Customize a Google Map: Custom Markers

Select platform: Android iOS JavaScript

Overview

This tutorial teaches you how to change the icon of a Google maps advanced marker to use a custom graphic image. It is beneficial to know the basics of creating markers when using this tutorial.

The following example map demonstrates using customized markers to indicate various types of locations.

The following section lists all of the code that you need to create the map in this tutorial.

TypeScript

let map: google.maps.Map;

async function initMap() {
  // Request needed libraries.
  const { Map } = await google.maps.importLibrary("maps") as google.maps.MapsLibrary;
  const { AdvancedMarkerElement, PinElement } = await google.maps.importLibrary("marker") as google.maps.MarkerLibrary;

  map = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById("map") as HTMLElement, {
    center: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.91722, 151.23064),
    zoom: 16,
    mapId: "DEMO_MAP_ID",
  });

  const iconBase =
    "https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/examples/full/images/";

  const icons: Record<string, { icon: string }> = {
    parking: {
      icon: iconBase + "parking_lot_maps.png",
    },
    library: {
      icon: iconBase + "library_maps.png",
    },
    info: {
      icon: iconBase + "info-i_maps.png",
    },
  };

  const features = [
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.91721, 151.2263),
      type: "info",
    },
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.91539, 151.2282),
      type: "info",
    },
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.91747, 151.22912),
      type: "info",
    },
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.9191, 151.22907),
      type: "info",
    },
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.91725, 151.23011),
      type: "info",
    },
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.91872, 151.23089),
      type: "info",
    },
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.91784, 151.23094),
      type: "info",
    },
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.91682, 151.23149),
      type: "info",
    },
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.9179, 151.23463),
      type: "info",
    },
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.91666, 151.23468),
      type: "info",
    },
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.916988, 151.23364),
      type: "info",
    },
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.91662347903106, 151.22879464019775),
      type: "parking",
    },
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.916365282092855, 151.22937399734496),
      type: "parking",
    },
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.91665018901448, 151.2282474695587),
      type: "parking",
    },
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.919543720969806, 151.23112279762267),
      type: "parking",
    },
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.91608037421864, 151.23288232673644),
      type: "parking",
    },
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.91851096391805, 151.2344058214569),
      type: "parking",
    },
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.91818154739766, 151.2346203981781),
      type: "parking",
    },
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.91727341958453, 151.23348314155578),
      type: "library",
    },
  ];

  for (let i = 0; i < features.length; i++) {
    const iconImage = document.createElement("img");
    iconImage.src = icons[features[i].type].icon;
    const marker = new google.maps.marker.AdvancedMarkerElement({
      map,
      position: features[i].position,
      content: iconImage,
    })
  }
}

initMap();

JavaScript

let map;

async function initMap() {
  // Request needed libraries.
  const { Map } = await google.maps.importLibrary("maps");
  const { AdvancedMarkerElement, PinElement } = await google.maps.importLibrary(
    "marker",
  );

  map = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById("map"), {
    center: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.91722, 151.23064),
    zoom: 16,
    mapId: "DEMO_MAP_ID",
  });

  const iconBase =
    "https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/examples/full/images/";
  const icons = {
    parking: {
      icon: iconBase + "parking_lot_maps.png",
    },
    library: {
      icon: iconBase + "library_maps.png",
    },
    info: {
      icon: iconBase + "info-i_maps.png",
    },
  };
  const features = [
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.91721, 151.2263),
      type: "info",
    },
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.91539, 151.2282),
      type: "info",
    },
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.91747, 151.22912),
      type: "info",
    },
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.9191, 151.22907),
      type: "info",
    },
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.91725, 151.23011),
      type: "info",
    },
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.91872, 151.23089),
      type: "info",
    },
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.91784, 151.23094),
      type: "info",
    },
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.91682, 151.23149),
      type: "info",
    },
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.9179, 151.23463),
      type: "info",
    },
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.91666, 151.23468),
      type: "info",
    },
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.916988, 151.23364),
      type: "info",
    },
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.91662347903106, 151.22879464019775),
      type: "parking",
    },
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.916365282092855, 151.22937399734496),
      type: "parking",
    },
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.91665018901448, 151.2282474695587),
      type: "parking",
    },
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.919543720969806, 151.23112279762267),
      type: "parking",
    },
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.91608037421864, 151.23288232673644),
      type: "parking",
    },
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.91851096391805, 151.2344058214569),
      type: "parking",
    },
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.91818154739766, 151.2346203981781),
      type: "parking",
    },
    {
      position: new google.maps.LatLng(-33.91727341958453, 151.23348314155578),
      type: "library",
    },
  ];

  for (let i = 0; i < features.length; i++) {
    const iconImage = document.createElement("img");

    iconImage.src = icons[features[i].type].icon;

    const marker = new google.maps.marker.AdvancedMarkerElement({
      map,
      position: features[i].position,
      content: iconImage,
    });
  }
}

initMap();

CSS

/* 
 * Always set the map height explicitly to define the size of the div element
 * that contains the map. 
 */
#map {
  height: 100%;
}

/* 
 * Optional: Makes the sample page fill the window. 
 */
html,
body {
  height: 100%;
  margin: 0;
  padding: 0;
}

HTML

<html>
  <head>
    <title>Custom Markers</title>
    <script src="https://polyfill.io/v3/polyfill.min.js?features=default"></script>

    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="./style.css" />
    <script type="module" src="./index.js"></script>
  </head>
  <body>
    <div id="map"></div>

    <!-- prettier-ignore -->
    <script>(g=>{var h,a,k,p="The Google Maps JavaScript API",c="google",l="importLibrary",q="__ib__",m=document,b=window;b=b[c]||(b[c]={});var d=b.maps||(b.maps={}),r=new Set,e=new URLSearchParams,u=()=>h||(h=new Promise(async(f,n)=>{await (a=m.createElement("script"));e.set("libraries",[...r]+"");for(k in g)e.set(k.replace(/[A-Z]/g,t=>"_"+t[0].toLowerCase()),g[k]);e.set("callback",c+".maps."+q);a.src=`https://maps.${c}apis.com/maps/api/js?`+e;d[q]=f;a.onerror=()=>h=n(Error(p+" could not load."));a.nonce=m.querySelector("script[nonce]")?.nonce||"";m.head.append(a)}));d[l]?console.warn(p+" only loads once. Ignoring:",g):d[l]=(f,...n)=>r.add(f)&&u().then(()=>d[l](f,...n))})
        ({key: "AIzaSyB41DRUbKWJHPxaFjMAwdrzWzbVKartNGg", v: "weekly"});</script>
  </body>
</html>

Try Sample

Customize a map marker

You can change the default red marker icon (Default red marker icon) to a custom image of your choice. The following example shows how to replace the default icon with a custom PNG.

// A marker with a with a URL pointing to a PNG.
const beachFlagImg = document.createElement("img");

beachFlagImg.src =
  "https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/examples/full/images/beachflag.png";

const beachFlagMarkerView = new AdvancedMarkerElement({
  map,
  position: { lat: 37.434, lng: -122.082 },
  content: beachFlagImg,
  title: "A marker using a custom PNG Image",
});

See even more ways to create markers with graphics.

Customize markers by map features

Each point of interest in the list of campus features has a type attribute. Notice how the code extract below specifies the parking, library and info types. You can customize the marker icon depending on the map feature type you set it to.

const iconBase =
  "https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/examples/full/images/";

const icons: Record<string, { icon: string }> = {
  parking: {
    icon: iconBase + "parking_lot_maps.png",
  },
  library: {
    icon: iconBase + "library_maps.png",
  },
  info: {
    icon: iconBase + "info-i_maps.png",
  },
};

function addMarker(feature) {
  const iconImage = document.createElement("img");
  iconImage.src = icons[feature.type].icon;
  const marker = new google.maps.marker.AdvancedMarkerElement({
    map,
    position: feature.position,
    content: iconImage,
  })
}

addMarker(features[0]);