name: kepler.gl description: Create interactive map visualizations and export to standalone HTML using the keplergl Python package. Use when the user wants to create maps, visualize geospatial data, plot locations on a map, or generate HTML map files from DataFrames, GeoDataFrames, GeoJSON, or CSV data with coordinates.

Create Maps with keplergl

Use the keplergl Python package to create standalone, interactive HTML map files from geospatial data. The exported HTML loads kepler.gl from CDN — no JavaScript build or server is needed. The resulting .html file can be opened directly in any browser.

Installation

pip install keplergl

Requires keplergl >= 0.4.0. Earlier versions use a different widget/serialization API and the examples in this skill will not work. Requirements: Python >= 3.9. Dependencies (pandas, geopandas, shapely) are installed automatically.

Instructions

Import KeplerGl from keplergl
Load data as a DataFrame, GeoDataFrame, GeoJSON dict, or CSV string
Create a map with KeplerGl(data={'name': data_object})
Optionally configure layers, colors, and map state via a config dict (default to quantile color scale and a vibrant palette for quantitative color encoding when the user does not specify)
Export with map.save_to_html(file_name='output.html', center_map=True)
The output HTML is fully standalone — open it in any browser

API Reference

`KeplerGl(data=None, config=None, height=400, mapbox_token="", use_arrow=False, show_docs=False, theme="", app_name="kepler.gl", **kwargs)`

| Parameter | Type | Default | Description | |-----------|------|---------|-------------| | height | int | 400 | Map height in pixels | | data | dict | None | {"dataset_name": data_object} | | config | dict | None | Map configuration (layers, filters, map state) | | mapbox_token | str | "" | Mapbox token (only for Mapbox basemap styles) | | use_arrow | bool | False | Serialize DataFrames as Arrow IPC (more compact, preserves types) | | show_docs | bool | False | Deprecated (kept for compatibility) | | theme | str | "" | "light", "dark", "base", or "" (default dark) | | app_name | str | "kepler.gl" | App name in header and HTML title |

`.add_data(data, name="data", use_arrow=None)`

data: DataFrame, GeoDataFrame, CSV string, GeoJSON dict, or GeoJSON string
name: Dataset identifier (default: "data") — must match dataId in config if using a config
use_arrow: If True, serialize this DataFrame as Arrow IPC. If None (default), falls back to the widget-level use_arrow setting. Has no effect on GeoDataFrames.

`.save_to_html(file_name="keplergl_map.html", data=None, config=None, read_only=False, center_map=True, mapbox_token="", json_encoder=str, app_name=None, theme=None)`

| Parameter | Type | Default | Description | |-----------|------|---------|-------------| | file_name | str | "keplergl_map.html" | Output file path | | data | dict | None | Data override for export (uses current widget data when None) | | config | dict | None | Config override for export (uses current widget config when None) | | read_only | bool | False | True = hide side panel | | center_map | bool | True | True = auto-fit map to data bounds | | mapbox_token | str | "" | Mapbox token override for export | | json_encoder | callable | str | Fallback encoder for non-JSON-native values in GeoDataFrames | | app_name | str | None | App name override for export title/header | | theme | str | None | Theme override for export ("light", "dark", "base", or "") |

`.config`

Read or set the map configuration dict. Use map.config after customizing in Jupyter UI, then save and reuse.

Key Rules

dataId must match the dataset name — every layer and filter references a dataset by dataId; this must match the key in the data dict or the name passed to add_data().
GeoJSON columns use _geojson — when data is loaded as GeoJSON, the geometry column is internally named _geojson in configs.
colorField / colorScale / sizeField / heightField etc. belong under visualChannels, NOT under config. Putting them under config is silently ignored — the layer will render but the "Color Based On (field)" input shows empty. The layer object must have two siblings: config (for dataId, columns, visConfig, …) and visualChannels (for all field-to-channel mappings).
Columns named latitude/lat/lng/longitude are auto-detected as coordinates.
H3 hex IDs are auto-detected if a column contains valid H3 strings.
Use center_map=True to auto-fit map bounds. Use read_only=True to hide the side panel.
For numeric color encoding, if the user does not specify a color scale, use visualChannels.colorScale: 'quantile'.
For numeric color encoding, if the user does not specify a palette, use a vibrant sequential/diverging palette (for example, colorRange.name: 'Global Warming').
If the user asks for custom class breaks, compute breakpoints in Python first (for example with pygeoda), add a derived classified/bin column to the dataset, and map colors using that derived field.
No SampleMapPanel in standalone exports. The SampleMapPanel React component lives in the kepler.gl demo app, not in the UMD bundle used by save_to_html(). To show a summary/legend overlay, inject an HTML+CSS <div> into the exported file (position it at right: 56px or left: 66px so it doesn't block map controls). See Summary Panel Overlay.

