"Can you use PHP to control what you show on a Google Map?" An innocent question that lead me off on an interesting exploration when I should (!) have been doing other things - but a very worthwhile couple of hours, and great fun!
How do you do it?
1. Apply for your Google Maps key (you'll need to set up a Google account first if you don't have one)
2. Load their sample Javascript into the head of your web page, and modify it to relect your scale and location.
3. Add in a
<div id="map" ... element to your web page
Probably a good idea to test at this point!
4. Add in a form for the controls you want, a handler for form inputs, and modify the Javascript to drop in the contents of PHP variables where necessary.
And Bob's your uncle!
I have an example in use
here.
And the source code is
here.
Is there much else I could do? Absolutely! I've just pushed the door open a crack and I see a blinding light shining out.
(written 2007-10-13, updated 2008-09-29)
Associated topics are indexed as below, or enter http://melksh.am/nnnn for individual articles
H999 - Additional PHP Material [54] PHP and natural sorting - (2004-09-19)
[239] What and why for the epoch - (2005-03-08)
[320] Ordnance Survey - using a 'Get a map' - (2005-05-22)
[322] More maps - (2005-05-23)
[337] the array returned by preg_match_all - (2005-06-06)
[372] Time calculation in PHP - (2005-07-08)
[468] Stand alone PHP programs - (2005-10-18)
[483] Double Dollars in PHP - (2005-11-02)
[493] Running a Perl script within a PHP page - (2005-11-12)
[563] Merging pictures using PHP and GD - (2006-01-13)
[603] PHP - setting sort order with an associative array - (2006-02-13)
[665] PHP Image viewing application - (2006-04-01)
[687] Presentation, Business and Persistence layers in Perl and PHP - (2006-04-17)
[789] Hot answers in PHP - (2006-07-02)
[806] Check your user is human. Have him retype a word in a graphic - (2006-07-17)
[822] PHP - a team member leaves - (2006-08-04)
[839] Reporting on the 10 largest files or 10 top scores - (2006-08-20)
[917] Syntax checking in PHP - (2006-11-07)
[937] Display an image from a MySQL database in a web page via PHP - (2006-11-22)
[1010] Dates, times, clickable diarys in PHP - (2006-12-28)
[1020] Parallel processing in PHP - (2007-01-03)
[1053] Sorting people by name in PHP - (2007-01-26)
[1104] Drawing dynamic graphs in PHP - (2007-03-09)
[1194] Drawing hands on a clock face - PHP - (2007-05-19)
[1270] PHP Standalone - keyboard to screen - (2007-07-18)
[1390] Converting from postal address to latitude / longitude - (2007-10-13)
[1391] Ordnance Survey Grid Reference to Latitude / Longitude - (2007-10-14)
[1451] More PHP sample and demonstration programs - (2007-12-01)
[1485] Copyright and theft of images, bandwidth and members. - (2007-12-26)
[1505] Script to present commonly used images - PHP - (2008-01-13)
[1519] Flipping images on your web page - (2008-01-26)
[1623] PHP Techniques - a workshop - (2008-04-26)
[2073] Extra PHP Examples - (2009-03-09)
[2215] If nothing, make it nothing. - (2009-06-02)
[2684] Exception handling in PHP - (2010-03-18)
[3118] Arrays of arrays - or 2D arrays. How to program tables. - (2011-01-02)
[3210] Catchable fatal error in PHP ... How to catch, and alternative solutions such as JSON - (2011-03-22)
[4655] Image indexer / thumbnail display scripts in PHP - (2016-02-25)
H309 - PHP - Maps, Graphics and Geographics [1628] Gant charts - drawing them with a PHP script - (2008-05-03)
[1724] addslashes v mysql_real_escape_string in PHP - (2008-07-27)
[1734] All around the world? - (2008-08-03)
[1752] Dynamic maps / geographics in PHP - (2008-08-13)
[1756] Ever had One of THOSE mornings? - (2008-08-16)
[1923] Making it all worthwhile - (2008-12-04)
[1956] Images for Christmas - (2008-12-21)
[2343] World Flags in your PHP pages - (2009-08-10)
[2361] Geocoding - converting address to latitude / Longitude with PHP via Google - (2009-08-14)
[2390] Dynamic / changing images on your web page - (2009-09-01)
[2583] Reducing image size on digital photos - PHP - (2010-01-17)
[2675] Redirecting to your main domain for correct security keys - (2010-03-13)
