CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascriptperformancegoogle-maps
Dónal
Dónal

Reputation: 187499

how to improve Google map loading time?

My website has a number of pages that show a Google map with a bunch of markers, here's an example.

As you can see, the maps take a long time to load and I'm looking for ways to improve this. I was hoping to use GeoWebCache to cache the map tiles on the server, but I was informed that this would violate the terms of use for Google maps.

The code that I use to display a map and add a marker is appended below. It's a pretty straightforward usage of the Google Maps V3 JavaScript API, so I don't think there's much scope for optimizing it. Are there any obvious steps I could take to reduce the map-loading time?

SF.Map = function(elementId, zoomLevel, center, baseImageDir) {

    this._baseImageDir = baseImageDir;
    var focalPoint = new google.maps.LatLng(center.latitude, center.longitude);

    var mapOptions = {
        streetViewControl: false,
        zoom: zoomLevel,
        center: focalPoint,
        mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.ROADMAP,
        mapTypeControl: false
    };

    this._map = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById(elementId), mapOptions);
    this._shadow = this._getMarkerImage('shadow.png');
};

SF.Map.prototype._getMarkerImage = function(imageFile) {
    return new google.maps.MarkerImage(this._baseImageDir + '/map/' + imageFile);
};


SF.Map.prototype._addField = function(label, value) {
    return "<span class='mapField'><span class='mapLabel'>" + label + ": </span><span class='mapValue'>" + value + "</span></span>";
};

/**
 * Add a marker to the map
 * @param festivalData Defines where the marker should be placed, the icon that should be used, etc.
 * @param openOnClick
 */
SF.Map.prototype.addMarker = function(festivalData, openOnClick) {

    var map = this._map;
    var markerFile = festivalData.markerImage;

    var marker = new google.maps.Marker({
        position: new google.maps.LatLng(festivalData.latitude, festivalData.longitude),
        map: map,
        title: festivalData.name,
        shadow: this._shadow,
        animation: google.maps.Animation.DROP,
        icon: this._getMarkerImage(markerFile)
    });

    var bubbleContent = "<a class='festivalName' href='" + festivalData.url + "'>" + festivalData.name + "</a><br/>";
    var startDate = festivalData.start;
    var endDate = festivalData.end;

    if (startDate == endDate) {
        bubbleContent += this._addField("Date", startDate);

    } else {
        bubbleContent += this._addField("Start Date", startDate) + "<br/>";
        bubbleContent += this._addField("End Date", endDate);
    }

    // InfoBubble example page http://google-maps-utility-library-v3.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/infobubble/examples/example.html
    var infoBubble = new InfoBubble({
        map: map,
        content: bubbleContent,
        shadowStyle: 1,
        padding: 10,
        borderRadius: 8,
        borderWidth: 1,
        borderColor: '#2c2c2c',
        disableAutoPan: true,
        hideCloseButton: false,
        arrowSize: 0,
        arrowPosition: 50,
        arrowStyle: 0
    });

    var mapEvents = google.maps.event;

     // either open on click or open/close on mouse over/out
    if (openOnClick) {

        var showPopup = function() {
            if (!infoBubble.isOpen()) {
                infoBubble.open(map, marker);
            }
        };
        mapEvents.addListener(marker, 'click', showPopup);

    } else {

        mapEvents.addListener(marker, 'mouseover', function() {
            infoBubble.open(map, marker);
        });

        mapEvents.addListener(marker, 'mouseout', function() {
            infoBubble.close();
        });
    }
};

Upvotes: 1

Views: 8056

Answers (2)

John Magnolia
John Magnolia

Reputation: 16793

You could try "lazy loading" the google map, something like this:

var script=document.createElement("script");
script.type="text/javascript";
script.async=true;
script.src="http://maps.google.com/maps/api/js?sensor=false&callback=handleApiReady";
document.body.appendChild(script);

Or even like this is how I go it for Facebook API so that this doesn't slow down the initial load time.

$.getScript('http://connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1', function() { 
           FB.init({appId: opt.facebook_id, status: true, cookie: true, xfbml: true}); 
});

Example: http://blog.rotacoo.com/lazy-loading-instances-of-the-google-maps-api

Also looking at your HTML you have a lot of JavaScript which should be in an external JS file and not inline, can you not pass a array instead of having a lot of duplicate inline code.

Upvotes: 2

JAR.JAR.beans
JAR.JAR.beans

Reputation: 10004

One option is to take a static snapshot and create the map behind it. once map is fully loaded, replace the dynamic one with the static map.

I also suggest that you take a look at: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/staticmaps/

it might be that you can provide a simpler solution to your site without using the full dynamic maps api.

Upvotes: 1

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