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Ground Overlays

  • This example demonstrates how to overlay an image on a map using theGroundOverlay object in the Google Maps JavaScript API.

  • It uses an antique map of Newark, NJ as the overlay image, defining its boundaries with latitude and longitude coordinates.

  • The code provides examples in both JavaScript and TypeScript, illustrating how to create and display the ground overlay.

  • The HTML structure includes adiv for the map and links to the necessary CSS and JavaScript files for styling and functionality.

  • To run the sample locally, Git and Node.js are required, with provided instructions for cloning the repository and starting the application.

This example creates a ground overlay on top of a map.

Read thedocumentation.

TypeScript

// This example uses a GroundOverlay to place an image on the map// showing an antique map of Newark, NJ.lethistoricalOverlay;functioninitMap():void{constmap=newgoogle.maps.Map(document.getElementById("map")asHTMLElement,{zoom:13,center:{lat:40.74,lng:-74.18},});constimageBounds={north:40.773941,south:40.712216,east:-74.12544,west:-74.22655,};historicalOverlay=newgoogle.maps.GroundOverlay("https://storage.googleapis.com/geo-devrel-public-buckets/newark_nj_1922-661x516.jpeg",imageBounds);historicalOverlay.setMap(map);}declareglobal{interfaceWindow{initMap:()=>void;}}window.initMap=initMap;
Note: Read theguide on using TypeScript and Google Maps.

JavaScript

// This example uses a GroundOverlay to place an image on the map// showing an antique map of Newark, NJ.lethistoricalOverlay;functioninitMap(){constmap=newgoogle.maps.Map(document.getElementById("map"),{zoom:13,center:{lat:40.74,lng:-74.18},});constimageBounds={north:40.773941,south:40.712216,east:-74.12544,west:-74.22655,};historicalOverlay=newgoogle.maps.GroundOverlay("https://storage.googleapis.com/geo-devrel-public-buckets/newark_nj_1922-661x516.jpeg",imageBounds,);historicalOverlay.setMap(map);}window.initMap=initMap;
Note: The JavaScript is compiled from the TypeScript snippet.

CSS

/* * Always set the map height explicitly to define the size of the div element * that contains the map. */#map{height:100%;}/* * Optional: Makes the sample page fill the window. */html,body{height:100%;margin:0;padding:0;}

HTML

<html>  <head>    <title>Ground Overlays</title>    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="./style.css" />    <script type="module" src="./index.js"></script>  </head>  <body>    <div></div>    <!--       The `defer` attribute causes the script to execute after the full HTML      document has been parsed. For non-blocking uses, avoiding race conditions,      and consistent behavior across browsers, consider loading using Promises. See      https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/load-maps-js-api      for more information.      -->    <script      src="https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js?key=AIzaSyB41DRUbKWJHPxaFjMAwdrzWzbVKartNGg&callback=initMap&v=weekly"      defer    ></script>  </body></html>

Try Sample

Clone Sample

Git and Node.js are required to run this sample locally. Follow theseinstructions to install Node.js and NPM. The following commands clone, install dependencies and start the sample application.

gitclone-bsample-groundoverlay-simplehttps://github.com/googlemaps/js-samples.gitcdjs-samplesnpminpmstart

Other samples can be tried by switching to any branch beginning withsample-SAMPLE_NAME.

gitcheckoutsample-SAMPLE_NAMEnpminpmstart

Except as otherwise noted, the content of this page is licensed under theCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 License, and code samples are licensed under theApache 2.0 License. For details, see theGoogle Developers Site Policies. Java is a registered trademark of Oracle and/or its affiliates.

Last updated 2025-11-21 UTC.