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Archive for the 'Google Maps' Category Page 3 of 15



Draw And Edit Google Maps My Maps Layers With DRAWaMAP

Joining quikmaps and ScribbleMaps, DRAWaMAP lets you draw features in a Google Maps interface, and save them. Supported features include:

  • Lines
  • Markers
  • Polygons
  • Time polygons – you set a time and speed, and DRAWaMAP draws a polygon encompassing the walking distance around that point based on Google Maps data.
  • Map Density Quadtree – ? Not sure, but it seems to create an editable polygon feature based around a starting and ending point.
  • Adjustable fill color / feature opacity.

Data import/export/editing features are very limited compared to quikmaps and ScribbleMaps, but unlike those two, DRAWaMAP lets you import or export data directly from/to Google Maps MyMaps. The symbology/iconology used in DRAWaMAP is substantially different than that used in MyMaps, which takes some getting used to; controls are a bit cryptic as well:

drawamapcontrols

There’s a help button that brings up short, helpful video tutorials for some of these, but others will require experimentation to figure out. But to view these help videos, make sure you enable allow pop-ups from the DRAWaMAP site; otherwise you may wind up wasting time by pushing the help control buttons multiple times to no effect before figuring it out (like I did :).  As the videos demonstrate, this AJAX app’s interface is designed to make it usable on a mobile phone, making it a decent alternative to the main Google Maps MyMaps web-based editor on those devices.

Via GoogleMapsMania.




Multiple Coordinate Systems In Google Maps, Reverse Geocoding, And More With The Worldwide Coordinate Converter

Clement Ronzon emails about his new website, The Worldwide Coordinate Converter (TWCC for short). Drag the globe-shaped icon to the desired location in a Google Maps interface, and get a pop-up balloon with the geographic coordinates for that spot, elevation in meters, and the nearest reverse-geocoded address:

twccballoon

At right is a two-part coordinates box, with latitude/longitude/WGS84 always in the top part, and a user-selectable coordinate system at the bottom:

coordschooser

You can also enter coordinates into the appropriate boxes in either the top or bottom section, click Convert, and have them converted to the other coordinate system automatically (and plotted on the map).




Google Maps Adds Measuring Tool

The main Google Maps page now has a distance measuring tool. It’s not turned on by default, so you’ll have to click on the green beaker at upper right (the Google Labs symbol for experimental features):

beaker

Then enable the Distance Measurement Tool in the window that pops up:

dmt

A ruler icon will now appear in the lower-left of the maps; clicking on that will put you into measurement mode. Clicking on the map will now draw a line:

mapline

And the pane at left gives you the total distance (metric or English):

pane

The entire Labs section is worth a look, as it offers several other useful options (as well as some useless ones, like adding the “Beta” title back to Google Maps).

  • A “Drag N Zoom” button that lets you select an area to zoom to (finally!).
  • LatLng Tooltip brings a little pop-up window near your cursor that always displays the latitude/longitude.

fullscreenlatlong

LatLng Marker lets you right-click on a point, and place a marker there with latitude/longitude. You can select the coordinate text with your cursor, copy the coordinates directly off the marker, then paste them elsewhere to save them.

droppedmarker




Online Elevation Profiler

Krystian Pietruszka emails about his new Geocontext Profiler site, based on the new Google Maps API version 3. Place two markers on a Google Maps view by clicking, and get the elevation profile between them:

geocontext

geoprofile

You can add as many additional markers as you want in any direction; to fine-tune a marker position, just click and hold on it, and drag it to the desired spot. You have multiple options for the lines between points:

  • Direct – Straight line between points
  • Driving – Elevation along roads from point to point (like this preset example for Death Valley):

deathvalley

deathvalleyprofile

  • Bicycling/walking

Click on the Geolocation IP link at right to jump to your local area; click on the double-arrow icon in the upper right corner to go to full-screen-width for the app (and back again). You can also link to a profile, or embed it on your site:

Note: The “Import KML” link in the upper left of the map will let you load and display KML data on the map, but doesn’t create an elevation profile between points or along a line.




