Google Maps API 3 - Custom marker color for default (dot) marker

Question

I've seen lots of other questions similar to this (here, here and here), but they all have accepted answers that don't solve my problem. The best solution I have found to the problem is the StyledMarker library, which does let you define custom colours for markers, but I can't get it to use the default marker (the one you get when you do a google maps search - with a dot in the middle), it just seems to provide markers with a letter in, or with a special icon.

Answer 1

You can dynamically request icon images from the Google charts api with the urls:

http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?chst=d_map_pin_letter&chld=%E2%80%A2|FE7569

Which looks like this: the image is 21x34 pixels and the pin tip is at position (10, 34)

And you'll also want a separate shadow image (so that it doesn't overlap nearby icons):

http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?chst=d_map_pin_shadow

Which looks like this: the image is 40x37 pixels and the pin tip is at position (12, 35)

When you construct your MarkerImages you need to set the size and anchor points accordingly:

    var pinColor = "FE7569";
    var pinImage = new google.maps.MarkerImage("http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?chst=d_map_pin_letter&chld=%E2%80%A2|" + pinColor,
        new google.maps.Size(21, 34),
        new google.maps.Point(0,0),
        new google.maps.Point(10, 34));
    var pinShadow = new google.maps.MarkerImage("http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?chst=d_map_pin_shadow",
        new google.maps.Size(40, 37),
        new google.maps.Point(0, 0),
        new google.maps.Point(12, 35));

You can then add the marker to your map with:

        var marker = new google.maps.Marker({
                position: new google.maps.LatLng(0,0), 
                map: map,
                icon: pinImage,
                shadow: pinShadow
            });

Simply replace "FE7569" with the color code you're after. Eg:

Credit due to Jack B Nimble for the inspiration ;)