Extension:Google Maps

 Latest release : Version  fixes several bugs, and now has support for over 100 languages. See the installation/upgrade instructions.

Stay up to date with the latest releases by subscribing to the low-traffic gmaps4mw-announce.

Maps are a great way to present information, and the Google Maps Extension brings the coolness of interactive, annotated maps to your wiki. With Google Maps Extension, you can:
 * Spice up articles with maps of anywhere in the world
 * Marvel at detailed street maps and stunning satellite imagery
 * Use the interactive editor's map to add markers and colored paths with wiki-fied captions
 * Look up cities, addresses, and businesses with the built-in search engine

What does it do?
The extension hooks into your MediaWiki installation in two ways: first, it defines a tag that translates a special syntax into a map with captioned markers. As the name implies, the extension is powered by the miraculous Google Maps API. The extension's syntax is easy; here's an example that will create a map with two captioned points:

 32.81134, 48.498341, One of many gas stations in town 32.82448, 48.504848, The town hall

To help you make maps, the extension also adds a link on each Edit page that says "make a map". This will bring up an editor's map that you can click on to add points, and it will show you corresponding map syntax to paste into your article.

If you're interested, try out the demo (click "make a map" on that page) and then check out the installation page.

Screencasts
NEW Watch the Editor's Map in action:
 * My First Map, 3 minutes (10 MB)
 * My First Path, 3 minutes 36 seconds (16 MB)

Screenshot
Here's the Editor's Map in action:



How stable is it?
Google Maps Extension is still BETA, but it's come a long way since 2005. It works for a lot of people (see below) but people regularly find bugs. You can get an idea of the issues people have had over on the talk page.

The following will be addressed before a 1.0 release:
 * Performance improvements. Google Maps Extension currently slows down the page load time of the "edit" page for ALL articles. FIXED in 0.9.2.
 * Compatibility with FCKeditor
 * Better support for custom markers
 * Better support for custom map tiles
 * Visual interface for creating tabbed info balloons

Email me if you'd like to sponsor development of any of these features: em&#109;iller@g&#109;ail.com

Who's using it?
Please add your wiki here! Add it to the top, and feel free to add a link to your favorite article or two.

Support the project
Do you use Google Maps Extension? Do you want to say "thanks for all the hard work"? Donate to the project. I'm a student and the money will help me find time to work on Google Maps Extension.