# Google Maps URL with zoom factor -- ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 26, 2017, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-url-with-zoom-factor/780864 "2017-02-26T19:07:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-url-with-zoom-factor/780864/1 "2017-02-26T19:07:14Z")
Before Google thoroughly confuckulated Google Maps, I was easily able to pass an URL from my database of addresses and bring up a map that showed their location. In the modern era, the same URLs still work, technically, but the resulting map shows the cracks in the sidewalks instead of the 12-15 surrounding crossstreets and intersections and nearby highways. I’ve Googled and found several web pages wherein people seeking to incorporate zoom factors have been given advice but I can’t get it to work. • Most such pages have people passing latitude and longitude instead of address, city, state, zip sequence as URL components. OK, I downloaded a conversion table that gives me lat and long based on US Zip or european postcode, and now I can generate URLs of this format: [noparse] [https://www.google.com/maps?q=38.837138,-77.340466&z=4](https://www.google.com/maps?q=38.837138,-77.340466&z=4) [https://www.google.com/maps?q=38.837138,-77.340466&z=1](https://www.google.com/maps?q=38.837138,-77.340466&z=1) [https://www.google.com/maps?q=38.837138,-77.340466&z=19](https://www.google.com/maps?q=38.837138,-77.340466&z=19) [/noparse] The “z=_n_” is theoretically supposed to define the zoom but it doesn’t work; all three URLs bring up the same image with the curve of Braddock taking up the lower third of the map. I’ve seen a variant or two and tried them but they all seem to be outdated. Anyone got a working URL that incorporates zoom factor and doesn’t require information that I don’t have available to give? ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-url-with-zoom-factor/780864/2 "2017-02-26T20:43:28Z")
No idea if this will work or not, but “ClassyGMap” did try to preserve a lot of what made the old Google maps so nice. [http://www.gokml.net/maps](http://www.gokml.net/maps) ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-url-with-zoom-factor/780864/3 "2017-02-26T21:00:43Z")
Try this: > **[GISsurfer General Purpose Web Map and GIS Viewer | Surf GIS DATA](https://mappingsupport.com/p2/gissurfer.php?ll=38.837138,-77.340466&z=16&t=h%3fgmap4=true)** > > GISsurfer lets you surf a nearly endless amount of GIS data. Click a layer in the GIS server's table of contents and that data appears on the map. The z= parameter may be on a very different scale from Google’s. “t=h” is for Aerial Google Hybrid — there are several options. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-url-with-zoom-factor/780864/4 "2017-02-26T22:10:45Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > Try this: > [GISsurfer General Purpose Web Map and GIS Viewer | Surf GIS DATA](https://mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.php?ll=38.837138,-77.340466&z=16&t=h) > > The z= parameter may be on a very different scale from Google’s. “t=h” is for Aerial Google Hybrid — there are several options. 🙂 excellent!! That works!! ---
**Author:** ![Jelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9f8e36/32.png) [@Jelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jelf)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-url-with-zoom-factor/780864/5 "2017-02-27T12:52:07Z")
Thanks to septimus for mentioning Gmap4. I am the developer of that enhanced Google map viewer. Yes, Gmap4’s z parameter works exactly like you want it to work. For a list and short description of the other url parameters that you can feed to Gmap4 please see: > **[gmap4\_link\_parameters.pdf](https://mappingsupport.com/p/help_files/gmap4_link_parameters.pdf)** > > 80.26 KB ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-url-with-zoom-factor/780864/6 "2017-02-27T13:17:46Z")
> [@Jelf](#): > > Thanks to septimus for mentioning Gmap4. I am the developer of that enhanced Google map viewer. Yes, Gmap4’s z parameter works exactly like you want it to work… Thank you,\*\* Jelf\*\*. And big congratulations! I’ve been using Gmap4 at [mappingsupport.com](http://mappingsupport.com) ever since the maps at Don’t Be Evil, Inc. became too annoying. What’s your motto? _ **Don’t Be Incompetent** _? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-url-with-zoom-factor/780864/7 "2017-02-27T15:29:19Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > No idea if this will work or not, but “ClassyGMap” did try to preserve a lot of what made the old Google maps so nice. > > [KMLMap](http://www.gokml.net/maps) My new “general find stuff” map. Thanks 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-maps-url-with-zoom-factor/780864/8 "2017-02-27T19:56:34Z")
I’m totally a ClassyGMap user but I wasn’t sure how to pass a complex URL to it. I should futz with that and see what works.