Customizing Baidu Map Styles with PHP and Baidu Map API

This article explains how to customize Baidu Map styles using PHP and the Baidu Map API.

Step 1: Apply for a Baidu Map API key. Register on the Baidu Open Platform, create an application, and obtain the API key from the application details page.

Step 2: Include the Baidu Map API library. Download the library from the Baidu Map Open Platform documentation and place the extracted files in your project.

Step 3: Create a map container. Add an HTML element with a specific id and size to hold the map.

<div id="map" style="width: 100%; height: 500px;"></div>

Step 4: Initialize the map object. Use the BMap class in PHP to create a map instance and set the API key.

<?php
require_once 'path_to_baidumap_api/BMap.php';

$map = new BMap();
$map->set_ak('your_api_key');
?>

Step 5: Set the map style. Define a JSON string describing the desired style (e.g., a bluish theme with roads, buildings, and POIs hidden) and apply it with setMapStyle.

<?php
$styleJson = '{
    "style": "bluish",
    "feature": {
        "road": {"show": false},
        "building": {"show": false},
        "poi": {"show": false}
    }
}';
$map->setMapStyle($styleJson);
?>

Step 6: Render the map. Call renderMap with the container id to display the customized map.

<?php
$map->renderMap('map');
?>

By following these six steps—obtaining an API key, including the library, creating a container, initializing the map, setting a JSON‑based style, and rendering the map—developers can personalize Baidu Map appearance within PHP applications.