It is sad to see that while maps and geodata are trending, there is no reasonable solution to embed maps in any of forum engines. Users of SkyscraperCity, the leading forum on tall buildings, transport infrastructure and urban development, cannot use maps to show what they are discussing. Cycling forums don't have route maps in their weekend journeys topics. Hikers cannot place photos taken in a recent trip on a map. Offroad clubs still have to rely on arrays of GPS waypoints for their activities.
Meanwhile, recent technological advancements in web mapping, namely Leaflet library and its plugins, made it possible to create a simple solution for embedding maps in forums. In October the library for parsing, displaying and editing [map] bbcode was finally released. With luck, this tag will become as common on forums as [img] and [url].
Download MapBBCode JavaScript library:
You will surely have questions after studying the library, find some answers in the FAQ. Map BBCode can be integrated into your installation of:
Please help us expand this list! There is an extensive documentation on integrating [map] bbcode with forum engines. It doesn't even have to be a forum: blog and CMS plugins are also welcome. And does not rely on using actual maps. You can use the library in your project to display maps or to provide a complete mapping experience for your users. To showcase it, we have made an open-source website to create and share user maps:
The MapBBCode library and most examples were written by Ilya Zverev and published under WTFPL license where possible. Follow @mapbbcode for news.