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Generating Static Images of Google Maps

By Quentin Zervaas, 26 May 8800 Google Google Maps PHP Smarty Download PDF (1 comment)

Generating Image Requests with Smarty

As an added bonus, I've included here a Smarty plug-in you can use to easily generate images. Without giving too much of a description, using this plug-in you will be able to use the following in your PHP code:

Listing 3 Sample usage of the getgooglemapimageurl plug-in (listing-3.tpl)

<img src="{getgooglemapimageurl w=500 h=300 latitude=$lat longitude=$lng key=$key}" />

Listing 4 shows the code for the getgooglemapimageurl plug-in, which belongs in a file called function.getgooglemapimageurl.php in your Smarty plug-ins directory.

Note: This code comes as-is with little description, and is intended for users with some knowledge of implementing Smarty plug-ins. For more information on Smarty, you can refer to the Smarty section of PhpRiot

Listing 4 The getgooglemapimageurl plug-in for Smarty (function.getgooglemapimageurl.php)

<?php
    function smarty_function_getgooglemapimageurl($params, $smarty)
    {
        $baseUrl = 'http://maps.google.com/staticmap';
 
        $defaults = array(
            'key'        => '',
            'longitude'  => '',
            'latitude'   => '',
            'w'          => 0,
            'h'          => 0,
            'type'       => '',
        );
 
        $types = array('roadmap', 'mobile');
 
        foreach ($defaults as $k => $v) {
            if (!array_key_exists($k, $params))
                $params[$k] = $v;
        }
 
        if (strlen($params['key']) == 0)
            $smarty->trigger_error('getgooglemapimageurl: you must specify your Google Maps API key', E_USER_NOTICE);
 
        $params['w'] = min(512, (int) $params['w']);
        $params['h'] = min(512, (int) $params['h']);
 
        if ($params['w'] <= 0)
            $smarty->trigger_error('getgooglemapimageurl: you must specify the map width in pixels', E_USER_NOTICE);
 
        if ($params['h'] <= 0)
            $smarty->trigger_error('getgooglemapimageurl: you must specify the map height in pixels', E_USER_NOTICE);
 
        // setup the required parameters
        $url = sprintf('%s?key=%s&size=%dx%d', $baseUrl, $params['key'], $params['w'], $params['h']);
 
        // specify the map type
        if (in_array($params['type'], $types))
            $url .= sprintf('&maptype=%s', $params['type']);
 
        $url .= sprintf('&markers=%lf,%lf', $params['latitude'], $params['longitude']);
 
        return $url;
    }
?>

Next: Conclusion

Generating Static Images of Google Maps

Generating Image Requests with Smarty

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