Google Places API library use without map - javascript

Question

I need to get the closest establishments in 100m radius from specific coordinates. I found the Google Places API sample code, but I don't use a map in my application, since this results will be rendered in a list. Here is the API code:

var map;
var infowindow;

function initialize() {
  var pyrmont = new google.maps.LatLng(-33.8665433, 151.1956316);

  map = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById('map-canvas'), {
    center: pyrmont,
    zoom: 15
  });

  var request = {
    location: pyrmont,
    radius: 500,
    types: ['store']
  };
  infowindow = new google.maps.InfoWindow();
  var service = new google.maps.places.PlacesService(map);
  service.nearbySearch(request, callback);
}

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
  });

  google.maps.event.addListener(marker, 'click', function() {
    infowindow.setContent(place.name);
    infowindow.open(map, this);
  });
}

google.maps.event.addDomListener(window, 'load', initialize);

Someone here has found that you can use a node to render the attribution into, but when I try ti render in it:

var $attrib = $('<div id="attributions"></div>');
$('#main').append($attrib);
...
service = new google.maps.places.PlacesService($attrib);
service.nearbySearch(request, callback);

I get an error:

TypeError: this.j[Wb] is not a function

from somewhere deep inside the API library. I hope this is enough of information to figure the problem out

Answer 1

$attrib probably is not a Node, I guess it's a jQuery-object.

Use

service = new google.maps.places.PlacesService($attrib[0]);

or without jQuery:

service = new google.maps.places
          .PlacesService(document.getElementById('main')
                         .appendChild(document.createElement('div')));