For lightweight mapping the web and JS is definite...

# tornadofx

[hastebrot]

For lightweight mapping the web and JS is definitely the way to go and moves in a fast pace. Mapbox, OpenLayers and D3.js offer a lot. And then of course there are the Google Maps and Open Street Map APIs. Java has more to offer for professional mapping with JTS and GeoTools. Web maps were a long time only pre-rendered image (pyramids) and only in recent years they offer vector-based web maps.