Introduction

This chapter focuses on the various services offered by the Google Maps JavaScript API. These services add significant functionality that largely differentiates Google Maps from its competitors. The reliability and the quality of the underlying data makes these services even more appreciated, as this allows applications making use of Google Maps to provide added functionalities.

These services generally follow an asynchronous pattern in which a request is sent to an external server and a callback method is provided to process the responses.

Note

These services are not available all over the world; there are restrictions or quotas—even if it is available—to prevent the abuse of these services. Detailed information will be given on these services in related recipes.

The good part of these services is, as they are part of the Google Maps JavaScript API, they are fully compatible with the classes and objects of the API.

For instance, you can find directions between two addresses using...