IPFGoogleMap formatter

You can specify the width, height and zoom level of the map. For information about a specific option in the FDF Editor, click in the field to see the context-sensitive help.

The reason the default value for width and height is 300 pixels each, instead of fitting dynamically within the display layout cell, is because the system assigns exact width and height to the outer <td> control but not the inner control which houses the field. For this reason, some browsers render the Google map with a width and height of 0 if none is specified.

This formatter must be placed on a field that contains a string with these contents:

  • A valid street address or location, such as these:
    • 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington, DC
    • Greenwich, England, United Kingdom
  • A Google Maps URL link, such as this:

    http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Greenwich,+England,+United+Kingdom&hl=en&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=48.956293,93.076172&hnear= Greenwich,+Greater+London,+United+Kingdom&t=m&z=15

Note: The URL does not come from the browser address bar, as it has likely been unaffected during location search and will remain http://maps.google.com/. Instead, this address comes from the “Short URL” accessed through the “Link” Icon on the left sidebar of the Google Maps page (next to printer icon). This displays the “Short URL” referred to by the Google Maps URL in this document.


  • Longitude and latitude coordinates or GPS coordinates. These two forms can be specified:
    Form Example
    Degrees Minutes Seconds 51 28 59. 019, 0 00 14.9436
    Degrees 51.483061,-0.004151

For additional help about valid Google Maps input, see Google documentation at this address:

http://support.google.com/maps/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=144337&topic=1687353&ctx=topic

If the data is a Google Maps URL link, then any specified zoom level is ignored. If the URL is invalid, a white space is displayed where the map should be.

All browsers support the functionality described here. There is no fallback functionality for specific browsers. This table shows how the field is displayed with and without formatting:

Before formatting After formatting
2800 Corporate Exchange Drive,

Columbus, Ohio

Set Width to 300, Height to 300