Google Maps API controls update

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#1

Hi everyone! I’m sure most of us got an email from Google, subject line “[Reminder] Test the new Camera control on your maps before the default changes in version 3.60”.

It reports they are updating the default pan/zoom controls in their maps to a new “camera control” to reduce the space that the controls occupy in the map, and to improve accessibility.

  1. Does this affect the default map that appears on IDX details pages? And if so, does that mean REW will “do something” in order to play nice with the change?

  2. I have some simple maps embedded in my content, see for example the one at the BOTTOM of this page:
    Biggs Park & Jack Point Park, Nanaimo | Seaside Trails
    The Google email instructs us to " Test the new Camera control on your maps before the default changes … [by specifying] the Beta channel to see how the default controls will change."
    I tried to do this - I pasted their sample code into my backend and updated the API key to the one I use in my maps already. It didn’t work - nothing showed on the front end. I confess I’m very green when it comes to working with any script, so help is appreciated!
    (The REW WYSIWYG changed Google’s sample code when I hit SAVE, even though I pasted it in code view - then I remembered that when pasting such code, it is best to put the code into a CMS snippet and then put the snippet into the WYSIWYG.)

#2

Hi @GerryT! I’ve checked internally with our development team and they confirmed that there is no action needed - the new camera control will become the new default. Our maps will get the new controls mid February. We did some local tests on our dev environment and the new camera controls don’t seem to cause any noticeable issues.

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However, the maps on your page can’t be updated to test the change early because embedded maps don’t accept a version parameter. We will continue to monitor this to make sure there’s no impact on our maps.

#3

Thanks Fernando, you guys rock.

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