Google map zoom parameter in url not working - google-maps

Why doesn't google map z (zoom) parameter work inside the url?
I' ve searched over so I got few solutions for sending zoom parameter in google map url but based on the old posts (stackoverflow) which deal with the zoom level within the url it seems that this functionalities do not work anymore.
I've used the following z parameter but it's not working:
http://maps.google.com/?q=38.6531004,-90.243462&z=12
Below is the link where they have mentioned z parameter for zoom level
link

For those who do not want to read,
this works (z range:[1-20]):
https://maps.google.com/?q=38.6531004,-90.243462&ll=38.6531004,-90.243462&z=3
There is no documentation that covers this problem. However, there are few hacks.
The link that you have provided,
URL (stackoverflow):What parameters should I use in a Google Maps URL to go to a lat-lon?
Will not help you with getting the desired google maps zoom level inside a url
The following examples which have been working for quite a while DO NOT WORK anymore (they work but without getting the desired zoom level)
Examples:
http://maps.google.com/?q=38.6531004,-90.243462&z=3
http://maps.google.com/?q=38.6531004,-90.243462&zoom=3
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Scottish+Rite+Hamilton+ON&loc:43.25911+-79.879494&z=15
Instead, you can get the zoom level easily by trying the following examples:
https://www.google.com/maps/#38.6531004,-90.243462,9z
https://maps.google.com/?ll=40.7060471,-74.0088901&z=3
(Note: after clicking on google maps you will get a gray marker which appears and quickly disappears)
However the above URL's will not give you a static pinpoint for the specified lat&long.
There is a "hack" on how to get a fixed pinpoint (red marker pin) and that is by giving the q attribute (represents the search query) and the II attribute(latitude and longitude of the map centre point) along with the z (zoom attribute)
Example (with the OP coordinates):
https://maps.google.com/?q=38.6531004,-90.243462&ll=38.6531004,-90.243462&z=3
If you want to change the zoom level just change the value of 'z'.
After searching the web I found that only this website:
https://moz.com/blog/new-google-maps-url-parameters
deals with google maps parameters/attributes/arguments, where things actually still work. If anyone want's more functionalities within the url, then this is the site to check.
Zoom intervals explained (https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/static-maps/intro#Zoomlevels):
The following list shows the approximate level of detail you can
expect to see at each zoom level:
1: World
5: Landmass/continent
10: City
15: Streets
20: Buildings

This works as of 5 Aug 2018
http://www.google.com/maps/place/<lat>,<lng>/#<lat>,<lng>,<zoom>z
For example
http://www.google.com/maps/place/49.46800006494457,17.11514008755796/#49.46800006494457,17.11514008755796,7z

As of 04/2020 ...."because google is always changing and evolving"
In complement to Eugen Sunic comments above, and an alternative update to the Solution.
When Logged in to google and getting map data from the google generator, it is not the same as copying the URL from the browser window (which my may be manipulated to load different zooms trough the various alterations, html, Css and script tricks).
But in the below, keep in mind that Your address info may need to be part of the google array of database, eg you have some address map info linked to your account, images, business name, etc. or not... maybe just typed in for a quick map search with a pin-point... the later I don't know.
Also the below is not some Google API pay per 1k clicks thing, which is more geared to the commercial development end of google tracking heat maps, etc. So if you just need a simple solution and certain zoom and marker to work..then you might try the below.
When logged in too your Google account (maybe not) and showing your location marker on the map screen...
Choose the zoom detail of the map you want to appear in your web page. eg Whole US, State views, City, Street (by clicking the + or - zoom feature).
Then go to the hamburger menu to the left, and look down the list for "Share or Embed Map" and the popup window should load the same zoom level of the map! Do not try to change the zoom in the popup window feature, it wont work to change the link code but will change the pop up windows zoom of the map. In short, the embedded link code is preset and will not change in the popup.
Above this popup window of the map there will be two options at the top (Share and Embed) button/link selections.
Click on the Embed link/button and it should generate the code for the zoom you previously chose.
Lastly, copy the code, paste it into your web page and TEST!
As far as I can tell, There is no altering this code as the others suggested above, changing(z=3, 9z, etc) as the code is entirely different. But it will allow you to get the zoom you need "if the google code generator or procedure does not change".
But the zoom level was altered and good enough for me when I figured the process out. Changing it to other zooms is another can of code.

Related

Setting perfect zoom level for a Place with Google API

In my Google Maps app the user can search for a place (using Autocomplete) and the map will be re-centered upon it with map.setCenter(pos);.
This does not change zoom level though, that must be done manually with map.setZoom(x).
In Google's map, zoom automatically readjusts to perfectly show the place's boundaries, how can I replicate that behavior?
The duplicate #woelliJ found almost worked, but ended up using an old version of the API. It led me on the right track though, and I ended up finding how to make it work with the new API - map.fitBounds(autocomplete.getPlace().geometry.viewport);

Embed mymaps on website with possibility to see current position on mobile

I want to embed "my maps" to my website using iframe, but I want to let my clients to open that map in a new window and see their location on it.
If I open my map in edit mode on my phone: www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=*** I see my position, if I change the mode to "view" it stops tracking my location.
Is there a way to open the big map and to see the current position? It's very useful... Maybe there is another way to embed it...
Based on the documentation
url: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/staticmaps/intro?hl=en
it seems that it is not possible to get the current location (position of the client) using the parameters which go along with the url. This means that you can not use iframe and embed google maps inside it to get your current position.
However, you can still use geolocation and program it to get the user current position on the map,
url (code included in the link): https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/examples/map-geolocation
Bare in mind that the google map API will always ask you the permission to access data in order to locate you.

