Hints for Placing Google Maps on a Page

Create a Google Map (iframe)

Revised by [email protected] 10/21/2011

  1. Read directions to find some place relatively near the trailhead to use as a starting search in Google.
  2. Go to http://maps.google.com/maps and create an account, if you don't have one. In your account profile, change your nickname to "TC Volunteer".
  3. Enter the most specific location for the park/hike that you know of and Search Maps for that location.
  4. Click on the marker in the left column to bring up its baloon description in the map. In the bottom of that description, click on the "Save to Map" link.
  5. Save will take you to My Maps.
  6. Choose Create a new map and Save.
  7. Click on My Places.
  8. Click on the map you just created.
  9. Click on Edit.
  10. Edit the map Title, Description (suggested to leave blank) and Place details (suggested to leave blank).
  11. Choose the "Unlisted" radio button. This will prevent your map from being visible to the casual web user without first going to our site.
  12. Use zoom and probably satellite view to put the right spot in the center of the window
  13. If the baloon represents a known point of interest, rather than your trailhead, you may or may not want to delete that balloon and replace it with one of your own choosing. To do thisclick on the baloon in the map and Delete in the lower left corner. Then plae and ttle your own baloon.
  14. Place addition markers as required. Some parks are very close or even adjointing to each other In such cases you may wish to make one map covering more than one park.
  15. Use the "Collaborate" link to share your map with [email protected]. Allow Collaboratores to invite others, but do not Allow anyone to edit this map.
  16. Click Save and/or Done. Log out of Googlemaps.
  17. Log back into Googlemaps and access the map you are working on using My places..
  18. Clink on the Link symbol near the upper right corner of the map.
  19. Then on the "Customize and preview embeded map" link.
  20. Map will pop up in a new window, Select custom size and set it to 300x300
  21. Readjust the centering and zoom level; select Satellite view
  22. Log out of Googlemaps main window. This will still leave the pop-up window open.
  23. Click in the HTML code and type CTRL A, CTRL C to select and copy the code.
  24. Go to your hike/park map, make sure that your input format has Full HTML selected and that you have disabled Rich Text.
  25. Type CTRL V to paste the code into the map box (in Hikes database, paste into Parking Map box).
  26. So that “View Larger Maps” links all open a new tab in either IE or FF, insert target="_blank"   just before style="color in the last part of the HTML expression. Note the placement of the quotation marks. Edit a park page like Buttermilk Falls to see an example.
  27. Submit the hike/park and admire your work.
  28. If it doesn't look right, go back to your Google window and adjust and replace the html.
  29. Save your Google Map. Close the Google Map new window but, if you are going to do another map, don't close your Google My Maps tab unless you have a problem. If you do run into a problem, close My Maps, log out of Google and log back in.

 

 

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