Book Image

Google Maps JavaScript API Cookbook

Book Image

Google Maps JavaScript API Cookbook

Overview of this book

Day by day, the use of location data is becoming more and more popular, and Google is one of the main game changers in this area. The Google Maps JavaScript API is one of the most functional and robust mapping APIs used among Geo developers. With Google Maps, you can build location-based apps, maps for mobile apps, visualize geospatial data, and customize your own maps.Google Maps JavaScript API Cookbook is a practical, hands-on guide that provides you with a number of clear, step-by-step recipes that will help you to unleash the capabilities of the Google Maps JavaScript API in conjunction with open source or commercial GIS servers and services through a number of practical examples of real world scenarios. This book begins by covering the essentials of including simple maps for Web and mobile, adding vector and raster layers, styling your own base maps, creating your own controls and responding to events, and including your own events.You will learn how to integrate open source or commercial GIS servers and services including ArcGIS Server, GeoServer, CartoDB, Fusion Tables, and Google Maps Engine with the Google Maps JavaScript API. You will also extend the Google Maps JavaScript API to push its capabilities to the limit with additional libraries and services including geometry, AdSense, geocoding, directions, and StreetView.This book covers everything you need to know about creating a web map or GIS applications using the Google Maps JavaScript API on multiple platforms.
Table of Contents (15 chapters)
Google Maps JavaScript API Cookbook
Credits
About the Authors
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Drawing shapes on the map


You have probably explored vector overlays in Chapter 3, Adding Vector Layers. Without getting into details, you can add markers, lines, and polygons programmatically using the Google Maps JavaScript API. But if you wanted to draw these vector overlays—not programmatically, but with mouse clicks or touch gestures, like in AutoCAD or ArcGIS for Desktop—what would you do?

The drawing library handles this job, enables you to draw vector shapes as per your preference, and shows them on top of your base maps.

In this recipe, we will go over the details of how to draw shapes, deal with their extensive set of options, and how to handle their specific events.

Getting ready

The first recipe of Chapter 1, Google Maps JavaScript API Basics, will do our work. We will alter the Google Maps API bootstrap URL to have this recipe.

How to do it...

The following steps show how you can have the drawing control and draw some shapes using that control:

  1. Alter the Google Maps API bootstrap URL...