Thanks for filing, I've shared your request with the team.

Overwiew map control will be great

I'd really like to see this feature added as well. I tried the idea of creating a 2nd
smaller map and binding the pan/zoom events together. This was buggy at best.
Dragging on the large map was jerky and dragging on the small map sometimes didn't
even cause the larger map to pan correctly. 

I have since given up on binding the events and instead I am simply
copying/recreating the pan events as they occur. If the large map pans, I get the
bounds of the map when the map's 'idle' event fires, calculate the center, and set
the mini-map's center to that point (and vice versa). This causes IE7 to have
terrible lag issues (especially while zooming). I'd really like to see Google
implement this feature.

Definitely a valid feature request.

FYI, we try to prioritize features based on the number of stars it receives.  So if
this is really important to you, make sure to star it.

I'm very keen to see this feature added.

Thanks,

Nick 

 Issue 2080  has been merged into this issue.

 Issue 2095  has been merged into this issue.

Someone is working on implementing this in the v3 utility library:http://google-maps-utility-library-v3.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/extoverviewmapcontrol/

Yes, although I was waiting until I had a chance to polish the proof-of-concept implementation before posting a link to this issue.  Patches are welcome. :)

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The overview contol at http://google-maps-utility-library-v3.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/extoverviewmapcontrol/ seems to work fine, why not just port it into the V3 core as is ??

It doesn't work perfectly; it behaves slightly differently from the v2 control, and it doesn't draw properly near the poles, iirc. 

And it is - unfortunately - not collapsible.

It may not be perfect yet but it is a good start, I've tested it in Firefox and IE, seems to work very well

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This issue has been open for a year now and still no luck fixing it... API v2 cannot be deprecated until all features are ported to V3. Come on Google!

I'm curious whether the overview map control is genuinely perceived as useful, or if it's just something that was available in v2, so as applications are migrated to v3 it's conspicuous by it's absence?

When the overview map control was introduced in v2 it was open by default on Google Maps. Nowadays it is closed by default and consequently gets very little use, which is why it has not been a priority for us to add it to v3.

The application we are using gmaps for is for remote sensing data and we offer auto-centering on the users area of interest, browser overlay, footprint polygons, etc.  The overview map allows us to show the user where in the world they are when they are at high zoom levels.

Granted, not all applications would have a need for it.  Have you guys thought about offering 'modules' that can be included from the initial main.js load so extra features like this are available without bloating the core for everyone?

Our application focus on gegraphical data analysis and also benefits from the overview map control. Sometimes our users want to keep the zoom level and search for a feature/location nearby and this is a situation where the control is specially handy.

We could code for it but we really prefer to have it included.

The overview map control is definitely perceived as useful by the thousands of website owners and developers who use it in their maps. As per it's name it provides an overview, and it's especially useful at very high and low zoom levels. The external library solution would work fine, why not just finish the one already in existence at http://google-maps-utility-library-v3.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/extoverviewmapcontrol/ - how much work can it be?

Yes, the overview map is actually very useful. The map provides thousands of users on our website with a sense of where the location/marker is in Europe on a higher zoom level.

So, I hope you can give it higher priority to implement it in V3. Don't understand why it is not in there already. Why remove one of the most useful functions?

My customers sure liked to see it. It is a feature that would be useful to have in V3.

Same issue for me, actually I'm evaluating the possibility to port our maps app to V3, but if there are features missing which are in use in the current app version, this is not possible...

btw why does maps.google.com use V2? ha? ^^

So I also wanted an OverviewMapControl for GMaps API v3. Since it's been over a year since this was acknowledged, I took matters into my own hands. Here's what I came up with:

https://code.google.com/p/gmaps-api-v3-overviewmapcontrol/

You will see that I have not as yet written any documentation, but I did include a simple page to demonstrate usage. Also included is a minified version using Closure compiler.

Please note that I have not yet tested this in MSIE. I will get to that in the coming days and weeks.

Also, I will more than welcome any comments or contributions you may wish to make to the project.

Am I missing something?  I couldn't get the utility jrgeerdes posted to work.  The index.html example that's there doesn't show any overview control either when I run it.

stuttsdc: What all did you dl? You must have the appropriate JS file (i.e., jOverviewMapControlV3.min.js) and the default.css file in order for index.html to work correctly. If you want to see it working, check out the link below:

http://jgeerdes.home.mchsi.com/playground/jOverviewMapControl/

Also, since:

a) it has been more than a year since this issue was created,

b) it has been acknowledged since July 2009 and assigned since January 2010 with still no official implementation,

c) the jOverviewMapControl is the most complete implementation that I've seen so far,

d) the jOverviewMapControl has been made available as an OSS project on Google Code,

e) the jOverviewMapControl is inherently dependent on, must be displayed within, and will always display the same map type as a parent Google Map with its own Google branding and terms of use notice(s),

and f) the GOverviewMapControl implemented in GMaps JS API v2 does not include branding and terms of use notice(s),

I wonder if there is anyone on the GMaps (or GLegal) team who would be willing to discuss making an exemption to the TOS requirement for the jOverviewMapControl to display Google branding and terms notice(s).

This is a very useful tool.  It would be great to have a collapsible one with the shaded rectangle showing where in the map the large viewport is like on google maps.

I have built one for a client but it SURE is hard to read with the extra google logo that I must keep and the copyright text (even though its the same map)

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Any progress on this very important tool which adds so much usability to the maps api ??

overviewMapControl: true

inside the map options should do it, although it's not documented yet.
I don't know the reason.

Although I'm not on the dev team - or employed by Google - I did play with the built-in control a bit yesterday. It does not yet duplicate the functionality of the GOverviewMapControl from GMaps v2. Specifically, while it does give an overview of the area, with a polygon where the map is looking right now, it does not allow you to drag that polygon around. Nor does it allow you to drag the inset map and have the polygon and main map then "chase" you to catch up. So I suspect that the reason that they haven't documented it yet is that they're not yet done with it!

We're done with it now. :)

http://googlegeodevelopers.blogspot.com/2011/03/new-angle-on-world-with-45-imagery.html

Note that right now it must be explicitly added, but in 3 weeks time will be added to all maps by default (although in the minimized state).

Thank you very much! Awesome!

Very nice, the 45 degree view is awesome too, any other options coming for the overview map, size, position, etc ?

File feature requests for options that you would like :)

OK, I'll wait until it's added by default then file option requests

Is anybody else having trouble with this in IE9?  When enabled the overview map control it throws the following javascript error and fails to load the map controls:

SCRIPT65535: Invalid calling object 
eval code (109), line 59 character 151

Looking in the debugger it looks like it's the code that's initializing the map and it's controls.  It is packed code so I'm assuming it's a Google Maps error.

Could you try to narrow down your code to see what minimally causes the error? Then file a new bug with a link to your code.

Hi
Thanks for providing this feature.
I'm trying now to check if the user has opened or closed the overview map, but it's always returning the previous state that I've used after creating the map with setOptions

The overview was closed at start, then I open it but I can't check with my code that status:
>>> map.get('overviewMapControlOptions')
Object { opened=false}

>>> map.overviewMapControlOptions
Object { opened=false}

What can I do to check it?
Thanks

please upload the php class

You can check the status of the overview map when you register a click listener on the div that holds the image to collapse it. So you'd have to look at the DOM tree after the API has created the overview map. And be aware that the node location of this div may change at any time without notice.

Example:
http://www.wolfpil.de/v3/check-overview-map.html