01-16-2016, 06:07 PM
This is a piece about using Google Maps Engine to draw enduring route maps. To the best of my knowledge, if you don’t have a Google account, it won’t work.
I’m doing it because the rally planners were interested (see here.
I’m not very adventurous, so, assuming I decided to make a surprize visit to the US this year to visit Bland of all places, chances are I’ll fly again to Atlanta and look up my mates at EagleRider. From there I’ll probably revisit the scene of a couple of last year’s triumphs and then make my way to Bland.
So, if I wanted to draw a map to show you blokes where I went, and for you to be able to look at on the web so you can zoom in here and there, this is how I’d do it.
Caveat: These instructions could be clearer. I know that, but I’ve deliberately walked you through the sort of process I’d go through to show you a couple of the quirks and how you might deal with them.
Picture 1—Open Google Maps engine [url=https://www.google.com/maps/d/]here, [url=https://www.google.com/maps/d/]https://www.google.com/maps/d/ and select <Create a new map>. At this point, if you have a modern web browser, it can be quite handy also to have the normal Google Maps app open in another tab. Makes it easy to look things up.
Picture 2—You should see something like this. You’re looking at the Solomon Islands because that’s where I am as I write. Sorry to rub it in for the winter-bound Yanks, but it’s very hot here.
Picture 3—Get yourself to Atlanta, GA.
As I’ve made more of these maps, I’ve found the easiest thing is to build up a collection of waypoints to or through which I’m going to travel. I usually start doing that. Pay attention because I’m only going to give you a couple of examples.
Picture 4—First of all, I’m going to locate EagleRider at Marietta. As a first step always try the Google Search in the Maps Engine App. So—
Picture 5—Select the first entry (because it’s the one you want) and press <Enter>. You see this—
You can see it has saved a green pin in a layer on the left. Layers* are nifty things you can turn on and off if you want to conceal or show data on the map. I want to keep the location so I click where it says <+ Add to map> in the box above the green pin.
Picture 6—You can see that creates a new untitled layer on the left and there’s a red pin there. Excellent.
Picture 7—Now I’m going to head to the Ironhorse Motorcycle Lodge, but I know if I leave it to Google to calculate a route, I’ll never get to go the way I want. So I’ll prepare a couple of way points. Let’s try one at Neels Gap. Repeat the search process and again add the result to the map. Should look a bit like this.
Picture 8—I can’t wait any longer to see what will happen, so let’s start creating the route. I’ve circled the <Add directions> tool.
Picture 9—First click on Atlanta-Harley in the <Untitled layer> and then click on the <Add Directions> tool. A new layer will be created with “Atlanta-Harley” in the first text box marked A.
Picture 10—Either click on the pin for Neel’s Gap or start typing Neels Gap in the B text box. If you choose the second of those options, wait until the red pin saying “Neels Gap – Untitled layer” appears and then select it.
Picture 11—Bingo! A route will appear.
Picture 12—If you like it, well and good. If not, you can change it. The easiest way is to point your cursor at the route and you’ll see an empty circle appear. It’s a bit like the following picture where you can see it says <Drag to change route>.
Picture 13—In this case, I want to go via Jasper—just so I can show you how this can work. Drag the route up towards Jasper and it will recalculate like this—
A caution at this point: I’ve found changes made by dragging the route can disappear when you come back to work on the map later. You’ll see an example of this later in the tutorial. They can then be difficult to recreate. Hence waypoints; they’re often a bit more time consuming to make at the outset, but helpful in the long run.
Picture 14—Anyway, that’s still not what I want to do. I want to head up 52 to Ellijay, then up 76 to near Morganton and then through Suches to rejoin 129 south of Neel’s Gap. So I’m going to create a couple more waypoints.
Zoom in until you can get a good clear view of where you want the waypoint.
Picture 15—I was going to show you here how to select the pin tool, but I decided to change its name to “Waypoints”. Here’s how to do that.
See next to where it says <Untitled Layer> there are three vertical dodts? Click on them and three options appear.
Picture 16—Select <Rename this layer>, type <Waypoints> in the box and press <Enter>.
Picture 17—To select the <Add marker> tool (circled below) you must first make sure the <Waypoints> layer is selected (when it is you can see the blue vertical line at the side). To select it, just click somewhere in the box. The select <Add marker>.
Picture 18—Place a pin where you want the route to pass through. In this case I’ll put it on 515/5/76 just north of the junction with 52. This is what happens—
Picture 19—I choose to change the name from “Point 4” to “52/76”; but whatever you press <Save>!
