Google Maps Api v3 - find nearest markers

Question

When i click on map, which will be best way to find nearest marker or markers? is there some functions in api that will help me to do that?

it's google map api v3.

Answer 1

First you have to add the eventlistener

google.maps.event.addListener(map, 'click', find_closest_marker);

Then create a function that loops through the array of markers and uses the haversine formula to calculate the distance of each marker from the click.

function rad(x) {return x*Math.PI/180;}
function find_closest_marker( event ) {
    var lat = event.latLng.lat();
    var lng = event.latLng.lng();
    var R = 6371;
    var distances = [];
    var closest = -1;
    for( i=1;i<map.markers.length; i++ ) {
        var mlat = map.markers[i].position.lat();
        var mlng = map.markers[i].position.lng();
        var dLat  = rad(mlat - lat);
        var dLong = rad(mlng - lng);
        var a = Math.sin(dLat/2) * Math.sin(dLat/2) +
            Math.cos(rad(lat)) * Math.cos(rad(lat)) * Math.sin(dLong/2) * Math.sin(dLong/2);
        var c = 2 * Math.atan2(Math.sqrt(a), Math.sqrt(1-a));
        var d = R * c;
        distances[i] = d;
        if ( closest == -1 || d < distances[closest] ) {
            closest = i;
        }
    }

    alert(map.markers[closest].title);
}

This keeps track of the closest markers and alerts its title.

I have my markers as an array on my map object

Here's a working example