Embed Map with Marker on AMP HTML page

Question

Currently I use the Google Maps API to generate a map with a marker (given a lat/long set of coordinates) to a given location. In AMP HTML, it appears the way to do this currently is using the amp-iframe extension https://github.com/ampproject/amphtml/tree/master/extensions. The issue is you cannot use Google Maps embed code with coordinates unless you are using a 'view' map. I don't have a Place ID, so I cannot use the Place mode. I can't use 'View' mode, since that has no markers. I've looked high and low at https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/embed/guide#overview

What is the proper way to include a Google Map on an AMP HTML page that has a marker placed on it? I don't see any existing questions about this on the forum or in Github issues, so I'm curious if anyone else has run into this same scenario.

Answer 1

The trick is to not use the "view" mode, but rather the "place" mode. With the place mode, you don't need a place ID, you can simply use coordinates. As an example:

<amp-iframe 
  width="600"
  height="400"
  layout="responsive"
  sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox"
  frameborder="0"
  src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed/v1/place?key=<key>&q=44.0,122.0">
</amp-iframe>

As an additional note, if you are using this with AMP, I recommend you include a placeholder image in case the iframe is too close to the top of the page (an AMP rule). In that case, I might use an <amp-img>, like so:

<amp-img
  src="https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/staticmap?key=<key>&center=44.0,122.0&zoom=15&size=600x400"
  width="600"
  height="400"
  layout="responsive"
  placeholder
/>

within the iframe, so that it has the following format:

<amp-iframe ... >
    <amp-img .../>
</amp-iframe>