Google maps gradient polylines: need for a hack?

Question

I want to have a polyline that fades out from the current position (alpha = 1.0) to the start position (alpha = 0.0). In that way, give some kind of visual chronology to such a line.

After some googling, I concluded, that currently a gradient on a polyline is not part of Maps' feature set.

1. Am I right in this conclusion. I hope not, because I'm about to
2. Draw a complex polyline as many single lines, each with an increasing opacity. Question: is this going to blow up browsers, when my polyline consists of hundreds of points?

Thanks in advance..

Answer 1

So, here is something that is more than a comment, so I post it as an answer, realizing it might not be THE answer, and I don't expect anyone to honor this as such:

So, rather than drawing a polyline like this:

line = new google.maps.Polyline({
                                path: path,
                                map: map
                          });

I came up with this:

function multiMonolines (path) {
    var totalPoints =path.length;
     for(var i = 0;  i < (path.length-1);  ++i){
        var startingPoint =path[i];
        var endingPoint=path[i+1];
        var shortPath=new Array(startingPoint,endingPoint);
        line = new google.maps.Polyline({
                            path: shortPath,

                       ---and here I do some stuff with opacity---

                            map: map
                      });
                    };
                };

My finding is, that the map is drawn fast enough. (There are 381 'multimonolines'). However: zooming in on the map in Safari hangs the web page. Chrome is easier on that.

I realize that drawing 380 lines is quite an expensive thing to do, so I think I will have to revert to the polyline, hoping that someone has figured out how to do a gradient polyline. Or until Apple optimizes its js rendering engine even more.