Ever wanted to add a Google Map to your site but only had 15 minutes to spare? Now you can add a map and still have time to brag to your mates and bask in the worship that (inevitably) comes afterward.

Basically, the guys over at subgurim.net have already done all the hard work in writing the .Net wrapper for Google Maps. Problem is, the examples on their site are mostly in spanish & its a bit difficult to find out exactly what is needed to get everything working.

But all this is cutting into your bragging time - so lets get started!

1. Get a Google Maps API key from here:
http://www.google.com/apis/maps/

2. Download the SubGurim wrapper dll from here:
http://en.googlemaps.subgurim.net/descargar.aspx

3. Unzip it, and put it in your \bin directory

4. Add it to your toolbox by
Tools -> Choose Toolbox Items -> Browse -> Select the .dll file -> OK
GMap will now be in the ‘Standard’ area of your Toolbox.

5. Add a new webpage.

6. Drag the GMap from the toolbox onto the page. A new instance of the GMap will appear on the page, with the name ‘GMap1′

7. Add the following lines to your web.config file:

<appSettings>
<add key="googlemaps.subgurim.net" value="YourGoogleMapsAPIKeyHere" />
</appSettings>

8. Add the following code to your Page.Load sub

Dim sStreetAddress As String
Dim sMapKey As String = ConfigurationManager.AppSettings("googlemaps.subgurim.net")
Dim GeoCode As Subgurim.Controles.GeoCode
sStreetAddress = "100 Russell St. Melbourne. VIC. 3000. Australia"
GeoCode = GMap1.geoCodeRequest(sStreetAddress, sMapKey)
Dim gLatLng As New Subgurim.Controles.GLatLng(GeoCode.Placemark.coordinates.lat, GeoCode.Placemark.coordinates.lng)
GMap1.setCenter(gLatLng, 16, Subgurim.Controles.GMapType.GTypes.Normal)
Dim oMarker As New Subgurim.Controles.GMarker(gLatLng)
GMap1.addGMarker(oMarker)

Press F5, and start basking in the glory!