How to generate a new map for jvectormap jquery plugin?

Question

I want to know how to create or generate a map for jquery plugin jvectormap http://jvectormap.com/

The project has several maps: http://jvectormap.com/maps/

Answer 1

Just in case anyone will need the same. To run converter, you need (this instruction is valid for Windows environment):

• download and install OSGeo4W (use Express Desktop Install)
• download desired shape file (this natural data file works fine).
• put anyjson to converter directory
• create makemap.bat in converter directory, like this:

python ^
   converter.py ^
   ../../ne_10m_admin_1_states_provinces_shp.shp ^
   test-map.js ^
   --width 400 ^
   --where "ISO_3166_2 = 'RU-' and code_hasc!=''" ^
   --country_name_index 12 ^
   --country_code_index 18 ^
   --minimal_area 4000000 ^
   --buffer_distance -0.5 ^
   --simplify_tolerance 10000 ^
   --longitude0 54.8270 ^
   --name russia

• run OSGeo4W shell (it will be added to start menu)
• run makemap.bat
• enjoy generated map

As a sample output attaching this fiddle with russian map generated using steps mentioned above http://jsfiddle.net/dyP4c/3/

About parameters (what I know)

where condition is used to filter out shapes from shapefile using shapefile attributes

simplify_tolerance will affect map quality and size

country_name_index index of REGION NAME attribute in shapefile or column in tab separated file if codes_file is used

country_code_index index of REGION CODE attribute in shapefile or column in tab separated file if codes_file is used

codes_file is tab separated file (if you want to use names/codes not from shapefile)

longitude0 is longitude of area (used this)

name is map name

P.S.: OSGeo4W package has nice Quantium GIS Browser to browse shapefile attributes. You can try to search other shapefiles on the web (not only natural data) to convert to jvectormap