Places UI Kit: A ready-to-use library that provides room for customization and low-code development. Try it out, and share your input on your UI Kit experience.

Place Photos

Page Summary

This sample demonstrates a basic photo carousel using the Google Maps Places library to display photos for a specific location.
It fetches place details like display name, summary, and photos using the fetchFields method.
Photos are displayed in a gallery and can be expanded to full size with author attributions included.
It uses the getURI method to retrieve the photo URLs, optionally specifying maximum height or width for resizing.
Author attributions are mandatory when displaying photos and are accessed using the authorAttributions property.

European Economic Area (EEA) developers

Place photos lets you add high quality photographic content to your web pages. Access millions of photos stored in the Places database, and get resizable images using Find Place, Nearby Search, Text Search, Autocomplete, and Place Details.

See the complete example source code

This rudimentary photo carousel displays photos for the specified place, including the required author attributions (shown in the upper left corner of the selected photo).

TypeScript

async function init() {
    const { Place } = (await google.maps.importLibrary(
        'places'
    )) as google.maps.PlacesLibrary;

    // Use a place ID to create a new Place instance.
    const place = new Place({
        id: 'ChIJydSuSkkUkFQRsqhB-cEtYnw', // Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle WA
    });

    // Call fetchFields, passing the desired data fields.
    await place.fetchFields({
        fields: ['displayName', 'photos', 'editorialSummary'],
    });

    // Get the various HTML elements.
    const heading = document.getElementById('heading') as HTMLElement;
    const summary = document.getElementById('summary') as HTMLElement;
    const gallery = document.getElementById('gallery') as HTMLElement;
    const expandedImageDiv = document.getElementById(
        'expanded-image'
    ) as HTMLElement;

    // Show the display name and summary for the place.
    heading.textContent = place.displayName as string;
    summary.textContent = place.editorialSummary as string;

    // Add photos to the gallery.
    place.photos?.forEach((photo) => {
        const altText = 'Photo of ' + place.displayName;
        const img = document.createElement('img');
        const imgButton = document.createElement('button');
        const expandedImage = document.createElement('img');
        img.src = photo?.getURI({ maxHeight: 380 });
        img.alt = altText;
        imgButton.addEventListener('click', (event) => {
            centerSelectedThumbnail(imgButton);
            event.preventDefault();
            expandedImage.src = img.src;
            expandedImage.alt = altText;
            expandedImageDiv.innerHTML = '';
            expandedImageDiv.appendChild(expandedImage);
            const attributionLabel = createAttribution(
                photo.authorAttributions[0]
            )!;
            expandedImageDiv.appendChild(attributionLabel);
        });

        imgButton.addEventListener('focus', () => {
            centerSelectedThumbnail(imgButton);
        });

        imgButton.appendChild(img);
        gallery.appendChild(imgButton);
    });

    // Display the first photo.
    if (place.photos && place.photos.length > 0) {
        const photo = place.photos[0];
        const img = document.createElement('img');
        img.alt = 'Photo of ' + place.displayName;
        img.src = photo.getURI();
        expandedImageDiv.appendChild(img);

        if (photo.authorAttributions && photo.authorAttributions.length > 0) {
            expandedImageDiv.appendChild(
                createAttribution(photo.authorAttributions[0])
            );
        }
    }

    // Helper function to create attribution DIV.
    function createAttribution(
        attribution: google.maps.places.AuthorAttribution
    ) {
        const attributionLabel = document.createElement('a');
        attributionLabel.classList.add('attribution-label');
        attributionLabel.textContent = attribution.displayName;
        attributionLabel.href = attribution.uri!;
        attributionLabel.target = '_blank';
        attributionLabel.rel = 'noopener noreferrer';
        return attributionLabel;
    }