Handily, you can see the map coordinates in the bottom left of the text box. It’s possible to copy them, but it’s not as simple as just highlighting the numbers for some reason I haven’t figured out. It may just be that I have a very poor internet connection.
Picture 20—Then select the directions layer (called “Directions from Atlanta-Harley to Neels Gap”) and select the <X> next to Point B (Neels Gap). That will delete it and you can replace it with the point we’ve just inserted. If you can’t remember how, see Picture 10.
Picture 21—Of course, the darned thing has now taken you the wrong way again and you either have to do the drag the route thing all over again or (and this is what I’m going to do) insert another waypoint near Dawsonville to try to get the map engine to hold to the route I want to take.
You can see I’ve stuck in a new waypoint (see pictures 18, 19). I’ve then deleted the route to “52/76”, selected “183”, then 52/76 and reset the route. One of the good things is that the waypoints don’t have to be in order you want to travel in the “Waypoints” layer That makes it easier to add them as you go along. You do, though, have to delete and re-enter the route if you add waypoints.
Picture 22—At this point, I know that I’ll need a couple of extra way points to get to Neel’s Gap the way I actually want to go there, so I’ll create them and enter the route. You can see the end result here—
If you want turn-by-turn directions and distances, click on the three dots after “Directions from Atlanta-Harley to …” and select <Step-by-step directions>. It’s 155 miles; and the riding time is 3 hours 27 minutes.
Now I’ve got to Neel’s Gap, I’m stopping for a cup of tea. Being lazy, I didn’t enter my route to the Ironhorse Motorcycle Lodge, let alone Bland, so I settle down with my tea to do it. But I’ve left my laptop somewhere and trying to do it on a phone is agony, so I’m afraid you’ll have to make do with these instructions.
Actually, there’s a couple more things:
Storage: Because you’re working on line and have to have a Google account, the Map is being constantly saved to the Cloud while you’re working. That’s a good thing; but, because it lives in the Cloud, you need an internet connection to view it.
Sharing: Usually I want to be able to share the map so members who want to can view it and drill into it a bit if they want. Here’s how to do that.
Picture 23—Click where it says <Share>.
Picture 24—Give the file a name, a description if you want and press <OK>.
Picture 25—On the next screen, select <Change> where I’ve circled it.
Picture 26—I choose to allow anyone with the link to access it. That allows anybody with the link to look at it, even people without Google accounts.
Picture 27—Select as follows and click <Save>.
Picture 28—Finally, make sure the <Link to share> is highlighted and that you copy it. That’s the link you’ll need to point others to your map.
This is the link https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=z...p=sharing.
Clicking on the link above should take you to my completed map.
Good luck.
* A note on layers—A layer is a collection of like things—points, driving instructions, etc. You can turn whatever it is they display on and off with the relevant check box. Be warned, though, there is a finite number of entries in each layer. So when you’re plotting driving routes, you may run out of points and have to start a new layer to keep going.
There is also a finite number of layers you can use in any one map. I think it might be 10, but don’t quote me.
END NOTE After I finished writing this, I went on with the map. I did a ride along the Dragon and back and then off to the Blue Ridge Parkway where, just past the turn off onto 151 north (Pisgah Hwy), I got stuck. For some reason, Google Maps will simply not let me go along the BRP past that. It knows more than me. So, like many a motorcyclist getting tired late in the day, I changed tack and went the quickest way through Asheville.
Hope all that helps.
I’m doing it because the rally planners were interested (see here.
I’m not very adventurous, so, assuming I decided to make a surprize visit to the US this year to visit Bland of all places, chances are I’ll fly again to Atlanta and look up my mates at EagleRider. From there I’ll probably revisit the scene of a couple of last year’s triumphs and then make my way to Bland.
So, if I wanted to draw a map to show you blokes where I went, and for you to be able to look at on the web so you can zoom in here and there, this is how I’d do it.
Caveat: These instructions could be clearer. I know that, but I’ve deliberately walked you through the sort of process I’d go through to show you a couple of the quirks and how you might deal with them.
Picture 1—Open Google Maps engine [url=https://www.google.com/maps/d/]here, [url=https://www.google.com/maps/d/]https://www.google.com/maps/d/ and select <Create a new map>. At this point, if you have a modern web browser, it can be quite handy also to have the normal Google Maps app open in another tab. Makes it easy to look things up.
Picture 2—You should see something like this. You’re looking at the Solomon Islands because that’s where I am as I write. Sorry to rub it in for the winter-bound Yanks, but it’s very hot here.
Picture 3—Get yourself to Atlanta, GA.
