Question

Using Google Maps API v3, is there a way to set the center of the map on initialize? I have a workaround using this code:

var geocoder;
  var map;
  function initialize() {
    geocoder = new google.maps.Geocoder();
    var latlng = new google.maps.LatLng(-34.397, 150.644);
    var myOptions = {
      zoom: 8,
      center: latlng,
      mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.ROADMAP
    }
    map = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById("map_canvas"), myOptions);
    codeAddress('germany');
  }

  function codeAddress(address) {
    geocoder.geocode( { 'address': address}, function(results, status) {
      if (status == google.maps.GeocoderStatus.OK) {
        map.setCenter(results[0].geometry.location);
        var marker = new google.maps.Marker({
            map: map,
            position: results[0].geometry.location
        });
      }
    });
  }

The only problem is that when it initializes, it centers it to the “latlng” for a split second. I’m can’t figure out how to set the center in “myOptions”. I though I could return “results[0].geometry.location” from the codeAddress function and pass it to myOptions, but that doesn’t work.

Thanks for any help.

Update
Since I can’t remove “center” altogether, I’m wondering if there’s a way to pass the address to the options.

From Google API:

To initialize a Map, we first create a Map options object to contain map initialization variables.
This object is not constructed; instead it is created as an object literal. There are two required
options for every map: center and zoom.

Answer 1

Well a simple solution could be to initialize the map in your codeAddress function:

var geocoder, map;

function codeAddress(address) {
    geocoder = new google.maps.Geocoder();
    geocoder.geocode({
        'address': address
    }, function(results, status) {
        if (status == google.maps.GeocoderStatus.OK) {
            var myOptions = {
                zoom: 8,
                center: results[0].geometry.location,
                mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.ROADMAP
            }
            map = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById("map_canvas"), myOptions);

            var marker = new google.maps.Marker({
                map: map,
                position: results[0].geometry.location
            });
        }
    });
}

This should solve the problem.