[GIS] Adding styled OpenLayers Google map in QGIS

google mapsqgisqgis-openlayers-pluginstyle

I came across a great tutorial about how to add a styled Google map layer to the QGIS OpenLayers plugin (http://gistncase.blogspot.com/2014/02/how-to-add-google-maps-styled-layer-in.html).

However, it appears that some changes have been implemented on the QGIS/OL side since this was posted and it no long works.

I have sorted out how to have openlayers_plugin.py find and list the new custom layer, but I am unable to get the layer html itself to function properly. (Likely due to my complete lack of experience on the html/java side).

QGIS: 2.10.1-Pisa
OpenLayers: 1.3.6

Tutorial example (that doesn't seem to be working):

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
  <head>
    <title>OpenLayers Google Streets Layer</title>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="qgis.css" type="text/css">
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="google.css" type="text/css">
    <script src="http://maps.google.com/maps/api/js?v=3.3&amp;sensor=false"></script>
    <script src="OpenLayers.js"></script>
    <script src="OlOverviewMarker.js"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript">
        var map;
        var loadEnd;
        var oloMarker; // OpenLayer Overview Marker
        function init() {
            map = new OpenLayers.Map('map', {
                theme: null,
                controls: [],
                units: "m",
                maxResolution: 156543.0339,
                maxExtent: new OpenLayers.Bounds(-20037508.34, -20037508.34, 20037508.34, 20037508.34)
            });

            var stylez = [ { featureType: "all", elementType: "all", stylers: [ { visibility: "simplified" } ] } ];

            var styledMapType = new google.maps.StyledMapType(stylez, styledMapOptions);           

            var gmap = new OpenLayers.Layer.Google(
                "Google Custom", 
                { type: 'styled' }
            );
            map.addLayer(gmap);

            gmap.mapObject.mapTypes.set('styled', styledMapType);
            gmap.mapObject.setMapTypeId('styled');

            loadEnd = false;
            map.events.register('movestart', map, function() {
                loadEnd = false;
            });
            google.maps.event.addListener(gmap.mapObject, "tilesloaded", function() {
                // wait for tiles to fade in completely
                setTimeout(function() {
                  loadEnd = true;
                },
                200);
            });

            map.setCenter(new OpenLayers.LonLat(0, 0), 2);
            oloMarker = new OlOverviewMarker(map, getPathUpper(document.URL) + '/x.png');

        }
    </script>
  </head>
  <body onload="init()">
    <div id="map"></div>
  </body>
</html>

Best Answer

  1. Drop OpenLayers plugin)

  2. Install QuickMapServices plugin for QGIS

  3. Go to plugin's options and get contributors pack of basemaps. These include some Google ones. Go to ~/.qgis2/QuickMapServices/Contribute/data_sources/google_traff and open metadata.ini in your text editor of choice. We'll use it as a template, in the future you can create a new one.

  4. Go to https://snazzymaps.com/style/65/just-places and use Firebug to extract a link to any tile.

enter image description here

For example: https://mts1.googleapis.com/maps/vt?pb=!1m4!1m3!1i9!2i149!3i192!2m3!1e0!2sm!3i330322375!3m14!2sru-RU!3sUS!5e18!12m1!1e47!12m3!1e37!2m1!1ssmartmaps!12m4!1e26!2m2!1sstyles!2zcy50OjN8cy5lOmd8cC52Om9mZixzLnQ6MnxzLmU6Z3xwLnY6b2ZmLHMudDo1fHMuZTpnfHAuYzojZmZmZmZmZmEscy50OjZ8cC5sOjUwLHMudDozfHMuZTpsfHAudjpvZmYscy50OjR8cC52Om9mZixzLnQ6MXxzLmU6Z3xwLmw6NDA!4e0

  1. Modify it adding tile coordinates, note that !1i9!2i149!3i192! is substituted with !1i{z}!2i{y}!3i{x}! this is the only change we make here:

https://mts1.googleapis.com/maps/vt?pb=!1m4!1m3!1i{z}!2i{x}!3i{y}!2m3!1e0!2sm!3i330322375!3m14!2sru-RU!3sUS!5e18!12m1!1e47!12m3!1e37!2m1!1ssmartmaps!12m4!1e26!2m2!1sstyles!2zcy50OjN8cy5lOmd8cC52Om9mZixzLnQ6MnxzLmU6Z3xwLnY6b2ZmLHMudDo1fHMuZTpnfHAuYzojZmZmZmZmZmEscy50OjZ8cC5sOjUwLHMudDozfHMuZTpsfHAudjpvZmYscy50OjR8cC52Om9mZixzLnQ6MXxzLmU6Z3xwLmw6NDA!4e0

  1. Change the link under url= to this link.

Start QGIS and turn on Google Traffic, enjoy, mind Cyrillic on the screenshot, it's my system ;) )

Tested on QGIS 2.12.

enter image description here

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