Export Google Maps MyMaps Data As KML

Google Maps MyMaps feature lets you create and save simple maps (lines and points), and share them with the world. But the sharing is done through a network link, not through a stand-alone KML file, and you can’t save the data directly to your computer. The GMaps tips website offers a simple way to save a stand-alone KML file of your MyMaps map:

1. Create the map.

2. Right-click on the “View In Google Earth” link, and copy the link address; paste it into a text editor:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&vps=1&jsv=206b&msa=0&output=nl&msid=106563725672137103118.00047ef5a12bca4f8b665

3. Change “output=nl” to “output=kml”

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&vps=1&jsv=206b&msa=0&output=kml&msid=106563725672137103118.00047ef5a12bca4f8b665

4. Paste the modified link address into your browser’s address bar, and go to it; depending on how your browser preferences are set, you’ll either save the KML file for your map to your standard download directory, or it will open in Google Earth. In the latter case, right-click on the KML entry in the View pane at left, select “Save As”, and choose a name and location to save it in.

Useful if you’re stuck using Google  MyMaps, maybe because of its collaboration options. If you don’t need to collaborate,  Scribblemaps and Scribblemaps Pro offer direct KML export and have a much greater selection of drawing tools than Google MyMaps.

12/28/2010: Original method doesn’t work anymore, as the “View In Google Earth” link shows up very briefly, then disappears in favor of viewing the data in the Google Earth plugin in your browser. But you can still get it to work with a slight revision. Instead of right-clicking on the “View In Google Earth” link, do that on the “Link” in the upper-right-hand corner, then copy and paste that into a text editor. Then insert “&output=kml” (no quotes) before “&msid” in the link text. Copy and paste that modified link into your browser, and it will work as advertised.




ScribbleMaps Goes Pro

Posted a few months ago about ScribbleMaps, a very cool web app that let you draw shapes and symbols freely in a Google Maps interface, then save the map in multiple formats:

  • JPEG
  • Print directly from browser
  • Embeddable widget (no Google Maps API key required
  • Facebook map
  • Regular Google Maps view
  • Google Earth plugin (though this didn’t work for me)
  • KML file (for viewing in Google Earth)
  • GPX (for export to your GPS)

ScribbleMaps has just added a Pro version, still in beta, that adds a host of new features:

  • You can now set up an account to save and manage maps
  • Import data in shapefile, CSV, tab-delimited, Excel spreadsheet, KML
  • Custom line styling
  • Larger color palette
  • New marker icons
  • Data layers, with full management
  • Line and polygon measurement tools
  • Object rotation tool
  • Undo/Redo
  • KML editor
  • Multiple language support

A cool tool that just got even cooler. Free for now; no mention of future cost that I could find, and I hope it stays that way.




New At HeyWhatsThat: Solar Eclipse Simulator, WebApp For iPhone And Android

I first posted about HeyWhatsThat 2+ years ago; its initial functions included:

  • A panorama of what’s visible from that location, marking the position of peak geographic landmarks
  • A list of the peaks, and the ability to show their position relative to your location on Google Maps
  • Terrain profiles (elevation versus distance from the location to any point on the map).
  • A plot all the areas visible from that location in red on Google Maps (aka the “viewshed” or “weapons fan”).
  • Contour lines.
  • Google Earth export of position, viewshed, horizon line and horizon extent.
  • Mike Kosowsky has been adding functions to HeyWhatsThat since then, and writes to announce two more:

    1. A simulator of Friday’s annular solar eclipse:

    eclipse

    2.  A web app to let you find out what you’re looking at using your iPhone or Android; point your phone’s browser to m.heywt.com.




    Multiple Embeddable Web Maps With Switch Maps

    New from MapChannels is Switch Maps, an easy way to embed multiple web maps in a single frame. A simple web interface lets you set the geographic extents, size of the map frame, and which maps to include:

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