Changing the Map Language

If you want to control the language and/or region of a map, you'll need additional query parameters (opens new window) appended to the URL of the Google Maps API.

Default API URL

Internally, the API URL is generated automatically. You don't have direct access to it, and will rarely need to manage it directly.

https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js?key=[KEY]

The key parameter will always be applied automatically, there's no need to ever include it manually.

Custom API URL

Sometimes you'll need to adjust the URL even further. For various reasons, you may decide to add some extra query parameters (opens new window) beyond what gets applied automatically.

For example, if you want the map to appear in Japanese (biased around the region of Japan), you would need to specify the language and region as part of the API URL.

https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js?key=[KEY]&language=ja&region=JP

Fortunately, it's easy to add query parameters via the params option of the tag method:

{{ googleMaps.map(locations).tag({
    'params': {
        'language': 'ja',
        'region': 'JP'
    }
}) }}

Adding these URL parameters forces the map to appear in Japanese:

Official Google Reference

For more information about the language and region parameters, consult the official Google guide for Localizing the Map (opens new window).