Question

Aside from jQuery and Google Maps, I have two scripts included in the head of my page:

<script src="js/map.js" type="text/javascript"></script>
<script src="js/site.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

map.js contains the code to initialize my map and also have the following function to place a marker on it:

function placeMarker(marker){
    clearLocations();

    var latlng = new google.maps.LatLng(
        parseFloat(marker.lat),
        parseFloat(marker.lng)
    );

    var marker = createMarker(latlng);

    map.setZoom(14);
    var latLng = marker.getPosition();
    map.setCenter(latLng);          

}

When I call placeMarker inside $(document).ready() in site.js, I get the error, ‘map is undefined’. However when I call another function in site.js that executes when a button is clicked, placeMarker runs in its callback without a problem:

$.ajax({
    url: 'ajax/json.php',
    dataType: 'json',
    data: 'search_string='+inpMapSearch+'&country='+Country,
    success: function(data) {
        console.log(data);
        placeMarker(data);
    }
});

Does this mean that the placeMarker function call inside $(document).ready() is trying to execute before the map is initialized? How can I run placeMarker after the map is initialized?

=== EDIT ===

As per request here is the code that initializes the map:

google.maps.event.addDomListener(window, 'load', load);

function load() {
    map = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById("map"), {
        center: new google.maps.LatLng(18.735693,-70.162651),
        zoom: 8,
        mapTypeId: 'roadmap',
        mapTypeControlOptions: {style: google.maps.MapTypeControlStyle.DROPDOWN_MENU}
    });
}

Answer 1

Because the window load event fires after the document.ready. Hence your map is initialized after the document.ready. You could instead wrap your other code in the $(window).load

$(window).load(function(){
    your code here 
});