Custom icons in KML occasionally break in Google Maps

So this might be a bit tricky to demonstrate, since the problem only appears occasionally and unpredictably--hopefully the problem shows up when you view this question (or, alternatively, has stopped appearing altogether!).
We have a Google Maps implementation on our site that displays paginated search results on a map. The current page's results appear as regular Google Maps markers (with custom icons--these work fine), but the other search results appear as smaller markers in a KML layer. An example:
http://www.redflagdeals.com/in/verdun/map/
The large markers are squarish pin images; the small markers are coloured dots. Blue and purple markers/dots simply refer to different types of content. In the KML file, we've specified two Styles, one for each content type. Other than the Icon reference, which points to the different pin images, the two elements are exactly the same. Here's an example generated KML file for reference:
http://www.redflagdeals.com/in/verdun/map/?do=map_kml&longitude=-73.56895400000002&latitude=45.457064&order=deal_price&dir=asc&category_filter=0&content_filter=0&tag_filter=0&keyword=&page=1&show=deal%20coupon
Most of the time, our map shows the large and small markers perfectly. Occasionally, though, some or all of the small pins show up without the custom icons, instead reverting to the generic blue Google marker image. Today, the custom minipins that show up in blue are broken, while the purple ones are all fine. Other times, both the blue and purple ones are broken.
The problem usually fixes itself, leaving us clueless as to the cause or the solution. The only theory I have is that we use a CDN to host our marker images, and occasionally we push a new version to the CDN while updating all the filenames simultaneously (as we have CDN version numbers in the URLs for our images). Maybe it's possible Google is requesting one or both of the small pin images right when we're pushing a new CDN version, getting a 404, and giving up immediately. But that would mean Google caches the KML images (or lack thereof) for quite a long time. Other than that, I have no ideas.
Is there anything we can do to prevent this problem from cropping up in the future?
see this post (Comment #4 specifically) explains caching of custom markers
http://code.google.com/p/gmaps-api-issues/issues/detail?id=3864
I've just tested this, the result is the following:
I'm sure Google caches both, the KML-file and the marker-images.
(Of course they do, otherwise they must load the files and create new tiles on every single request )
So when you change any marker-image, you must change the URLs of the marker-images inside the KML-file.
You also must change the URL of the KML-file inside your application(otherwise google will not recognize the modified image-URL's)
It's sufficient to append a random parameter to the URLs

Google Maps default zoom level

I created a public map using my Google Map. I want to set a default zoom level, but it is not saved. Is this possible?
Also, is it possible to change the list of place markers?
the reference map that you supply (quebec summer festival) is called by the URL: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?source=embed&hl=en&geocode=&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=112492115201367239282.0004609e0fcc239c4f792&ll=46.81084,-71.217113&spn=0.02056,0.038624&z=15
notice that the last parameter "&z=15" defines the zoom level (in the embed map code, "&z=15" becomes "& a m p ; z = 1 5" [remove spaces between letters]). if you change this you can increase or decrease the zoom level. if you suppress the zoom level, googlemaps will automatically calculate a zoom level when displaying said map. NORMALLY this leaves some of your map outside the frame.
so, just by supplying the URL with the desired zoomlevel you have solved your problem. this works very well with static maps. if you have a dynamically generated map (from a database, for example), the fastest solution is to put 2 markers (top left and bottom right corners) slightly outside your boundary box. this will force automatic zoom in the desired amount (hopefully).
Not using API just made a map points using my GMail account and made it public, like the following site:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?source=embed&hl=en&geocode=&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=112492115201367239282.0004609e0fcc239c4f792&ll=46.81084,-71.217113&spn=0.02056,0.038624&z=15
Nothing is saved by a web page. HTML browsing is stateless. If you want to save some information you will need to use similar trick as any other web applications. E.g. putting it in cookie and the setting the zoom level using the information in the cookie when you initial the page.

Clickable markers on GTileLayerOverlay

I have a web application that needs to display 30,000 markers on a map at the same time. I don't want to use any kind of clustering. I need them to all be displayed.
I also need them to be clickable. The user can click on each point and a popup will come up with information about that point. Even at a low zoom level when there are thousands of markers in a single 256x256 square, the user needs to be able to click on them. It may be cumbersome for the user to click on a point thats bunched up with hundreds of other points, but if there happens to be one marker in the middle of nowhere, I want the user to be able to click on it right there instead of having to zoom in.
How do I do this? I know it's possible because I watched a video on google video where this guy creates a GTileLayerOverlay app that had clickable markers. He didn't explain how it was done though.
Is my only option to just remove the GTileLayerOverlay at high zoom levels and replace it with a true GMarker layer? I really don't want to do that. It seems over engineering to me.
If you were me, how would you go about this?
I found this example is in the Google Maps API Demo Gallery:
Clickable Tile Layer
This example creates a custom map type (GMapType) that shows regional borders and squares for county centers. When the squares are clicked, an info window opens with information about that county. The clickability is accomplished by passing in information about clickable pixel bounds in the cookies attached to the tiles, and doing a client-side check on mouseover for whether the mouse position was within the pixel bounds.
Here's some commentary on his method.
I don't have any experience with GTileLayOverlays, but I believe it is possible to accomplish what you're trying to do without using GMarkers.
Would it be possible to utilize clustering if each cluster could bring up a list of the markers it represents? It seems like having 30,000 markers visible at once would be visually confusing and difficult to navigate .