Question

Suppose the map has been fully drawn.
Now, the user may insert a new address and click “go there”.
Can the map be moved to the new address without creating the map again?

Just to be clear, after the map was drawn can I avoid using again:

map = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById("map_canvas"), myOptions);

and instead use something like

map.goTo(<new address>);

Answer 1

The method that you need is panTo.

See the Google Maps Javascript API V3 Reference for more information.

panTo(latLng:LatLng)

Changes the center of the map to the given LatLng. If the change is
less than both the width and height of the map, the transition will be
smoothly animated.