Google Maps Control Update: What You Need to Know

Google has announced an important update to the Google Maps JavaScript API. If your site uses Google Maps, this is an essential update you need to know about. This is quite technical, but we've tried to make it as simple as possible.

The impact of this update depends on how your current Google Maps controls are configured. Here’s a breakdown of the different scenarios and how the new Camera Control will behave based on your existing setup:

1. No specific zoomControl setting – If your website hasn’t explicitly enabled or disabled the "zoomControl" feature and doesn’t set "disableDefaultUI" to true, the map will automatically switch to the new Camera Control.
2. Zoom Control enabled – If your site has Zoom Control enabled, both the Zoom Control and Camera Control will be displayed together.
3. Zoom Control disabled – If you've chosen to disable Zoom Control (i.e., no zoom feature offered), the map will default to showing only the Camera Control.
4. Zoom Control enabled with "disableDefaultUI" set to true – If Zoom Control is enabled and "disableDefaultUI" is set to true, only the existing Zoom Control will appear, with no Camera Control.

If you’re comfortable with how the new controls will look based on your website’s current configuration, you won’t need to take any action. Once the update goes live, your site will automatically adapt to the relevant scenario described above.

However, if you’re unsure about your setup or want to ensure the Google Maps integration works perfectly for your site, now is the time to act! If you’re an existing CSI Media client, your account manager has raised a Jira item - please review this.  If you're not a client of CSI's and would like website support, please reach out to us by clicking the link below.