Textual address Vs GPS coordinates

In order to use Google Maps widget you must provide either:

the textual address provided from hit meta such as city and country, or

the GPS coordinates via a GPS point meta; this data must be provided from one of your sources and defined in the data model.

Note: If you a need a cartographic widget, you can also use the Maps widget which gives access to mapquest/openstreetmap OR to BING services.

Important: You must pay attention to license issues when using cartographic services! For Google and Bing, you can use the premium versions by defining your API key in the widget configuration. If no key is specified, you will use the light versions of these services.

This page discusses:

Why use textual addresses
Why use GPS coordinates

Why use textual addresses

To easily configure the Google Maps widget using the hit meta. This uses Google Maps API for the geocoding therefore, you don’t have to supply the GPS coordinates.
To link the search results to pinpoint on a Google Maps widget. See Link the search results list to a Google map.

Why use GPS coordinates

To perform geographical search (both polygon and circle selection), see Restrict the search results to a Geographical Area.
To perform calculations such as distance (results in proximity) used for the search results in the Mashup UI.