Google Maps API 3 - Custom marker color for default (dot) marker

If you use Google Maps API v3 you can use setIcon e.g.

marker.setIcon('http://maps.google.com/mapfiles/ms/icons/green-dot.png')

Or as part of marker init:

marker = new google.maps.Marker({
    icon: 'http://...'
});

Other colours:

• Blue marker
• Red marker
• Purple marker
• Yellow marker
• Green marker

Use the following piece of code to update default markers with different colors.

(BitmapDescriptorFactory.defaultMarker(BitmapDescriptorFactory.HUE_ROSE)

You can dynamically request icon images from the Google charts api with the urls:

http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?chst=d_map_pin_letter&chld=%E2%80%A2|FE7569

Which looks like this: the image is 21x34 pixels and the pin tip is at position (10, 34)

And you'll also want a separate shadow image (so that it doesn't overlap nearby icons):

http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?chst=d_map_pin_shadow

Which looks like this: the image is 40x37 pixels and the pin tip is at position (12, 35)

When you construct your MarkerImages you need to set the size and anchor points accordingly:

    var pinColor = "FE7569";
    var pinImage = new google.maps.MarkerImage("http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?chst=d_map_pin_letter&chld=%E2%80%A2|" + pinColor,
        new google.maps.Size(21, 34),
        new google.maps.Point(0,0),
        new google.maps.Point(10, 34));
    var pinShadow = new google.maps.MarkerImage("http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?chst=d_map_pin_shadow",
        new google.maps.Size(40, 37),
        new google.maps.Point(0, 0),
        new google.maps.Point(12, 35));

You can then add the marker to your map with:

        var marker = new google.maps.Marker({
                position: new google.maps.LatLng(0,0), 
                map: map,
                icon: pinImage,
                shadow: pinShadow
            });

Simply replace "FE7569" with the color code you're after. Eg:

Credit due to Jack B Nimble for the inspiration ;)