Best Practices: Embedding custom Google Maps into tiles

With the HTML tile, you're able to embed custom widgets to your home or site dashboards. One practice we often see customers use in location-based sites is a Google My Map highlighting places to go near the office, best parking locations, and more. You're able to embed both regular Google Maps, or use the "My Map" feature to create a custom map that highlights locations, parking and much more. the My Map feature allows you add custom descriptions, photos, icons and more to pin points you create on the map. 

This article on Google Help Center will walk you through the steps to create your own custom Google My Map. We'll show you below how to take a new or existing map from Google and add it to your Simpplr instance.

For regular Google Maps, once you have your map pinpointed on the location you want:

1. From Google Maps, click the hamburger menu in the upper left corner. Click Share or embed map.
   
2. Select the Embed a map tab and copy the HTML code.

   Note:

   You can change from grid view to satellite view by clicking the bottom left square. This may be more helpful if you're trying to show specific parking locations. Select the view you want BEFORE copying the HTML code.
   
   
3. If you're embedding a My Map, once you've built your map with everything you want (see Google's linked Help Center article above for instructions on creating a My Map), click the ellipsis at the top of your map and choose Embed on my site. Copy the presented HTML code snippet, then click OK.
   
4. Back in Simpplr, go to your home or site dashboard where you want to add the map. Go to Edit dashboard, then add a new tile.
5. Select Text, HTML & Links. Select the HTML tile.
   
6. Title your tile and paste the HTML code you copied from Google Maps. Set the tile height to 500 or around that size. This just makes sure that the map is fully viewable once it's in the tile. Once finished, click Add to site (or home) dashboard.
   

Another great use of custom Google Maps is adding them to Events on Simpplr. With this, you can show ideal parking locations, best routes to take, etc. Simply paste the map URL into your Event when adding details. This way your users can select Open online map when viewing your event to see the specific details you noted about the location.