Dual Maps v1 (deprecated)

Dual maps let you display two maps side-by-side for a single location. Use the dual map to combine the features of Google Maps and Microsoft Virtual Earth Maps within one embeddable control. The control also includes the new Google Street View option to view ground level imagery of major US cities.

A central divider bar lets you maximize either map. You can optionally display a marker on the map.

You can customize the settings for your own needs. The default setting shows the Google Road Map on the left hand map and the Virtual Earth Birdseye view map on the right hand side. Note that the Birdseye view is not available for all areas, Hybrid view is used in this case.

When Bird's eye view is selected additional parameters are available to set the facing direction and the centre of the bird's eye map. This can be used to optimize the view of a particular location and is useful for showing images of large buildings or structures (as in the default example map).

The default view is of the London Eye featuring some impressive bird's eye imagery of London. To the west are the Houses of Parliament and to the east is Waterloo Station.

The dual map control is free and easy to set up, just select your map style and location using the form below then click the 'Create' button.

Create Your Dual Map

Map Style

Width	px, or 100 %
Height	px
Border
Google Map Type
Virtual Earth Map Type
Toolbar
Mousewheel scroll
Street View Options
Enable Street View
Street View Initially On
Marker Options
Show Marker
Marker Image
Marker Title

Marker Description

Bird's Eye View
Bird's Eye Direction
Bird's Eye Centre	x y
Bird's Eye Zoom

Map Location

Use one or more of the three methods below (A,B,C) to set your map location and zoom level.

A Enter your Longitude (x), Latitude (y) and Zoom Level (z)

x y z

B Select your Location and Zoom Level using the map below

C Use the Google Geocoder to find an address

Click 'Create' to preview the map and generate a script for your website

Map Preview

Add This Map To Your Website or Blog

Copy and paste the script below into your web page.

When you add a Dual Map to your website please add a link to Map Channels, e.g.

Further Development

Once you have created your first dual map you do not have to use this page to create further maps (although you are welcome to do so). Dual Maps are designed so that you can change all the settings for your map within the script.

It is possible to write server-side script to generate code to display dual maps for multiple locations from a database. The reference below describes how to edit your script settings.

Dual Maps Reference

Dual maps are implemented using a few lines of code added to an HTML web page. This code adds an IFrame containing a block of code to the page. You can manually edit this code to modify your maps appearance. The best way to illustrate this is to break down an example map script into component parts and explain what each does.

Here is an example script

There are two elements within the script that can be changed: style and src. The following tables describe the syntax of these fields.

*Style Parameter Name*	Parameter Description
width	Can be either a percentage value such as 100% or a value in pixels such as 600px. This is the combined with of the two maps plus the divider bar, so 600px width would create two maps each 296px wide.
height	should be a value in pixels (e.g. 500px)
padding	should always be 0
border	Use 'border:solid 1px black' for a single pixel border around the maps. Remove this parameter for no border.

*Src Parameter Name*	Parameter Description
x,y	Map Centre cordinates. x is the longitude value (-180 to 180) and y is the latitude value (-90 to 90).
z	Zoom Level (0 to 21). Some imagery is not available for higher zoom levels.
gm	Google Map Type. 0=Road Map, 1=Satellite, 2=Hybrid, 3=Terrain
ve	Virtual Earth Map Type. 0=Road Map, 1=Satellite, 2=Hybrid, 3=Bird's Eye
xb,yb	Bird'e Eye view centre. Normally this is the same as the map centre. You can adjust this location to bring a larger building or structure into view. Note:This and the two parameters below only apply when the map is initially loaded.
zb	Bird's Eye zoom level. Only two levels are available: 0=far or 1=near. Far is the default value.
db	Bird's Eye direction. The facing direction : 0=North, 1=East, 2=South, 3=West. North is the default value.
bar	The toolbar size. 0=No toolbar, 1=Single toolbar row (default), 2=Double toolbar row. Double is available for narrow maps to ensure all toolbar controls fit.
mw	Mouse Wheel Scrolling. 0=Mouse wheel disabled, 1=Mouse wheel enabled (default). This setting applies to both maps.
mi	Marker Image. A Standard marker shape is used, the parameter sets the marker colour : 0=Green (default), 1=Red, 2=Orange, 3=Blue.
mt	Marker Title, displayed in bold text in the marker info window.
md	Marker Description, displayed in normal text in the marker info window.
sv	Enable Street View. 0=Disabled, 1=Enabled.
svo	Street View On. 0=Street View off at startup, 1=Street View on at startup.

Technical Notes

1   Mouse Wheel Scroll Behaviour. When scrolling the Google map the page will not scroll. This is not the default Google behaviour but is consistent with the Virtual Earth behaviour and is preferred to the default behaviour by many map users.

2   Map Synchronisation for the Birds Eye Map Type. Because of limitations in the Virtual Earth API when the birds eye map centre is moved the centre of the Google map is not changed accordingly. For all other map types panning and zooming of one map is reflected in the other map.

3   Virtual Earth 3D Map Mode. This is not included as 3D mode requires a software plug-in to work and generates a popup if this plug-in is not found on your system.

4   Opera. At present dual maps do not work correctly under the Opera browser. This seems to be a problem with Virtual Earth as the SDK Page also does not load in Opera . When a dual map is displayed within Opera a single Google Map is displayed instead.

5   Street View. This is an addition to the original Dual Maps made after the Street View mode was made available in the Google Maps API. If you select Street View you should ensure that the map is sufficiently wide (ideally 100 % width). The map will temporarily hide the Virtual Earth map pane if there is insufficient space to display the full Street View panorama.

The Street View mode does not yet track movement as you move through the panoramic street view image. The centre of the Virtual Earth map reflects the current Street View location allowing you to simultaneously see a location from the ground, bird's eye and satellite view.

Thanks to Mike Williams and Keir Clarke for the example Street View code.

Version History

12th March, 2008 : Dual Maps Control Version 1 released.
14th March, 2008 : Version 2, Prototype Street View mode added as an option.
17th March, 2008 : Bugfix, the Street View info window was not been closed correctly in Internet Explorer when the Google map was minimized.
18th March, 2008 : Bugfix, the url used for the Street View panoramas had changed. The Dual Maps javascript is now fixed to use the new url, if your street view is appearing as a blank image please delete your browser cache and reload the page.

Street View Links

The following links are related to Street View or alternative implementations of the Street View concept

Streetviewr - a user generated gallery of interesting Google street views.
Virtual Tourism gallery of street views - organised into categories.
Top 15 Street view sightings - from Mashable.
Photoboof! Dock Explorations - video travels on a Google map
Map Jack - an independent, technically superior version of Street view, currently with coverage of only 3 cities but offering higher resolution and more features than Google's Street View.
Windows Live Local Technology Preview - Microsoft's prototype equivalent of Street View, an alternative approach using driving keys for navigation.
Red Door VR Limited UK - panoramic photography equipment, how-to guides and virtual tours of UK towns and cities.
360 Cities - 43 cities and over 5,000 virtual reality panoramas.

Virtual Earth Bird's Eye Collections

These links display maps of cities where the bird's eye view is available. The totals are from 17 Mar 2008.

American Cities - 150 cities
European Cities - 97 cities

Feedback

If you have any comments, suggestions or bug reports about the dual map control please use the Contact page to get in touch.

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