Disable point-of-interest information window using Google Maps API v3

Google Maps Google Maps-Api-3 Infowindow

Google Maps Problem Overview

I have a custom map with an information bubble and custom markers. When I zoom into points of interest such as parks and universities appear and when I click an information window opens. How do I disable the info window?

My code is as follows:

var geocoder;
var map;
var infoBubble;
var dropdown = "";
var gmarkers = [];

var hostel_icon = new google.maps.MarkerImage('/resources/hostel_blue_icon.png',
new google.maps.Size(28,32),
new google.maps.Point(0,0),
new google.maps.Point(14,32));

var bar_icon = new google.maps.MarkerImage('/resources/bar_red_icon.png',
new google.maps.Size(28,32),
new google.maps.Point(0,0),
new google.maps.Point(14,32));

var icon_shadow = new google.maps.MarkerImage('/resources/myicon_shadow.png',
new google.maps.Size(45,32),
new google.maps.Point(0,0),
new google.maps.Point(12,32));

var customIcons = {
    hostel: {
        icon: hostel_icon,
        shadow: icon_shadow
    },
    bar: {
        icon: bar_icon,
        shadow: icon_shadow
    }
};

function initialize() {
    var latlng = new google.maps.LatLng(12.82364, 26.29987);
    var myMapOptions = {
        zoom: 2,
        center: latlng,
        panControl: false,
        scaleControl: true,
        mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.TERRAIN,
        mapTypeControlOptions: {style: google.maps.MapTypeControlStyle.HORIZONTAL_BAR},
        navigationControlOptions: {style: google.maps.NavigationControlStyle.DEFAULT}
    }
    map = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById("map_canvas"), myMapOptions);

    infoBubble = new InfoBubble({
        shadowStyle: 0,
        padding: 0,
        backgroundColor: 'rgb(57,57,57)',
        borderRadius: 5,
        arrowSize: 10,
        borderWidth: 1,
        maxWidth: 400,
        borderColor: '#2c2c2c',
        disableAutoPan: false,
        hideCloseButton: true,
        arrowPosition: 50,
        backgroundClassName: 'phoney',
        arrowStyle: 0
    });

    // Change this depending on the name of your PHP file
    downloadUrl("phpsqlajax_genxml_2.php", function(data) {
        var xml = parseXml(data);
        var markers = xml.documentElement.getElementsByTagName("marker");
        for (var i = 0; i < markers.length; i++) {
            var bar_name = markers[i].getAttribute("bar_name");
            var hostel_name = markers[i].getAttribute("hostel_name");
            var street = markers[i].getAttribute("street");
            var city = markers[i].getAttribute("city");
            var postcode = markers[i].getAttribute("postcode");
            var country = markers[i].getAttribute("country");
            var page = markers[i].getAttribute("page");
            var map_photo = markers[i].getAttribute("map_photo");
            var type = markers[i].getAttribute("type");
            var category = markers[i].getAttribute("category");
            var point = new google.maps.LatLng(
            parseFloat(markers[i].getAttribute("lat")),
            parseFloat(markers[i].getAttribute("lng")));

            var html = '<div class="infowindow"><div class="iwPhoto" style="width: 105px; height: 65px;">' + "<a href='" + page + "'><img src='" + map_photo + "' alt=''/></a>" + '</div><div class="iwName" style="height: 24px;">' + "<a href='" + page + "'>" + hostel_name + "</a>" + '</div><div class="iwCategory" style="height: 15px;">' + category + '</div><div class="iwCity" style="height: 29px;">' + "<a href='" + page + "'>" + city + "</a>" + '<div class="iwArrow" style="width: 29px; height: 29px;">' + "<a href='" + page + "'><img src='/resources/arrow.png'/></a>" + '</div></div></div>';

            var icon = customIcons[type] || {};
            var marker = new google.maps.Marker({
                map: map,
                position: point,
                icon: icon.icon,
                shadow: icon.shadow,
                title: bar_name
            });
            marker.bar_name = bar_name;
            marker.category = category;
            bindInfoBubble(marker, map, infoBubble, html, bar_name);

            gmarkers.push(marker);

