Making a googlemap entry

How To Make A Multimedia Google Map

from Mindy Faber

Link to GMap tutorial[1]

If starting a new map, start from step 1. If adding to an already existing map, start from step 3.

1. Go to www.google.com/maps

• Click on the “My Maps” tab
• Click on the “Create New Map” button
• Sign in to your Google account, or create an account

2. A blank map will appear. On the left side will be a box for you to put in a title and a box for you to put in a description. Below that are two options for your map- public or unlisted. Click the box which your prefer.

2a. Notice that above the title box there are two buttons, Save and Done. It is good to save your work frequently. When you click the Save button it will change to “Saved”. When you are done editing the map, click the “Done” button. Once clicked, the Done and Save buttons will be replaced with an “Edit” button.

3. When in Edit mode, 4 buttons will appear in the top left corner of your map. The first button has a hand icon on it and is the “select/edit map features” button. The next button has what looks like a balloon on it and is the “add a placemark” button. The next button, with a zigzag line on it, is the “draw a line” button. The last button has a geometric shape on it and is the “draw a shape button”.

3a. The select/edit button is just like an arrow tool, used for selecting things. If you hold down a left click and move the mouse, you can move the map perspective manually. To zoom in and out you can use the click wheel. (Another way to move and zoom is the buttons to the left of the 4 edit buttons. To move north, south, east, or west, click on the respective arrow. To zoom in click the plus sign, to zoom out click the minus sign.) To edit a marker you’ve put on the map, click on it when you’re in select/edit mode.

3b. To add a placemark, click on the “add placemark” button and then click the location on the map you would like the placemark to be. A bubble will pop up with a title box and a description box. When adding text to the placemark, make sure you are in “Plain Text” mode (next to the word Description). When adding pictures, sound, or video, make sure you are in “Edit HTML” mode. To change the icon of your placemark, click the icon in the top right corner of the bubble. A screen will pop up with many icon options. There are numerous default icons, but you can also add your own icons. To add your own icon, click “Add an icon” in the top right corner. A box will come up asking for the URL of the picture you want to use. Google images is a good place to get icons, the best size is around 40” x 40”. Copy the URL from the picture and paste it into the box on your google map. Once you have put the URL of the picture in the box, click “OK”. The icon you upload will automatically become the icon of the placemark you have just created. When you are done editing your placemark, click the “OK” box. To delete a placemark, click the word “Delete”. You can edit your placemarks at any time by clicking on them.

3c. The line tool is used for drawing lines anywhere on the map. It can be used for connecting placemarks, but doesn’t have to be. To start a line, click the “draw a line button” and click the place on the map you want the line to begin. A white box will appear where you begin your line. The line only draws straight lines, so you have to click every time you want it to turn. To end your line, double click on the last box you create. To edit the line, click on it. The same bubble will appear with Title and Description. If you click on the line icon in the top right corner, you can change the color, width, and opacity of your line. When you are done editing your line click “OK” in the lower right corner. To delete it, click “Delete” in the lower left corner.

3d. Shapes can be used to highlight regions, cities, and other areas of importance. To create a shape, click the shape button. Like the line tool, a white box will appear when you fist click. Draw the outline of the shape and double click when you finish. A bubble with Title and Description will appear. If you click the colored square in the top right corner, you can change the line color, line width, line opacity, fill color, and fill opacity. When finished click “OK”. To delete, click “Delete”. You can edit the shape at any time by clicking on it. 4. To insert pictures, go to Flickr, or whatever webhost the picture is on. Find the embedding code of the picture and copy it. (On Flickr, click the “All Sizes” at the top, a new page will pop up, scroll down to the bottom and there will be a box that says “copy and paste this HTML into your webpage”). Once you copy the HTML codes, go to your Google map and select the placemarker in which you want to put the picture. Click on “Edit HTML” in the top right corner. Paste the HTML of the picture into the Description box. Odds are the picture will be too big, so in the code find the word “width= (some number)” and “height= (some number)”. You can experiment with different sizes, but 410 x 273 works well. When you’re finished click “OK”. Then click the Save and Done buttons on the left side of your map. Click on the placemark you just put a picture in a make sure it worked and is the size you want.

5. To insert video into the map is very similar to inserting pictures. Go to the video on Youtube or Google Video (Google Maps is not compatible with other video sites in my experience). On Youtube, the HTML code will be on the left side of the screen under the word “Embed”. Copy the code below it (it begins <object width=”425”height”355”<param….). Go to you Google map. Click on the placemarker in which you want to embed the video. Click on “Edit HTML” in the top right corner. Paste the HTML code in the description box. No re-sizing should be necessary. When done click “OK”. Then click the Save and Done buttons on the left side of the map. Click on the placemarker to see if the video worked. Sometimes they do not work right away. If a large white screen appears in the bubble, close out your Google map. Re-open the map and check again, the video should show up. If the video does not show up after closing the map, try embedding it again. If the lines of code appear in the bubble when you click on the placemarker, it means you were in “Plain Text” mode. Cut the HTML code, click on “Edit HTML”, then paste in the code.

6. To send a link to this map, click “Link to this page” in the upper right corner of the map. Copy the URL in the top box to send links. Paste this code in e-mails, IM conversations, or web pages, and people will be redirected to the map. To embed this map, click “Link to this page”. Copy the code in the lower box and embed it into a webpage.

6a. To change the size of the map for embedding, click “Customize and preview embedded map” in the lower right corner of the “Link to this page” box. A new page will pop up with different size options and the embedding code will be at the bottom of the page, under the preview of the map.

6b. To allow others to edit the map, click on the word “Collaborate”, on the left side of the map near the Done and Save buttons. A screen will come up that says “Invite Collaborators” and “Manage Collaborators”. Enter in the e-mail addresses of people you want allowed to edit the map under Invite Collaborators (separate all e-mail addresses with commas). Below you can add a message to them. On the right side of the screen you can control who is allowed to edit the map. If you check the “Collaborators may invite others” box, people you invite can invite other people to edit the map as well. If you check the “Allow anyone to edit this map” box, anyone, including people you do not invite, can edit the map. You can remove collaborators by clicking “Remove” next to their name.

6c. If you are teaching a large group of people how to add to your map, you may want to set it to “Allow anyone to edit this map”. Once the tutorial is over, you can change the settings again so that only collaborators can edit the map.