Creating your own maps has never been simpler. With My Maps, you can mark locations, paths and regions of interest on a personalised map and share it with multiple people! You can even add descriptive text, embed photos and videos and view your map on Google Earth.
Take a look at this short video to see the kinds of things that you can achieve with My Maps:
With My Maps, there are a number of exciting things you can do for your organisation. Here are a few ideas:
Plan an event and distribute information to participants.
Generate a map locating your organisation's branches across the country or across the globe for everyone to see.
Map out your volunteer base and geographically plan objectives for reaching out.
This tutorial will guide you through an example of organising a beach cleanup day like the one shown below. We'll end up with a map like this.
We would like our map to show the following things: the meeting point, the path that each team will follow, the end point and where we'll have our picnic at the end of the cleanup. Feel free to follow along, modifying locations and descriptions to suit your own needs. You'll be surprised at how fun and easy it is!
Prerequisites
Absolutely no programming skills needed!
To create a map using My Maps, you need to be signed in to your Google Account. If you don't have an account yet, you can sign up here. (It's free).
Sign in if you have not yet done so, using the link on top right corner.
Click the "My Maps" tab. You will see a blank My Maps page that looks like this:
Click Create new map.
Add a title and description for your map. You can make your map public or unlisted. We'll make ours public so that it shows up in search results.
Click Save.
Let's zoom into the Santa Cruz Beach area. Type "Santa Cruz Beach" in the search box and zoom in to get a closer look. Once you've zoomed in, click the "My Maps" tab to come back to your map.
By switching to the Hybrid view, we'll be able to see the aerial imagery as well as road information. Click the "Hybrid" button located at the top right of your map.
Now, let's add placemarks, lines and shapes! Make sure that you have a checkmark next to "Beach Cleanup Day" on the top left column; that's the map that we'll be editing.
Adding Placemarks: Let's mark locations for group meeting points!
Click at the top left of your map. Your cursor should change into a placemark icon with an "X" crosshairs. The crosshairs indicate where the placemark will fall.
Let's first mark the starting point for our beach cleanup. Move the cursor to the appropriate location. If you want to dismiss this placemark, press the Escape key.
Click your mouse button to place your placemark. It should bounce into place.
Add a title and description.
You can also change the icon for your placemark by clicking the icon in the top right corner of the info window.
Click OK to save your placemark.
Add another placemark for the ending point. Here's what your map will look like after adding these two placemarks.
Notes:
To move any placemark on your map, drag and drop it in the new location. Note that you can only edit or move placemarks on your maps, not others' maps.
To edit a placemark's title or description, click the placemark to open the info window. Edit the title and description and click OK.
Adding Lines: Let's show the paths to take!
Click . Your cursor appears like this:
First we'll show the path that the Red cleanup team should take. Move the cursor to the appropriate location and click to start drawing the line. If you want to dismiss this line, press the Escape key.
Click your mouse button at each point of your line.
To finish drawing your line, double-click the last end point.
Add a title and description.
You can also change the colour, transparency and width of your line by clicking the colour swatch in the top right corner of the info window.
Click OK to save your line.
Add another line for the Blue Team. Here's what your map will look like after adding these two paths.
Notes:
To move a line on your map, mouse over the line to make the end points appear. Click and drag the points to move them.
To delete a point from your line, right-click the point and choose Delete from the context menu.
To add a point to your line, you can either click one of the semi-transparent points or right-click the line and choose Add a point from the context menu.
To edit a line's title or description, click it to open the info window. Edit the title and description and click OK.
Adding Shapes: Let's show our picnic area and the car park!
Click . Your cursor appears like this:
We can now draw a box around our picnic area. Move the cursor to the appropriate location and click to start the shape. If you want to dismiss this shape, press the Escape key.
Click your mouse button at each end point of your shape.
To finish drawing your shape, double-click the last end point or click the starting point to complete the shape.
Add a title and description.
You can also change the colour and transparency of your shape by clicking the colour swatch in the top right corner of the info window.
Click OK to save your shape.
Go ahead and create another region to show the car park area. Here's what your map will look like after adding these regions.
Notes:
To move a shape on your map, mouse over the shape to make the end points appear. Click and drag the points to move them.
To delete a point from your shape, right-click the point and select Delete from the context menu.
To add a point to your shape, you can either click one of the semi-transparent points or right-click the shape
and choose Add a point from the context menu.
To edit a shape's title or description, click it to open the info window. Edit the title and description and click OK.
And we're done! Make sure that your map has been saved:
You can return to your map at any time. Just go to Google Maps and click My Maps.
Sign in to your Google Account and select the map from your list of maps.
Sharing Your Map with Volunteers
To share the map with others, click the "Link to this page" link.
You have two options: you can either send the link in email or IM or embed the map in your organisation's website. Let's email this out to our volunteers.
Simply highlight and copy the link then paste it into your email.
Your volunteers now have easy access to the map, making for a well planned event!
Read more about using My Maps, such as adding photos and formatting your text.
Now that you've seen the very basics, why not try another easy way of creating KML using a template that offers you greater options for the look and feel of your content?
at the top left of your map. Your cursor should change into a placemark icon with an "X" crosshairs. The crosshairs indicate where the placemark will fall.
. Your cursor appears like this:
. Your cursor appears like this: