I use the q parameter a lot with coordinates (in the same format as lat/lng) to place markers at custom positions on maps. Very useful. The maps link in my second try contained one such q. It’d be very nice if such a q would be recognised and used to place a marker in GSS’ maps view as well. I inteded to have it look like with this link.

Oh, and nice hint about the search box, I’ve never seen that one.

At the moment if you do a lat/lng string in the comment I’ll use a default zoom. I suppose I could add a lat/ln/zoom variant, but once you get to that level you might as well just add a full maps page link.

The q= parameter is the search box string from google maps, which is usually an address so difficult to accurately parse. Zoom levels are set by either a explicit z= (specifies the zoom level, such as 17) or by the spn= parameter (which is what your URL had).

spn is the width of the viewport in degrees, so can result in slightly different zoom levels on our map page (due to the differing map size) or on different screen sizes. The z= parameter is much more reliable (which is what our map page generates).

What might be easier, and isn’t immediately obvious, is that on our map page you can get a google maps search box by clicking the wee arrow next to the google logo. Search for something here and then use the “Link to the page” to make sure the link you’re posting will definitely look as expected in a comment.

It would be nice to recognise the marker position (&q=…) as well. And it seems as if it eats the zoom level at least in some cases.

Largest wine barrel in the world:
Placemark: Google Maps / Google Earth

http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bild:Riesenfass_20080516.jpg&filetimestamp=20080519123925
And, James: That one is actually kept outside. Contains a restaurant.
It is a real wine barrel built the traditinal barrel-building way though.

Admittedly, the one in Heidelberg is probably the largest one actually ever used for wine.

If you’re interested (which I’m sure you’re not) this was due to a jQuery bug which is still to be fixed.

@oMeSSiaHo: Oops, good point! I’ve fixed it, thanks.

@Izzy/Mamushi: Damn, that’s a huge barrel! If only they kept it outside