Google maps gradient polylines: need for a hack? - google-maps

Question

I want to have a polyline that fades out from the current position (alpha = 1.0) to the start position (alpha = 0.0). In that way, give some kind of visual chronology to such a line.
After some googling, I concluded, that currently a gradient on a polyline is not part of Maps' feature set.
Am I right in this conclusion. I hope not, because I'm about to
Draw a complex polyline as many single lines, each with an increasing opacity. Question: is this going to blow up browsers, when my polyline consists of hundreds of points?
Thanks in advance..

Answer 1

So, here is something that is more than a comment, so I post it as an answer, realizing it might not be THE answer, and I don't expect anyone to honor this as such:
So, rather than drawing a polyline like this:
line = new google.maps.Polyline({
path: path,
map: map
});
I came up with this:
function multiMonolines (path) {
var totalPoints =path.length;
for(var i = 0; i < (path.length-1); ++i){
var startingPoint =path[i];
var endingPoint=path[i+1];
var shortPath=new Array(startingPoint,endingPoint);
line = new google.maps.Polyline({
path: shortPath,
---and here I do some stuff with opacity---
map: map
});
};
};
My finding is, that the map is drawn fast enough. (There are 381 'multimonolines').
However: zooming in on the map in Safari hangs the web page. Chrome is easier on that.
I realize that drawing 380 lines is quite an expensive thing to do, so I think I will have to revert to the polyline, hoping that someone has figured out how to do a gradient polyline. Or until Apple optimizes its js rendering engine even more.