Markers in google maps

Question

I'm currently loading a map with the following javascript.

  google.load("maps", "2.x");

  // Call this function when the page has been loaded
  function initialize() {

    var map = new google.maps.Map2(document.getElementById("map"));
    map.setCenter(new google.maps.LatLng(52,-3), 13);

    var point = new google.maps.LatLng(52,-3);
    var marker = new google.maps.Marker(point, {draggable: true});


    map.addOverlay(marker);

    google.maps.Event.addListener(marker, "dragend", function(latlng) {
    marker.openInfoWindowHtml("Dragged to <br>" + latlng);
    });    
  }

google.setOnLoadCallback(initialize);

Later on, I want to add other markers to the map, after the user has input a (lat,lon) pair How can I access the map variable that I created in the function initialize?

Answer 1

Never used Google Maps, but try creating it globally and pass it into initialize each time you want to use it.

google.load("maps", "2.x");

var map = new google.maps.Map2(document.getElementById("map"));

function initialize(map,lat,lon) {

    map.setCenter(new google.maps.LatLng(lat,lon), 13);

    var point = new google.maps.LatLng(lat,lon);
    var marker = new google.maps.Marker(point, {draggable: true});


    map.addOverlay(marker);

    google.maps.Event.addListener(marker, "dragend", function(latlng) {
    marker.openInfoWindowHtml("Dragged to <br>" + latlng);
    });

    return map
}

google.setOnLoadCallback(initialize(map,lat,lon));

Answer 2

Just initialize the map variable outside of the initialize function:

google.load("maps", "2.x");

var map;

// Call this function when the page has been loaded
function initialize() {

  map = new google.maps.Map2(document.getElementById("map"));
  map.setCenter(new google.maps.LatLng(52,-3), 13);

  var point = new google.maps.LatLng(52,-3);
  var marker = new google.maps.Marker(point, {draggable: true});

  map.addOverlay(marker);

  google.maps.Event.addListener(marker, "dragend", function(latlng) {
    marker.openInfoWindowHtml("Dragged to <br>" + latlng);
  });    
}

google.setOnLoadCallback(initialize);

//Now you can access the map variable anywhere in your code.