I spent this morning tinkering with adding a Google Map to a website that I’m building. Adding a map by itself isn’t difficult. Google provides a sharing feature with a block of embeddable code in an iframe for that purpose. My issue is that I wanted to show two points on the map, which is doable using Google My Maps, but that had two other issues: (1) there was a big bar at the top with Google controls and (2) the map automatically zooms when the mouse wheel is used over it, so it can’t be used for moving down a page while over the map.

I ended up finding a company called Atlist, from Canada, that provides a web interface that lets users customize Google Maps with multiple points and a bunch of other options. They’re also free for up to 10 markers, and I only needed two!

You basically just create an account on their website, go to their Create Map wizard, add map points, give your map a title (optional) and share it. You can get an embeddable iframe, a link or export as an image. The resultant map has Google’s newer interface that doesn’t automatically zoom when the mouse wheel is over it (you have to use control + scroll to enable zoom).

Here’s the video that explained the whole thing to me: