How to get Google Maps API to set the correct zoom level for a country?

Question

Is there a was of automatically setting the zoom level based on the size of the country that the map has been centered on?

maps.google.com does exactly what I need,

Answer 1

If you don't want to use the geocoder client from google, because of usage limitations you could use your own list. You can get one from this github repo.

Here is a code example using jQuery's getJSON function and google maps API v3:

    function initialize() {
      // read the list of countries
     $.getJSON('countries.json', function (countries) {

         // will use the country with index 40 (Cyprus)
         var index_country = 40;
         var myOptions = {
             center: new google.maps.LatLng(
                 countries[index_country].center_lat,
                 countries[index_country].center_lng),
         }
         var map = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById("map_canvas"), myOptions);

         // set the bounds of the map
         var bounds = new google.maps.LatLngBounds(
             new google.maps.LatLng(countries[index_country].sw_lat, countries[index_country].sw_lng),
             new google.maps.LatLng(countries[index_country].ne_lat, countries[index_country].ne_lng) );

         map.fitBounds(bounds);
     });
 }