    // Helper function to center the selected thumbnail in the gallery.
    function centerSelectedThumbnail(element: HTMLElement) {
        element.scrollIntoView({
            behavior: 'smooth',
            block: 'center',
            inline: 'center',
        });
    }
}

init();index.ts

JavaScript

async function init() {
    const { Place } = (await google.maps.importLibrary('places'));
    // Use a place ID to create a new Place instance.
    const place = new Place({
        id: 'ChIJydSuSkkUkFQRsqhB-cEtYnw', // Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle WA
    });
    // Call fetchFields, passing the desired data fields.
    await place.fetchFields({
        fields: ['displayName', 'photos', 'editorialSummary'],
    });
    // Get the various HTML elements.
    const heading = document.getElementById('heading');
    const summary = document.getElementById('summary');
    const gallery = document.getElementById('gallery');
    const expandedImageDiv = document.getElementById('expanded-image');
    // Show the display name and summary for the place.
    heading.textContent = place.displayName;
    summary.textContent = place.editorialSummary;
    // Add photos to the gallery.
    place.photos?.forEach((photo) => {
        const altText = 'Photo of ' + place.displayName;
        const img = document.createElement('img');
        const imgButton = document.createElement('button');
        const expandedImage = document.createElement('img');
        img.src = photo?.getURI({ maxHeight: 380 });
        img.alt = altText;
        imgButton.addEventListener('click', (event) => {
            centerSelectedThumbnail(imgButton);
            event.preventDefault();
            expandedImage.src = img.src;
            expandedImage.alt = altText;
            expandedImageDiv.innerHTML = '';
            expandedImageDiv.appendChild(expandedImage);
            const attributionLabel = createAttribution(photo.authorAttributions[0]);
            expandedImageDiv.appendChild(attributionLabel);
        });
        imgButton.addEventListener('focus', () => {
            centerSelectedThumbnail(imgButton);
        });
        imgButton.appendChild(img);
        gallery.appendChild(imgButton);
    });
    // Display the first photo.
    if (place.photos && place.photos.length > 0) {
        const photo = place.photos[0];
        const img = document.createElement('img');
        img.alt = 'Photo of ' + place.displayName;
        img.src = photo.getURI();
        expandedImageDiv.appendChild(img);
        if (photo.authorAttributions && photo.authorAttributions.length > 0) {
            expandedImageDiv.appendChild(createAttribution(photo.authorAttributions[0]));
        }
    }
    // Helper function to create attribution DIV.
    function createAttribution(attribution) {
        const attributionLabel = document.createElement('a');
        attributionLabel.classList.add('attribution-label');
        attributionLabel.textContent = attribution.displayName;
        attributionLabel.href = attribution.uri;
        attributionLabel.target = '_blank';
        attributionLabel.rel = 'noopener noreferrer';
        return attributionLabel;
    }
    // Helper function to center the selected thumbnail in the gallery.
    function centerSelectedThumbnail(element) {
        element.scrollIntoView({
            behavior: 'smooth',
            block: 'center',
            inline: 'center',
        });
    }
}
init();index.js

CSS

/* 
 * Optional: Makes the sample page fill the window. 
 */
html,
body {
    height: 100%;
    margin: 0;
    padding: 0;
}

#container {
    display: flex;
    border: 2px solid black;
    border-radius: 10px;
    padding: 10px;
    max-width: 950px;
    height: 100%;
    max-height: 400px;
    box-sizing: border-box;
}

.place-overview {
    width: 400px;
    height: 380px;
    overflow-x: auto;
    position: relative;
    margin-right: 20px;
}

#info {
    font-family: sans-serif;
    position: sticky;
    position: -webkit-sticky;
    left: 0;
    padding-bottom: 10px;
}

#heading {
    width: 500px;
    font-size: x-large;
    margin-bottom: 20px;
}

#summary {
    width: 100%;
}

#gallery {
    display: flex;
    padding-top: 10px;
}

#gallery img {
    width: 200px;
    height: 200px;
    margin: 10px;
    border-radius: 10px;
    cursor: pointer;
    object-fit: cover; /* fill the area without distorting the image */
}

#expanded-image {
    display: flex;
    height: 370px;
    overflow: hidden;
    background-color: #000;
    border-radius: 10px;
    margin: 0 auto;
}

