Google Maps API v3 Point of Interest with Custom Icons

Question

I have a page pulling in the schools, churches, and parks of my given area but I want to style the 3 POIs with 3 different icons. I searched Google and even all the docs but couldn't find the answer.

var map;
var infowindow;

function initialize() {

  // Center of Map
  var centerLatlng = new google.maps.LatLng(29.745376, -95.380125);

  // Marker Icons Declaration
  var icon = new google.maps.MarkerImage("smLinks-twitter.png", null, null, new google.maps.Point(41,47));

  // Map Options
  var myOptions = {
    zoom: 16,
    center: centerLatlng,
    mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.ROADMAP,
    icons: icon 
  };

  // Draw the map
  map = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById("map_canvas"), myOptions);

  // Marker Icons Implementation
  markers = new google.maps.Marker({ 
    position: centerLatlng,
    map: map, 
    title: 'Center of Map', 
    icon: icon 
  });

  // Services: Places
  var request = {
    location: centerLatlng,
    radius: 800,
    types: ["school", "church", "park"]
  };
  infowindow = new google.maps.InfoWindow();
  var service = new google.maps.places.PlacesService(map);
  service.search(request, callback);

} // function initialize()

function callback(results, status) {
  if (status == google.maps.places.PlacesServiceStatus.OK) {
    for (var i = 0; i < results.length; i++) {
      createMarker(results[i]);
    }
  }
}

function createMarker(place) {
  var placeLoc = place.geometry.location;
  var marker = new google.maps.Marker({
    map: map,
    position: place.geometry.location,
    icon: icon
  });
  google.maps.event.addListener(marker, 'mouseover', function() {
    infowindow.setContent(place.name + '<br/>' + place.vicinity + '<br/><img src="' + place.icon + '">');
    infowindow.open(map, this);
  });
}

Answer 1

Please see my quick and dirty Demo. The idea is to use the place.types array to determine what kind of place you are trying to add to the map. I simplistically assigned a marker to the first item of this array (usually 2 or 3 items long), which may be something like:

["school", "establishment"]

In some cases, "university" comes before "school" so a "university" icon is used. You will want to refine the way you match types to icons, that is, give a priority for school or university? Perhaps iterate through the array looking for the right types. One place (general_contractor) is not in my list of icons, so the default pin marker is placed there. A "default" icon could be used if you checked if iconType in fact has or not the desired type. I'll leave these details to you =)

Here's the source I used for icons: https://sites.google.com/site/gmapsdevelopment/

function createMarker(place) {
    var placeLoc = place.geometry.location;

    var iconType = {};
    iconType['school'] = "http://maps.google.com/mapfiles/kml/pal2/icon2.png";
    iconType['church'] = "http://maps.google.com/mapfiles/kml/pal2/icon11.png";
    iconType['park'] = "http://maps.google.com/mapfiles/kml/pal2/icon12.png";
    iconType['university'] = "http://maps.google.com/mapfiles/kml/pal2/icon14.png";

    var marker = new google.maps.Marker({
        map: map,
        position: place.geometry.location,
        icon: iconType[place.types[0]]
    });

    google.maps.event.addListener(marker, 'mouseover', function() {
        infowindow.setContent(place.name + '<br/>' + place.vicinity + '<br/><img src="' + place.icon + '">');
        infowindow.open(map, this);
    });
}

Alternatively, use a switch statement:

function createMarker(place) {
    var placeLoc = place.geometry.location;

    var iconUrl;
    switch (place.types[0]) {
    case 'school':
        iconUrl = "http://maps.google.com/mapfiles/kml/pal2/icon2.png";
        break;
    case 'church':
        iconUrl = "http://maps.google.com/mapfiles/kml/pal2/icon11.png";
        break;
    case 'park':
        iconUrl = "http://maps.google.com/mapfiles/kml/pal2/icon12.png";
        break;
    case 'university':
        iconUrl = "http://maps.google.com/mapfiles/kml/pal2/icon14.png";
        break;
    default:
        iconUrl = "http://maps.google.com/mapfiles/kml/pal4/icon39.png";
    }

    var marker = new google.maps.Marker({
        map: map,
        position: place.geometry.location,
        icon: iconUrl
    });

    google.maps.event.addListener(marker, 'mouseover', function() {
        infowindow.setContent(place.name + '<br/>' + place.vicinity + '<br/><img src="' + place.icon + '">');
        infowindow.open(map, this);
    });
}