Get Instance of Google Maps Object Using JQuery
<p>I'm looking at writing a function that when called will fetch an instance of a <a href="https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/reference#Map" rel="nofollow">Google Maps object</a> on the page <strong>if</strong> there is one present, using JQuery. </p>

<p>For instance if there is indeed a Map on the page, it would look something like this:</p>

<pre><code>&lt;div class="map"&gt;....&lt;/div&gt;
</code></pre>

<p>So getting access to the div <em>containing</em> the map is easy enough. i.e. <code>$('.map');</code> . But how do you then cast it so that it's actually of type Google Map Class and then be able to call functions on it and access properties?</p>