What are the best practices for handling image overlays and layers in PHP for mapping coordinates?

When handling image overlays and layers in PHP for mapping coordinates, it is important to use image functions such as imagecopy() or imagecopymerge() to overlay one image onto another based on specified coordinates. Additionally, it is crucial to ensure that the images are properly loaded and have the correct transparency settings to achieve the desired overlay effect.

// Load the base image and overlay image
$baseImage = imagecreatefromjpeg('base_image.jpg');
$overlayImage = imagecreatefrompng('overlay_image.png');

// Set the coordinates for overlaying the image
$overlayX = 100;
$overlayY = 50;

// Overlay the image onto the base image at the specified coordinates
imagecopy($baseImage, $overlayImage, $overlayX, $overlayY, 0, 0, imagesx($overlayImage), imagesy($overlayImage));

// Output the final image with the overlay
header('Content-Type: image/jpeg');
imagejpeg($baseImage);

// Free up memory
imagedestroy($baseImage);
imagedestroy($overlayImage);