[2729] Uploading a document or image to its own URL via a browser - (2010-04-18)
[2939] Protecting your images from use out of context - (2010-08-29)
[3027] Server logs - drawing a graph of gathered data - (2010-11-03)
[3133] An image from a website that occasionally comes out as hyroglyphics - (2011-01-14)
[3197] Finding and diverting image requests from rogue domains - (2011-03-08)
[3211] Computer Graphics in PHP - World (incoming data) to Pixel (screen) conversion - (2011-03-24)
[3447] Needle in a haystack - finding the web server overload - (2011-09-18)
[3536] UK Mapping Data - and more to come - under government Open Data measures - (2011-12-03)
[3584] QR codes - graphics images that provide quick phone links - (2012-01-18)
[3734] QR codes with marketing logos embedded - (2012-05-16)
[3817] Fpdf - generating .pdf documents easily from your PHP program - (2012-07-24)
[4178] Where are you? How to write a geosensitive application - (2013-09-18)
[4365] The changing face of Christmas - (2014-12-26)
[4437] Adding a PHP build option, rotating an image based on camera data, and a new look at thumbnails in PHP - (2015-02-22)
H115 - Designing PHP-Based Solutions: Best Practice [123] Short underground journeys and a PHP book - (2004-11-19)
[237] Crossfertilisation, PHP to Python - (2005-03-06)
[261] Putting a form online - (2005-03-29)
[340] Code and code maintainance efficiency - (2005-06-08)
[394] A year on - should we offer certified PHP courses - (2005-07-28)
[426] Robust checking of data entered by users - (2005-08-27)
[572] Giving the researcher power over database analysis - (2006-01-22)
[896] PHP - good coding practise and sticky radio buttons - (2006-10-17)
[936] Global, Superglobal, Session variables - scope and persistance in PHP - (2006-11-21)
[945] Code quality counts - (2006-11-26)
[1047] Maintainable code - some positive advice - (2007-01-21)
[1052] Learning to write secure, maintainable PHP - (2007-01-25)
[1166] Back button - ensuring order are not submitted twice (PHP) - (2007-04-28)
[1181] Good Programming practise - where to initialise variables - (2007-05-09)
[1182] Painting a masterpiece in PHP - (2007-05-10)
[1321] Resetting session based tests in PHP - (2007-08-26)
[1323] Easy handling of errors in PHP - (2007-08-27)
[1381] Using a MySQL database to control mod_rewrite via PHP - (2007-10-06)
[1482] A story about benchmarking PHP - (2007-12-23)
[1487] Efficient PHP applications - framework and example - (2007-12-28)
[1490] Software to record day to day events and keep an action list - (2007-12-31)
[1533] Short and sweet and sticky - PHP form input - (2008-02-06)
[1694] Defensive coding techniques in PHP? - (2008-07-02)
[1794] Refactoring - a PHP demo becomes a production page - (2008-09-12)
[2199] Improving the structure of your early PHP programs - (2009-05-25)
[2221] Adding a newsfeed for your users to a multipage PHP application - (2009-06-06)
[2430] Not just a PHP program - a good web application - (2009-09-29)
[2679] How to build a test harness into your PHP - (2010-03-16)
[3539] Separating program and artwork in PHP - easier maintainance, and better for the user - (2011-12-05)
[3813] Injection Attacks - PHP, SQL, HTML, Javascript - and how to neutralise them - (2012-07-22)
[3820] PHP sessions - a best practice teaching example - (2012-07-27)
[3926] Filtering PHP form inputs - three ways, but which should you use? - (2012-11-18)
[4069] Even early on, separate out your program from your HTML! - (2013-04-25)
[4118] We not only teach PHP and Python - we teach good PHP and Python Practice! - (2013-06-18)
[4326] Learning to program - comments, documentation and test code - (2014-11-22)
[4641] Using an MVC structure - even without a formal framework - (2016-02-07)
[4691] Real life PHP application using our course training MVC example - (2016-06-05)
Some other Articles
First Alternative / what has happened there?Autumnal lighting on a London tripControlling and labelling Google maps via PHPWell House Manor - a year onError logging to file not browser in PHPNew software product for warmblooded programmersDelegates of all shapes and sizesAn email update for past guests and delegates