If you are looking to freshen up your website content consider using Google's Map API. Google makes it easy to include maps on your site. The API allows you to do many things with the maps, from providing simple maps to creating complex mashups(this is a mashup of google maps and youtube) . What I will describe today is the basics to get a map on your site with a simple overlay.
1. You will need to sign up for an API key from google. What this does is give you a unique code to use that lets google know the request is coming from your domain. The key will look something like this (this is the key for ibizdaily.com... so it wont work for you):
ABQIAAAAdT3_uc-xacwnzrz7-xLzHRQj2QoGbofvAHha71H-d09lHhPaeRQqkL-J4CzS_cMr5AL9-duIKziDqw
2. Once you have the key you can include the basic javascript code for displaying a map. There are two things to note in the example below in bold:
a. Your API key from google
b. The longitude/latitude of your map... which you can get by doing a query on google maps for a location
c. Text for the information overlay...in this case its Ted's Deli. <script src="http://maps.google.com/maps?file=api&v=2&key=ABQIAAAAdT3_uc-xacwnzrz7-xLzHRQj2QoGbofvAHha71H-d09lHhPaeRQqkL-J4CzS_cMr5AL9-duIKziDqw" type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> function initialize() { if (GBrowserIsCompatible()) { var map = new GMap2(document.getElementById("map_canvas")); map.setCenter(new GLatLng(41.652393,-83.578491), 13); map.openInfoWindow(map.getCenter(), document.createTextNode("Ted's Deli, 123 Dorr Street")); } } </script> <body onload="initialize()" onunload="GUnload()"> <div id="map_canvas" style="width: 500px; height: 300px"></div>
...and here is our map of Toledo Ohio (go Mudhens):
b. The longitude/latitude of your map... which you can get by doing a query on google maps for a location
c. Text for the information overlay...in this case its Ted's Deli. <script src="http://maps.google.com/maps?file=api&v=2&key=ABQIAAAAdT3_uc-xacwnzrz7-xLzHRQj2QoGbofvAHha71H-d09lHhPaeRQqkL-J4CzS_cMr5AL9-duIKziDqw" type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> function initialize() { if (GBrowserIsCompatible()) { var map = new GMap2(document.getElementById("map_canvas")); map.setCenter(new GLatLng(41.652393,-83.578491), 13); map.openInfoWindow(map.getCenter(), document.createTextNode("Ted's Deli, 123 Dorr Street")); } } </script> <body onload="initialize()" onunload="GUnload()"> <div id="map_canvas" style="width: 500px; height: 300px"></div>
...and here is our map of Toledo Ohio (go Mudhens):
You can also just embed a map now without the API - when you do any search at http://maps.google.com/ you will see a link on the right hand side above the map that says "Link" - click on that and you get a pop up window with an iframe tag for embedding whatever map you are viewing, and/or you can click on the "Customize and preview embedded map" link to customize the map you want to use even further.