            str = '<option selected> - Select a club - </option>';
            for (j=0; j < gmarkers.length; j++){
                str += '<option value="'+gmarkers[j].bar_name+'">'+gmarkers[j].bar_name+', '+gmarkers[j].category+'</option>';
            }
            var str1 ='<form name="form_city" action=""><select style="width:150px;" id="select_city" name="select_cityUrl" onchange="handleSelected(this);">';
            var str2 ='</select></form>';
            dropdown = str1 + str + str2;
        }
        document.getElementById("dd").innerHTML = dropdown;
    });
}

function handleSelected(opt) {
    var indexNo = opt[opt.selectedIndex].index;
    google.maps.event.trigger(gmarkers[indexNo-1], "click");
}

function bindInfoBubble(marker, map, infoBubble, html) {
    google.maps.event.addListener(marker, 'click', function() {
        infoBubble.setContent(html);
        infoBubble.open(map, marker);
        google.maps.event.addListener(map, "click", function () {
            infoBubble.close();
        });
    });
}

function downloadUrl(url, callback) {
    var request = window.ActiveXObject ?
                  new ActiveXObject('Microsoft.XMLHTTP') :
                  new XMLHttpRequest;

    request.onreadystatechange = function() {
        if (request.readyState == 4) {
            request.onreadystatechange = doNothing;
            callback(request.responseText, request.status);
        }
    };

    request.open('GET', url, true);
    request.send(null);
}

function parseXml(str) {
    if (window.ActiveXObject) {
        var doc = new ActiveXObject('Microsoft.XMLDOM');
        doc.loadXML(str);
        return doc;
    } else if (window.DOMParser) {
        return (new DOMParser).parseFromString(str, 'text/xml');
    }
}

function doNothing() {}

Google Maps Solutions

Solution 1 - Google Maps

UPDATE Google Maps JavaScript API V3

You can set clickableIcons to false in MapOptions. This will keep the POI icons but disable the infowindows just as you want.

function initialize() {
    var myMapOptions = { clickableIcons: false }
}

Further details here...

https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/3.exp/reference#MapOptions

Solution 2 - Google Maps

See the other answers for the clickable: false answer.

However, if you want it clickable, but no infowindow, call stop() on the event to prevent the infowindow from showing, but still get the location info:

map.addListener('click', function (event) {
  // If the event is a POI
  if (event.placeId) {

    // Call event.stop() on the event to prevent the default info window from showing.
    event.stop();

    // do any other stuff you want to do
    console.log('You clicked on place:' + event.placeId + ', location: ' + event.latLng);
  }
}

For more info, see the docs.

Other option: completely remove the POI-icons, and not only the infoWindow:

var mapOptions = {
  styles: [{ featureType: "poi", elementType: "labels", stylers: [{ visibility: "off" }]}]
};
var map = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById('map-canvas'),
    mapOptions);

Solution 3 - Google Maps

You can do this by creating a styled map without labels for the points of interest. This maintains the topography and other nice pieces of information on the map, but removes the markers.

  var remove_poi = [    {      "featureType": "poi",      "elementType": "labels",      "stylers": [        { "visibility": "off" }      ]
    }
  ]
  
map.setOptions({styles: remove_poi})

Solution 4 - Google Maps

You could consider the following approach to disable POI Info Window:

function disablePOIInfoWindow(){
    var fnSet = google.maps.InfoWindow.prototype.set;
    google.maps.InfoWindow.prototype.set = function () {
    };
}

Example

function initMap() {
    var latlng = new google.maps.LatLng(40.713638, -74.005529);
    var myOptions = {
        zoom: 17,
        center: latlng,
        mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.ROADMAP
    };
    
    var map = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById("map_canvas"), myOptions);
    disablePOIInfoWindow();  
}

function disablePOIInfoWindow(){
    var fnSet = google.maps.InfoWindow.prototype.set;
    google.maps.InfoWindow.prototype.set = function () {
       alert('Ok');
    };
}


google.maps.event.addDomListener(window, 'load', initMap);

