# Any way to get rid of the left pane in Google Maps?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-way-to-get-rid-of-the-left-pane-in-google-maps/343237>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 6, 2006, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-way-to-get-rid-of-the-left-pane-in-google-maps/343237 "2006-02-06T14:51:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 10\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-way-to-get-rid-of-the-left-pane-in-google-maps/343237/1 "2006-02-06T14:51:45Z")

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Is there any way to get rid of the left pane of content on Google Maps, so that the map takes up the whole width of the window?

> **[Google Maps](http://maps.google.com/maps)**
>
> Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

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**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-way-to-get-rid-of-the-left-pane-in-google-maps/343237/2 "2006-02-06T15:41:15Z")

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I don’t know if there’s a way to toggle it manually, but it seems to go away when you input an unambiguous location ("\<city\>,\<state\>" or exact street address).

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**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-way-to-get-rid-of-the-left-pane-in-google-maps/343237/3 "2006-02-06T16:15:41Z")

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This can be done with a bit of JavaScript. After you’ve positioned the map the way you want it, enter the following in your address bar and then push enter:

```auto

javascript:document.getElementById("panel").style.visibility="hidden";document.getElementById("map").style.marginLeft="0";void(0);

```

If you add that line as the URL of a new bookmark/favorite (and give it a name like “Hide Google Maps Left Pane”), you can easily use it again in the future.

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**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-way-to-get-rid-of-the-left-pane-in-google-maps/343237/4 "2006-02-06T16:31:09Z")

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**Reply** verry verry cool!  
Got any JavaScript to kill everything but the map?

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**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-way-to-get-rid-of-the-left-pane-in-google-maps/343237/5 "2006-02-06T16:59:09Z")

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Thanks, both of those suggestions worked great. Especially the bookmarklet.

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**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-way-to-get-rid-of-the-left-pane-in-google-maps/343237/6 "2006-02-06T17:56:56Z")

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> [@crowmanyclouds](#):
>
> **Reply** verry verry cool!  
> Got any JavaScript to kill everything but the map?

This seems to work:

```auto

javascript:document.getElementById("gaia").style.display="none";document.getElementById("header").style.display="none";document.getElementById("panel").style.display="none";document.getElementById("map").style.marginLeft=0;document.getElementById("map").style.height=window.innerHeight+"px";void(0);

```

It basically removes everything else and leaves you with a full-screen map.

Unfortunately, the navigation controls are still there because I can’t figure out how to remove them. The API lets you remove them by name, but I don’t know what Google calls them by default. They can also be removed if there’s a way to hide all objects of a certain class (.gmnoprint in this case), but I don’t know enough JavaScript to do so. Anyone?

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**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-way-to-get-rid-of-the-left-pane-in-google-maps/343237/7 "2006-02-06T18:00:58Z")

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Also, for longer-term use, it’d probably be easier to just make a custom version using the [Google Maps API](http://www.google.com/apis/maps/).

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**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-way-to-get-rid-of-the-left-pane-in-google-maps/343237/8 "2006-02-06T18:12:22Z")

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Beautiful! Thanks.

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**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-way-to-get-rid-of-the-left-pane-in-google-maps/343237/9 "2006-02-06T18:42:30Z")

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Yes, very cool!

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**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2006, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-way-to-get-rid-of-the-left-pane-in-google-maps/343237/10 "2006-02-06T19:53:39Z")

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BTW, here is Google’s answer to my query, which matches what scr4 said.

> [@](#):
>
> Thank you for your note. We understand that you’d like the map to fill the entire page. We suggest clicking “Search the map” to the right of the search box. If you query a specific location using this feature, the returned map will occupy the entire page. For example, when searching [1600 Amphitheatre Pky, Mountain View, CA 94043] the following result is returned: …