Google Maps Api And Custom Markers

I am using the google maps api and want to create some custom markers, they are all the same apart from the color, I don't want to repeat code like so // Add a custom marker var m

Solution 1:

One option would be to use a function to generate the icon (i.e. a createIcon function), which takes the color as an argument and returns the icon anonymous object:

function createIcon(color) {
  return {
    path: 'M12 2C8.13 2 5 5.13 5 9c0 5.25 7 13 7 13s7-7.75 7-13c0-3.87-3.13-7-7-7zm0 9.5c-1.38 0-2.5-1.12-2.5-2.5s1.12-2.5 2.5-2.5 2.5 1.12 2.5 2.5-1.12 2.5-2.5 2.5z',
    fillColor: color,
    fillOpacity: 0.95,
    scale: 2,
    strokeColor: '#fff',
    strokeWeight: 3,
    anchor: new google.maps.Point(12, 24)
  };
}

Then use that when you create the markers:

var marker1 = new google.maps.Marker({
    map: map,
    position: {
      lat: 37.448,
      lng: -122.143
    },
    icon: createIcon('#ff61b4')
  });

proof of concept fiddle

code snippet:

function createIcon(color) {
  return {
    path: 'M12 2C8.13 2 5 5.13 5 9c0 5.25 7 13 7 13s7-7.75 7-13c0-3.87-3.13-7-7-7zm0 9.5c-1.38 0-2.5-1.12-2.5-2.5s1.12-2.5 2.5-2.5 2.5 1.12 2.5 2.5-1.12 2.5-2.5 2.5z',
    fillColor: color,
    fillOpacity: 0.95,
    scale: 2,
    strokeColor: '#fff',
    strokeWeight: 3,
    anchor: new google.maps.Point(12, 24)
  };
}

function initialize() {
  var map = new google.maps.Map(
    document.getElementById("map_canvas"), {
      center: new google.maps.LatLng(37.4419, -122.1419),
      zoom: 13,
      mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.ROADMAP
    });
  var marker = new google.maps.Marker({
    map: map,
    position: map.getCenter(),
    icon: createIcon('blue')
  });
  var marker1 = new google.maps.Marker({
    map: map,
    position: {
      lat: 37.448,
      lng: -122.143
    },
    icon: createIcon('#ff61b4')
  })
  var marker2 = new google.maps.Marker({
    map: map,
    position: {
      lat: 37.44,
      lng: -122.148
    },
    icon: createIcon('#05950a')
  });

}
google.maps.event.addDomListener(window, "load", initialize);

html,
body,
#map_canvas {
  height: 100%;
  width: 100%;
  margin: 0px;
  padding: 0px
}

<script src="https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js"></script>
<div id="map_canvas"></div>

Solution 2:

You can use setOptions, eg: for changing only the icon

marker.setOptions({
     icon = "http://labs.google.com/ridefinder/images/mm_20_white.png"
});

or clickable

marker.setOptions({clickable:false});

so you can do the same for all the marker options