30 Part I — Basics
FIGURE2-15: Plumbers in New York.If Google cannot discern from the string you have entered whether it should be displaying a
specific location or businesses and objects within a locality, it will return an error and ask for a
more explicit description of what you want.You must be careful when supplying information because Google cannot always determine
what you mean — even if the information you provide seems quite explicit. For example, I can-
not find the street I live on by entering the full address, although I canfind it by using the
postal code or by ignoring the village in which I live. And without a postal code, I cannot find
my parents’ street at all, despite the fact that the road has been there for some 30 years and is
clearly shown on the map.Understanding Markers
Markers highlight specific points of interest. In the previous section, for example, the location
of different plumbers within New York was highlighted through a number of icons called
markers. Markers can also provide information windows (pop-ups), and there are other ways of
highlighting data using lines and overlays. All of these solutions (and more) are available when
developing a Google Maps application, so understanding what is available in Google Local will
help you determine the functionality you can use in your own applications.