The other day I needed a simple way to include a Google Map, so I wrote this jQuery function.

$.fn.googleMap = function(address, options) {

  var defaults = {

    lat: 44.081996,

    long: -123.0286928,

    zoom: 14,

    mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.HYBRID

  };



  options = $.extend(defaults, options || {});



  var center = new google.maps.LatLng(options.lat, options.long);

  var map = new google.maps.Map(this.get(0), $.extend(options, { center: center }));



  var geocoder = new google.maps.Geocoder();

  geocoder.geocode({ address: address }, function(results, status) {

    if (status == google.maps.GeocoderStatus.OK && results.length) {

      if (status != google.maps.GeocoderStatus.ZERO_RESULTS) {

        map.setCenter(results[0].geometry.location);

        var marker = new google.maps.Marker({

            position: results[0].geometry.location,

            map: map

        });

      }

    }

  });

};

Basically, the lat & long are default coordinates, but you pass in an address which Google focuses the map on.

This requires the latest (v3) version of the Google Map API.

Usage

<script src=\'http://maps.google.com/maps/api/js?sensor=false\' type=\'text/javascript\'>

</script>

<script type=\'text/javascript\'>

  $(document).ready(function() {

    $(\'#map-container\').googleMap("3333 RiverBend Drive, Springfield, OR");

  });

</script>