Using Icon Fonts as Markers in Google Maps V3

Question

I was wondering whether it is possible to use icon font icons (e.g. Font Awesome) as markers in Google Maps V3 to replace the default marker. To show/insert them in a HTML or PHP document the code for the marker would be:

<i class="icon-map-marker"></i>

Answer 1

Here's my attempt at the same thing (using "markerwithlabel" utility library) before I realised Nathan did the same more elegantly above: http://jsfiddle.net/f3xchecf/

function initialize() {

    var myLatLng = new google.maps.LatLng( 50, 50 ),
        myOptions = {
            zoom: 4,
            center: myLatLng,
            mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.ROADMAP
            },

        map = new google.maps.Map( document.getElementById( 'map-canvas' ), myOptions ),

     marker = new MarkerWithLabel({
       position: myLatLng,
       draggable: true,
       raiseOnDrag: true,
       icon: ' ',
       map: map,
         labelContent: '<i class="fa fa-send fa-3x" style="color:rgba(153,102,102,0.8);"></i>',
       labelAnchor: new google.maps.Point(22, 50)
     });

    marker.setMap( map );
}

initialize();

Answer 2

It is possible to import the svgs directly from @fortawesome/free-solid-svg-icons and use the Icon Interface.

import { faMapMarkerAlt } from "@fortawesome/free-solid-svg-icons";

function initMap(): void {
  const center = { lat: 0, lng: 0 };

  const map = new google.maps.Map(
    document.getElementById("map") as HTMLElement,
    {
      zoom: 9,
      center,
    }
  );

  new google.maps.Marker({
    position: { lat: 0, lng: 0 },
    map,
    icon: {
      path: faMapMarkerAlt.icon[4] as string,
      fillColor: "#0000ff",
      fillOpacity: 1,
      anchor: new google.maps.Point(
        faMapMarkerAlt.icon[0] / 2, // width
        faMapMarkerAlt.icon[1] // height
      ),
      strokeWeight: 1,
      strokeColor: "#ffffff",
      scale: 0.075,
    },
  });
}

Can try it at: https://codesandbox.io/embed/github/googlemaps/js-samples/tree/sample-marker-modern

Answer 3

If you want the awesomefont MARKER with an awesomefont ICON INSIDE:

1. copy the SVG path of the awesomefont marker (click download and copy the SVG path) and use it as icon (remember to credit the authors, see license). Then you can change it's color to anything you want.

2. As label you only insert the awesome font icon code and the color you want.

html,
body,
#map {
  height: 100%;
  width: 100%;
  margin: 0;
  padding: 0;
}

<script src="https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js"></script>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://use.fontawesome.com/releases/v5.3.1/css/all.css" integrity="sha384-mzrmE5qonljUremFsqc01SB46JvROS7bZs3IO2EmfFsd15uHvIt+Y8vEf7N7fWAU" crossorigin="anonymous">
<div id="map"></div>
<script>
  function init() {
    var map = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById('map'), {
      zoom: 6,
      center: new google.maps.LatLng(51.509865, -0.118092)
    });
    var icon = {
        path: "M172.268 501.67C26.97 291.031 0 269.413 0 192 0 85.961 85.961 0 192 0s192 85.961 192 192c0 77.413-26.97 99.031-172.268 309.67-9.535 13.774-29.93 13.773-39.464 0z", //SVG path of awesomefont marker
        fillColor: '#333333', //color of the marker
        fillOpacity: 1,
        strokeWeight: 0,
        scale: 0.09, //size of the marker, careful! this scale also affects anchor and labelOrigin
        anchor: new google.maps.Point(200,510), //position of the icon, careful! this is affected by scale
        labelOrigin: new google.maps.Point(205,190) //position of the label, careful! this is affected by scale
    }

    var marker = new google.maps.Marker({
      position: map.getCenter(),
      map: map,
      icon: icon,
      label: {
        fontFamily: "'Font Awesome 5 Free'",
        text: '\uf0f9', //icon code
        fontWeight: '900', //careful! some icons in FA5 only exist for specific font weights
        color: '#FFFFFF', //color of the text inside marker
      },
    });
  }
  google.maps.event.addDomListener(window, 'load', init);
</script>

Answer 4

I know this is an old post, but just in case you can use the MarkerLabel object now:

var marker = new google.maps.Marker({
    position: location,
    map: map,
    label: {
        fontFamily: 'Fontawesome',
        text: '\uf299'
    }
});

Worked for me.

.

Reference Google Maps Maker

Answer 5

The light weight solution

• fontawesome-markers: 480kb
• markerwithlabel: 25kb

To avoid these dependencies, simple go to fontawesome-markers, find the path for the icon you want, and include it as follows:

var icon = {
    path: "M27.648-41.399q0-3.816-2.7-6.516t-6.516-2.7-6.516 2.7-2.7 6.516 2.7 6.516 6.516 2.7 6.516-2.7 2.7-6.516zm9.216 0q0 3.924-1.188 6.444l-13.104 27.864q-.576 1.188-1.71 1.872t-2.43.684-2.43-.684-1.674-1.872l-13.14-27.864q-1.188-2.52-1.188-6.444 0-7.632 5.4-13.032t13.032-5.4 13.032 5.4 5.4 13.032z",
    fillColor: '#E32831',
    fillOpacity: 1,
    strokeWeight: 0,
    scale: 0.65
}

marker = new google.maps.Marker({
    position: myLatlng,
    map: map,
    icon: icon
});

Answer 6

I've put together a simple JS library that generates nice SVG markers using the Font Awesome icons. https://github.com/jawj/MapMarkerAwesome

Answer 7

In a modern browser one can use the canvas in order to render the font to png, and then use the data URI scheme:

  function getIcon(glyph, color) {
    var canvas, ctx;
    canvas = document.createElement('canvas');
    canvas.width = canvas.height = 20;
    ctx = canvas.getContext('2d');
    if (color) {
      ctx.strokeStyle = color;
    }
    ctx.font = '20px FontAwesome';
    ctx.fillText(glyph, 0, 16);
    return canvas.toDataURL();
  }

For example: getIcon("\uf001") for the music note.

Answer 8

I just had the same problem - decided to do a quick and dirty conversion and host on github.

https://github.com/nathan-muir/fontawesome-markers

You can manually include the JS file, or use npm install fontawesome-markers or bower install fontawesome-markers.

Just include the javascript file fontawesome-markers.min.js and you can use them like so:

new google.maps.Marker({
    map: map,
    icon: {
        path: fontawesome.markers.EXCLAMATION,
        scale: 0.5,
        strokeWeight: 0.2,
        strokeColor: 'black',
        strokeOpacity: 1,
        fillColor: '#f8ae5f',
        fillOpacity: 0.7
    },
    clickable: false,
    position: new google.maps.LatLng(lat, lng)
});

Edit (April-2016): There's now packages for v4.2 -> v4.6.1