Supported Data Formats

| Format | How to Load | |--------|-------------| | pandas DataFrame | Columns with lat/lng (or similar) for point data | | geopandas GeoDataFrame | Geometry column auto-detected. Interactive widget serialization uses GeoArrow (no CRS reprojection); HTML export path re-projects to EPSG:4326 when needed. | | CSV string | Raw CSV text with lat/lng or geometry columns | | GeoJSON dict | Feature or FeatureCollection as Python dict | | GeoJSON string | JSON string of GeoJSON | | WKT in DataFrame | DataFrame column containing WKT geometry strings |

Layer Types

| Layer Type | Config type | Typical Data | |------------|---------------|--------------| | Point | "point" | DataFrame with lat/lng columns | | Arc | "arc" | DataFrame with origin/destination lat/lng | | Line | "line" | DataFrame with origin/destination lat/lng | | Hexbin | "hexagon" | DataFrame with lat/lng (aggregated spatially) | | Heatmap | "heatmap" | DataFrame with lat/lng | | H3 Hexagon | "hexagonId" | DataFrame with H3 hex ID column | | GeoJSON / Polygon | "geojson" | GeoJSON or GeoDataFrame with polygon/line geometries | | Cluster | "cluster" | DataFrame with lat/lng | | Icon | "icon" | DataFrame with lat/lng | | Trip | "trip" | GeoJSON with LineString + timestamps | | S2 | "s2" | DataFrame with S2 token column |

Config Structure

config = {
    'version': 'v1',
    'config': {
        'visState': {
            'layers': [...],          # Layer definitions
            'filters': [...],         # Data filters
            'interactionConfig': {},  # Tooltips, brush, geocoder
            'splitMaps': [],          # Split map views
            'layerBlending': 'normal' # 'normal', 'additive', 'subtractive'
        },
        'mapState': {
            'latitude': 37.76,
            'longitude': -122.4,
            'zoom': 11,
            'bearing': 0,
            'pitch': 0,
            'dragRotate': False,
            'isSplit': False
        },
        'mapStyle': {
            'styleType': 'dark-matter'
        }
    }
}

Basemap Styles

Free (no token needed): dark-matter, positron, voyager, dark-matter-nolabels, positron-nolabels, voyager-nolabels

Mapbox (require mapbox_token): dark, light, muted, muted_night

Additional Resources

For detailed per-layer-type examples with full config, see supporting files:

Point Map — Scatter plot from lat/lng
GeoJSON / Polygon Map — Polygons, lines from GeoJSON or GeoDataFrame
H3 Hexagon Map — H3 spatial index hexagons
Arc / Line Map — Origin-destination connections
Heatmap — Density heatmap from points
Hexbin Aggregation Map — Spatial binning into hexagons
Trip Animation Map — Animated trips along paths
Summary Panel Overlay — Inject a SampleMapPanel-style info overlay into the exported HTML (for LISA/cluster counts, model summaries, custom legends)

Examples

For full config examples per layer type, see:

Point Map — includes quantile color + vibrant palette config
GeoJSON / Polygon Map — includes choropleth config with visualChannels

Quick start (auto-detected layers, no config needed)

from keplergl import KeplerGl
import pandas as pd

df = pd.DataFrame({
    'lat': [37.7749, 34.0522, 40.7128],
    'lng': [-122.4194, -118.2437, -74.0060],
    'name': ['San Francisco', 'Los Angeles', 'New York'],
    'value': [15, 42, 27]
})

map_1 = KeplerGl(data={'cities': df})
map_1.save_to_html(file_name='cities_map.html', center_map=True)

GeoDataFrame from shapefile

from keplergl import KeplerGl
import geopandas as gpd

gdf = gpd.read_file('shapefile.shp')
map_1 = KeplerGl(data={'regions': gdf})
map_1.save_to_html(file_name='regions_map.html', read_only=True, center_map=True)

Multiple datasets

map_1 = KeplerGl(data={
    'locations': points_df,
    'routes': routes_df
})
map_1.save_to_html(file_name='combined_map.html', center_map=True)

Save and reuse config

import json
# Save
with open('my_config.json', 'w') as f:
    json.dump(map_1.config, f)
# Load
with open('my_config.json', 'r') as f:
    config = json.load(f)
map_2 = KeplerGl(data={'data_1': df}, config=config)
map_2.save_to_html(file_name='map.html')

Create Interactive Maps with keplergl

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