How to Add Google Maps to Your Joomla Site

This week we're going to walk you through how to add Google Maps into your Joomla powered site.

Providing directions to your place of business or to an event you may be promoting is common practice. Adding a highly configurable Google Map to your site is taking it one step further, allowing people to get directions and see exactly where you are.

We're going to use a plugin called 'Plugin Googlemaps'.

Here's how you do it:

1. Download Plugin Googlemaps from the Joomlacode site. Its a long list but you can use the very first file.
   
2. In the administration area of your Joomla site, go to Extensions >> Install / Uninstall and upload the file to install.
3. Sign up for a free Google Maps API Key by clicking here. Its likely to be a long string.
4. In the administration area of your Joomla site, go to Extensions >> Plugin Manger >> Google Maps and put your API key in the appropriate field (in the parameters on the right).
5. If you are going to use the plugin to display a default location, you can simply enter the address in the 'Address' field in the parameters
6. Create an article and insert this code: {mosmaps}
   

There are many more configuration options available with the plugin, including setting up maps to multiple locations, hybrid maps, Youtube layers and much much more. For an in depth look at what you can do with the plugin and how to use the various options, see the Documentation at the creator's website.

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