Google My Maps

Planning

I love maps. This post was prompted by the work I was doing last night in researching my local area of outstanding natural beauty. The Mendip Hills near me are usually somewhere I drive around to get to somewhere else of outstanding natural beauty. So, with a few pictures in mind, I made up a Google My Map to help plan my trip and make the outing more useful.

I have come to use the Google My Map facility because of the poor reviews of the OS Map App which in theory would allow maps to be viewed off-line. The reviews are not good for this App.

If you have experience of the OS Premium Service App please let me know.

Sharing info

A customised My Map is great for sharing information with other people, it allows them to bring their knowledge and experience to the discussion. If My Map is shared by Google Drive a third party can amend and update the information on the map.

Relationships

Creating a My Map allows you to see the distance and relationship of all the interesting locations on a single sheet of paper. As a photographer running workshops, I want to know how long it will take me to get between different locations, is it 15 minutes or 1 hour and 15 minutes? This is always very useful at the initial stages of a workshop recce where I have not usually been to the area before.

Gain useful info

When compiling a My Map you have access to very useful information such as the locations

• Address
• Postcode
• Website
• Telephone number.

So hopefully, this will give you the opportunity to find out opening times and any other relevant information you might require before visiting the intended location.

PC Version – just for clarity

The following instructions relate to creating a My Map on a PC there may be a few minor differences if you are working on a Mac.

How to create a new Google My Map

1. Open Google Maps
2. Go to Menu (top left)
3. Select – Your Places
4. Select – Maps
5. At the bottom of the Left-hand panel Select – New Map
6. An untitled map of the UK opens
7. Give the untitled map a name and a description in the box top left

 The map is now created and saved in Google Drive

How to add locations to the newly created My Map

1. Zoom in by scrolling with your mouse wheel so you can see the icons on the map
2. Click on an icon
3. A dialogue box opens – click on + Add to map
4. The dialogue box is still open click on the Pencil in the bottom bar
5. Type in the Postcode in the detailed text into the Title Box
6. This way you have easy access the Postcodes of all the locations on the map
7. Save and close the dialogue box

Add the locations Postcode to the Title box so it is displayed in the list on the left.

How to manage the list of places created

In the box on the left, the places can be dragged into a different order which is useful when planning a trip.

Print the map and list of places

on the same sheet of A4 or A3 paper

1. Click on the 3 dot menu next to the Map Name in the box on the top left
2. Select Print Map and then the size, orientation and type
3. Print (this assumes you have a printer connected, its turned on and working!)

Share a My Map with a friend

1. Open Google Drive
2. Right-click on the map file (I have all my maps stored in a folder called maps)
3. Select – Get a shareable link https://drive.google.com/open?id=1kIiQmTDXFd8-coutiqoJ1EQ0S126lkLf
4. Anyone with the link can open the map

Or

1. Select – Share – here you can add names or email addresses from your Contacts
2. Be sure to review the Access Permissions so the intended people can see what you have sent them.

Make sure you allow permissions as you see fit.

Recording shoot locations after a trip