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

#map_canvas {
   height: 100%;
}

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://maps.google.com/maps/api/js?sensor=false"></script>
<div id="map_canvas"></div>

The above example affects all the info windows, so if you need to disable only POI Info Window, then we could introduce flag to determine whether it is POI Info Window or not:

function disablePOIInfoWindow(){
    var fnSet = google.maps.InfoWindow.prototype.set;
    google.maps.InfoWindow.prototype.set = function () {
        if(this.get('isCustomInfoWindow'))
           fnSet.apply(this, arguments);
    };
}

Example

function initMap() {
    var latlng = new google.maps.LatLng(40.713638, -74.005529);
    var myOptions = {
        zoom: 17,
        center: latlng,
        mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.ROADMAP
    };
    var infowindow = new google.maps.InfoWindow({
        content: ''
    });
    infowindow.set('isCustomInfoWindow',true);
    var map = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById("map_canvas"), myOptions);
    disablePOIInfoWindow();
    google.maps.event.addListener(map, 'click', function (event) {
        infowindow.setContent(event.latLng.lat() + "," + event.latLng.lng());
        infowindow.setPosition(event.latLng);
        infowindow.open(map, this);
    });
    
}

function disablePOIInfoWindow(){
    var fnSet = google.maps.InfoWindow.prototype.set;
    google.maps.InfoWindow.prototype.set = function () {
        if(this.get('isCustomInfoWindow'))
           fnSet.apply(this, arguments);
    };
}


//google.maps.event.addDomListener(window, 'load', initMap);

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

#map_canvas {
   height: 100%;
}

<div id="map_canvas"></div>
<script src="https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js?callback=initMap"
            async defer></script>

Solution 5 - Google Maps

Simply style the map to not show Points of Interest. This is simple and does not breach Google's terms of service.

mapOpts = {
  styles: [
    {
      featureType: "poi",
      stylers: [
         visibility: "off"
      ]
    }
  ]
};

$("#my-map").gmap(mapOpts).on("init", function(evt, map){
  // do stuff with the initialised map
});

Solution 6 - Google Maps

If you want the data without getting the InfoWindow HTML showing at all, you simply have to re-work the prototype of google.maps.InfoWindow:

google.maps.InfoWindow.prototype.open = function () {
  return this; //prevent InfoWindow to appear
}
google.maps.InfoWindow.prototype.setContent = function (content) {
  if (content.querySelector) {
    var addressHTML = content.querySelector('.address');
    var address = addressHTML.innerHTML.replace(/<[^>]*>/g, ' ').trim();
    var link = content.querySelector('a').getAttribute('href');
    var payload = {
      header: 'event',
      eventName: 'place_picked',
      data: {
        name: content.querySelector('.title').innerHTML.trim(),
        address: address,
        link: link
      }
    };
    console.log('emit your event/call your function', payload);
  }
};

Solution 7 - Google Maps

We can do it by handling clicks on poi, Google api has provided a way to detect clicks on POI as per this article

Based on article above Here is a simpler version of code that can be used to stop the clicks on POI

function initMap() {
    map = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById('map'), myOptions);
    var clickHandler = new ClickEventHandler(map, origin);
}


var ClickEventHandler = function (map, origin) {
    this.origin = origin;
    this.map = map;
    this.map.addListener('click', this.handleClick.bind(this));
};

ClickEventHandler.prototype.handleClick = function (event) {
    //console.log('You clicked on: ' + event.latLng);
    if (event.placeId) {
        //console.log('You clicked on place:' + event.placeId);
        // Calling e.stop() on the event prevents the default info window from
        // showing.
        // If you call stop here when there is no placeId you will prevent some
        // other map click event handlers from receiving the event.
        event.stop();

    }
}

Content Type	Original Author	Original Content on Stackoverflow
Question	Brendon	View Question on Stackoverflow
Solution 1 - Google Maps	Gavin	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 2 - Google Maps	Arjan	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 3 - Google Maps	Farid	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 4 - Google Maps	Vadim Gremyachev	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 5 - Google Maps	Dave Sag	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 6 - Google Maps	grabcode	View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 7 - Google Maps	Asim Ismail	View Answer on Stackoverflow