How-to guides

Creating a map

Get API key

This page explains creating an API key, adding it to your app, and securing it.

Customizing

Styling your map

This page shows how to customize your map and change the visual display of elements such as roads, parks, and buildings.

Customizing POI Behavior

This page shows how to customize the behavior of points of interest (POIs) on the map.

Using the Vector Map (Beta)

This page shows how to create a vector map.

Custom legends

This page shows how to create a legend on a map.

Style reference

This page shows the available values for customizing your map.

Interacting

Controls

This page shows how to use elements that allow user interaction with the map.

Events

This page describes the user interface events and error events that you can listen for and handle programmatically.

Zoom and pan

This page shows options to control the way users interact with the map to zoom and pan.

Drawing

Overview

This page shows how to draw points, lines, areas, or collections of objects.

Markers

This page shows how to use markers on your map.

Custom Markers

This page shows how to change the icon of a maps marker.

Info windows

This page shows how to displays content (usually text or images) in a popup window above the map, at a given location.

Shapes

This page shows how to add various shapes to your map.

Symbols

This page shows how to use a vector-based icon on a marker, or add an image to a polyline.

Ground overlays

This page shows how to create objects on the map that are tied to latitude/longitude coordinates, so they move when you drag or zoom the map.

Custom overlays

This page shows how to create custom overlays.

Displaying data

Overview

This page shows how to add a layer to your map.

Data layer

This page shows how to use a data layer to store your custom data, or to display GeoJSON data on a Google map.

Heatmap

This page shows how to create client-side rendering of heatmaps.

Displaying KML

This page shows how to display information of a KML file in a map and sidebar.

KML and GeoRRS

This page shows how to render KML and GeoRSS elements into a tile overlay on your map.

Traffic, Transit, and Bicycling Layers

This page shows how to modify the base map layer to display current traffic conditions, local transit networks, or bicycling route information.