Maps Platform
Product updates, customer stories, and tips and tricks on Google Maps Platform
Maps made easier: GeoJSON in the JavaScript Maps API
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Maps give us an easy way to visualize all types of information, from patterns in
health expenditure
across the world, to oceans with the highest concentration of
coral reefs at risk
. The tools used to create these maps should be just as easy to use. That’s why, starting today, the JavaScript Maps API will support GeoJSON, making it simpler for developers to visualize richer data, with even cleaner code.
GeoJSON
has emerged as a popular format for sharing location-based information on the web, and the JavaScript Maps API is embracing this open standard. This means, as a developer, you can now pull raw data from multiple data sources, such as the
US Geological Survey
or
Google Maps Engine
, and easily display it on your website.
How does it work? The new Data layer allows you to treat a dataset like… well, a set of data, rather than individual and unrelated features. If you have a GeoJSON file, you can now load it on the map simply by adding a single line of code to your JavaScript:
map.data.loadGeoJSON(‘earthquakes.json’);
Earthquakes over the past week loaded on the map
USGS All Earthquakes, Past Week
courtesy of the
U.S. Geological Survey
Tada! And what’s more, most places have attributes beyond just location: stores have opening times, rivers have current speed, and each
Girl Guide
troop has cookie selling turf. The Data layer allows you to represent
all attributes
in GeoJSON right on the map and make decisions about what data to display more easily.
You can use this information to create a styling function that says, “show the earthquakes as circles, scaled to their magnitude” and as the data or rules are updated, the styling will automatically be applied to every feature. This beats having to manually update each feature or rule as more information is added to the map.
Earthquakes over the past week, with a styling function applied
USGS All Earthquakes, Past Week
courtesy of the
U.S. Geological Survey
Earthquakes over the past week, with additional color and basemap styling applied
USGS All Earthquakes, Past Week
courtesy of the
U.S. Geological Survey
Get started by checking out our
developer docs
, the
code for these earthquake maps
, this
cool demo
showing data from different sources, and this
Google Developers Live video
. This is a new feature, so if you run into problems or think of any additions you’d love to see, get help on
StackOverflow
and check our
support page
for the right tags to use.
We’re looking forward to seeing what you build with this new tool and, as always, we’re eager for your feedback. Please comment on this post or on our
Google+ Page
.
Posted by
Jen Kovnats
, Product Manager on the Maps API Team
Labels
5 Great Maps
ads
advertising
africa
Andorra
Android
App Engine
art
Australia
Autocomplete
Boston
brazil
Bruce Springsteen
Bulgaria
Campus Map
Chrome
City 24/7
Code for America
COM API
Computerlogy
creative advertising campaigns
Custom Map Types
design
developer
Developer Challenge
Developer stories
Directions API
Drawing Tools
Driving Directions
Earth
Earth API
Elevation API
environment
epungo
Estonia
Europe
Fab Friday
flash
Fusion Tables
GAE
games
GDAL
Gears
geo
Geodesic Lines
Germany
Gibraltar
GIS
Global Economy
gme
Google Analytics
Google App Engine
Google Earth
Google Earth API
Google I/O
Google Maps
Google Maps API
Google Maps Engine
Google Places API
Google Places API Developer Challenge
Google Street View API
government
Hackathon
Hamburg
heat map
heatmap
hiking
Hungary
iOS
JavaScript
jQuery
kenya
KML
Latitude API
Latvia
launch
Lithuania
local search
London
Mac
Map of the Week
maps
Maps API
Maps API for Flash
Maps Data API
Maps Zen
Marker Clusterer
Marketing
Mars
meetup
mobile
moca
modern art
More Than a Map
Morethanamap
Movies
Neighborhoods
New York City
Office Hours
Olympics
Panoramio
photos
Place Summaries
Places API
Plus
polygons
Premier
public transit
public transit layer
Python
real estate
rock
sao paulo
screencast
SketchUp
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
Spain
Spatial Data Files
Static Maps API
street view
Styled Maps
Sydney
Track
traffic layer
Transportation
Tripline
Twitter
UN
United Nations
V3
Vancouver Olympics
visualizations
Volkswagen
VW
web
youtube
Archive
2018
Nov
Jul
Jun
May
Mar
Feb
2017
Nov
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2016
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Feb
2015
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2014
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
2013
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2012
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2011
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2010
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2009
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Apr
Mar
Feb
Jan
2008
Dec
Nov
Oct
Sep
Aug
Jul
Jun
May
Feed
Follow @GMapsPlatform
Follow
Google Maps Platform Website
Give us feedback in our
Product Forums
.
Follow