.attribution-label {
    background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);
    font-size: 10px;
    font-family: sans-serif;
    margin: 2px;
    position: absolute;
}

button {
    display: flex;
    outline: none;
    border: none;
    padding: 0;
    background: none;
    cursor: pointer;
}

button:focus {
    border: 2px solid blue;
    border-radius: 10px;
}
style.css

HTML

<html lang="en">
    <head>
        <title>Place Photos</title>

        <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="./style.css" />
        <script type="module" src="./index.js"></script>
        <!-- prettier-ignore -->
        <script>(g => { var h, a, k, p = "The Google Maps JavaScript API", c = "google", l = "importLibrary", q = "__ib__", m = document, b = window; b = b[c] || (b[c] = {}); var d = b.maps || (b.maps = {}), r = new Set, e = new URLSearchParams, u = () => h || (h = new Promise(async (f, n) => { await (a = m.createElement("script")); e.set("libraries", [...r] + ""); for (k in g) e.set(k.replace(/[A-Z]/g, t => "_" + t[0].toLowerCase()), g[k]); e.set("callback", c + ".maps." + q); a.src = `https://maps.${c}apis.com/maps/api/js?` + e; d[q] = f; a.onerror = () => h = n(Error(p + " could not load.")); a.nonce = m.querySelector("script[nonce]")?.nonce || ""; m.head.append(a) })); d[l] ? console.warn(p + " only loads once. Ignoring:", g) : d[l] = (f, ...n) => r.add(f) && u().then(() => d[l](f, ...n)) })
        ({ key: "AIzaSyA6myHzS10YXdcazAFalmXvDkrYCp5cLc8", v: "weekly" });</script>
    </head>
    <body>
        <div id="container">
            <div class="place-overview">
                <div id="info">
                    <h1 id="heading"></h1>
                    <div id="summary"></div>
                </div>
                <div id="gallery"></div>
            </div>
            <div id="expanded-image"></div>
        </div>
    </body>
</html>index.html

Try Sample

JSFiddle.net

Get photos

To get photos for a place, include the photos field in your fetchFields() request parameters. The resulting Place instance contains an array of up to 10 Photo objects, from which you may access images and their required attribution information. Call getURI() to return the source photo URI, using PhotoOptions to set the maximum height and/or width of the returned image. If you specify a value for both maxHeight and a maxWidth, the photo service will resize the image to the smaller of the two sizes, while maintaining the original aspect ratio. If no dimension is specified, the full-size image will be returned.

The Photo class exposes the following properties:

authorAttributions: An array of AuthorAttribution objects containing the required attribution text and URLs.
flagContentURI: A link where the user can flag a problem with the photo.
googleMapsURI: A link to show the photo on Google Maps.
heightPx: The height of the photo in pixels.
widthPx: The width of the photo in pixels.

The following example shows making a Place Details request for photos, calling getURI() on a photo instance to return the source URI for the image, then adding the first photo result to an img element (attributions are omitted for brevity):

const { Place } = await google.maps.importLibrary('places');

// Use a place ID to create a new Place instance.
const place = new Place({
    id: 'ChIJydSuSkkUkFQRsqhB-cEtYnw', // Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle WA
});

// Call fetchFields, passing the desired data fields.
await place.fetchFields({ fields: ['photos'] });

// Add the first photo to an img element.
const photoImg = document.getElementById('image-container');
photoImg.src = place.photos[0].getURI({maxHeight: 400});

Author attributions

When you display a photo, you must also display the author attributions for the photo. Use the AuthorAttribution class to return attributions. An attribution includes the author's name (displayName), a URI for their Google Maps profile (uri), and a URI for the author's photo (photoURI). The following snippet shows returning the displayName, uri, and photoURI for a place photo.

  let name = place.photos[0].authorAttributions[0].displayName;
  let url = place.photos[0].authorAttributions[0].uri;
  let authorPhoto = place.photos[0].authorAttributions[0].photoURI;