ZMarker

My solution to 'markers too close together' is via manipulating z-index of the markers. The possibility was given to us with 2.70.

A test page with some more explanation.

Finding map buttons

The string variables listed earlier can be used to identify map buttons.

var divs = map.getContainer().getElementsByTagName("div");
for(var i = 0; i<divs.length; i++)
{
var title = divs[i].getAttribute("title");

if(title==_mZoomIn)
{
zoomInButton=divs[i];
}}

Now variable 'zoomInButton' is the container of 'Zoom In' button and you can change its style or construct an event listener.

Update 2008. Excpected lifespan of this kind of hacks is a few months. This hasn't been working for a long time. if(title=="Zoom in") works but but you have to lock the language to hl=en.

GPolygon()

v2.69 gives us possibility to fill inner area of a polyline. The syntax is like GPolyline() but with two more parameters:

new GPolygon(array_of_points, line_color, line_width, line_opacity,
fill_color, fill_opacity);

Discovered by Mike Williams. An example.

A page without a key

Api checks

if((d=="igoogle"||d=="gmodules"||d=="googlepages"||
d=="orkut")&&c=="com")

from the page url. If satisfied no key is needed. The bonus is that you get the same tileset as maps.google.com.

If you have your page hosted in GooglePages without a key you get Navteq maps for US and today you can get African maps with the trick. Just delete '&key=blahblah..' from the api call script. 'Powered by Google' logo goes with the key. Cairo.

I have not solved how to make GClientGeocoder work with a page like that.

Event tester 2.0 pre alpha

Now I have a partially operating pre alpha event test page v2.0 on line:

• parameters (first three of them)
  
• draggable output fields
• more objects (info window, overview map, draggable object...)
  
• the list of GEvents is read from text file that is a section of api
• events are alphabetically sorted to a "List" field
• events field is editable [submit]
  
• call GLog to see timing
• script area (also in v1) to write event listeners of your own
• a bug was revealed:
• mouseover and mouseout of map will not come back if once deleted
• 'mousemove' is deleted for saving output field
  
• I have managed to get a few times
  

Does not work with IE at this time but I quess that is not a problem. Please comment especially about 'zoomrangechange' and 'blur'.

'load' GEvent of overview map

Oh yes. I took time to enhance the event test page. I will publish 2.0 beta very soon. During testing I made some discovery.

It has been a common practice to apply a small delay when setting the initial map type or position of overview map.

I happened to find a GEvent 'load' that is probably intended for the purpose.

var ovMap=new GOverviewMapControl();
map.addControl(ovMap);
var mini=map.getOverviewMap();

GEvent.addListener(mini,"load",function(){
mini.setZoom(14);
mini.setMapType(G_SATELLITE_MAP);
});

Seems to work perfect.

GEvents

There is an easy to read section in api.js. The one where string variables are introduced (2.67):

var Bb="newcopyright";
var mf="blur";
var X="click",
bd="contextmenu",
Ca="dblclick";
var nf="error";
var ce="keydown",
de="keypress",
of="keyup",
cd="load",
Da="mousedown",
xc="mousemove",
Ea="mouseout",
Ma="mouseup",
he="mousewheel",
ie="DOMMouseScroll";
var sf="unload",
yc="remove",
Va="mouseover",
Yd="closeclick",
fe="maximizeclick",
ke="restoreclick",
ge="maximizeend",
rf="restoreend",
pf="maxtab",
Wd="animate",
Vd="addmaptype",
lf="addoverlay",
Xd="clearoverlays",
Zd="infowindowbeforeclose",
be="infowindowprepareopen",
$d="infowindowclose",
ae="infowindowopen",
Kb="maptypechanged",
qa="moveend",
Lb="movestart",
je="removemaptype",
qf="removeoverlay",
Wa="resize",
tf="zoom",
dd="zoomend",
le="zooming",
me="zoomrangechange",
ne="zoomstart",
ub="dragstart",
tb="drag",
Ua="dragend",
vb="move",
wc="clearlisteners";
var vc="changed";
var ee="logclick";

Most of them are known GEvents but there are a few strings that I have no idea about. They are not necessarily GEvents but it is very easy to try that. I have to find time to create the event test pages further on. For instance info window has GEvents now.

More custom legends

Tooltips of map type buttons are here again. We had them in v1 and now in v2,65. When trying to find how to modify their contents I found many other parameters too.

_mPanNorth, _mPanWest, _mPanEast, _mPanSouth (Arrow button tooltips)
_mLastResult (Return button tooltip)
_mZoomIn, _mZoomOut (Zoom button tooltips)
_mMapMode (Map button legend)
_mMapModeShort (Map legend of small button)
_mStreetMapAlt (Map button tooltip)
_mMapError (Error message of uncovered areas)
_mSatelliteMode (Sat button legend)
_mSatelliteModeShort (Sat legend of small button)
_mSatelliteMapAlt (Sat button tooltip)
_mSatelliteError (Error message of uncovered areas)
_mHybridMode (Hyb button legend)
_mHybridModeShort (Hyb legend of small button)
_mHybridMapAlt (Hyb button tooltip)

Syntax as in previous post.

Update 2008. These variables have gone a long time ago.

Custom type button legends

Add this script right after your Maps API call:
<script>
_mMapMode = "Karta";
_mMapModeShort = "Karta";
_mSatelliteMode = "Sputnik";
_mSatelliteModeShort = "Sput";
_mHybridMode = "Gibrid";
_mHybridModeShort = "Gib";
GLoadMapsScript();
<\script>

An example.

The trick was presented by Alexander on the forum.

var blog = new collectionOfTricks();

A blog is the most convenient notebook. This is my notebook for Google Maps API code snippets and tricks.

The first one is a method to edit the legends of map type buttons.