefits:

• User-specific data: Session storage allows us to store data specific to each individual user. This enables a personalized user experience where each user sees their own saved map markers and overlays.
• Transient storage: With session storage, the stored data remains accessible throughout the user’s session but gets cleared automatically when the session ends. This ensures that the data does not persist indefinitely and does not take up unnecessary storage space.
• Easy retrieval and serialization: The session storage API provides straightforward methods for saving and retrieving data. By serializing complex objects into JSON strings, we can easily store and retrieve structured data like map markers and overlays.

Conclusion

Using session storage for storing user-specific map markers and overlays in JavaScript allows us to create personalized and dynamic web applications. By following the steps mentioned above and leveraging the session storage API, we can store and retrieve user-specific map data efficiently. This helps enhance the user experience and provide a more engaging and interactive mapping interface.

#webdevelopment #javascript