As I’ve made more of these maps, I’ve found the easiest thing is to build up a collection of waypoints to or through which I’m going to travel. I usually start doing that. Pay attention because I’m only going to give you a couple of examples.
Picture 4—First of all, I’m going to locate EagleRider at Marietta. As a first step always try the Google Search in the Maps Engine App. So—
Picture 5—Select the first entry (because it’s the one you want) and press <Enter>. You see this—
You can see it has saved a green pin in a layer on the left. Layers* are nifty things you can turn on and off if you want to conceal or show data on the map. I want to keep the location so I click where it says <+ Add to map> in the box above the green pin.
Picture 6—You can see that creates a new untitled layer on the left and there’s a red pin there. Excellent.
Picture 7—Now I’m going to head to the Ironhorse Motorcycle Lodge, but I know if I leave it to Google to calculate a route, I’ll never get to go the way I want. So I’ll prepare a couple of way points. Let’s try one at Neels Gap. Repeat the search process and again add the result to the map. Should look a bit like this.
Picture 8—I can’t wait any longer to see what will happen, so let’s start creating the route. I’ve circled the <Add directions> tool.
Picture 9—First click on Atlanta-Harley in the <Untitled layer> and then click on the <Add Directions> tool. A new layer will be created with “Atlanta-Harley” in the first text box marked A.
Picture 10—Either click on the pin for Neel’s Gap or start typing Neels Gap in the B text box. If you choose the second of those options, wait until the red pin saying “Neels Gap – Untitled layer” appears and then select it.
Picture 11—Bingo! A route will appear.
Picture 12—If you like it, well and good. If not, you can change it. The easiest way is to point your cursor at the route and you’ll see an empty circle appear. It’s a bit like the following picture where you can see it says <Drag to change route>.
Picture 13—In this case, I want to go via Jasper—just so I can show you how this can work. Drag the route up towards Jasper and it will recalculate like this—
A caution at this point: I’ve found changes made by dragging the route can disappear when you come back to work on the map later. You’ll see an example of this later in the tutorial. They can then be difficult to recreate. Hence waypoints; they’re often a bit more time consuming to make at the outset, but helpful in the long run.
Picture 14—Anyway, that’s still not what I want to do. I want to head up 52 to Ellijay, then up 76 to near Morganton and then through Suches to rejoin 129 south of Neel’s Gap. So I’m going to create a couple more waypoints.
Zoom in until you can get a good clear view of where you want the waypoint.
Picture 15—I was going to show you here how to select the pin tool, but I decided to change its name to “Waypoints”. Here’s how to do that.
See next to where it says <Untitled Layer> there are three vertical dodts? Click on them and three options appear.
Picture 16—Select <Rename this layer>, type <Waypoints> in the box and press <Enter>.
Picture 17—To select the <Add marker> tool (circled below) you must first make sure the <Waypoints> layer is selected (when it is you can see the blue vertical line at the side). To select it, just click somewhere in the box. The select <Add marker>.
Picture 18—Place a pin where you want the route to pass through. In this case I’ll put it on 515/5/76 just north of the junction with 52. This is what happens—
Picture 19—I choose to change the name from “Point 4” to “52/76”; but whatever you press <Save>!
Handily, you can see the map coordinates in the bottom left of the text box. It’s possible to copy them, but it’s not as simple as just highlighting the numbers for some reason I haven’t figured out. It may just be that I have a very poor internet connection.
Picture 20—Then select the directions layer (called “Directions from Atlanta-Harley to Neels Gap”) and select the <X> next to Point B (Neels Gap). That will delete it and you can replace it with the point we’ve just inserted. If you can’t remember how, see Picture 10.
Picture 21—Of course, the darned thing has now taken you the wrong way again and you either have to do the drag the route thing all over again or (and this is what I’m going to do) insert another waypoint near Dawsonville to try to get the map engine to hold to the route I want to take.
You can see I’ve stuck in a new waypoint (see pictures 18, 19). I’ve then deleted the route to “52/76”, selected “183”, then 52/76 and reset the route. One of the good things is that the waypoints don’t have to be in order you want to travel in the “Waypoints” layer That makes it easier to add them as you go along. You do, though, have to delete and re-enter the route if you add waypoints.
Picture 22—At this point, I know that I’ll need a couple of extra way points to get to Neel’s Gap the way I actually want to go there, so I’ll create them and enter the route. You can see the end result here—
If you want turn-by-turn directions and distances, click on the three dots after “Directions from Atlanta-Harley to …” and select <Step-by-step directions>. It’s 155 miles; and the riding time is 3 hours 27 minutes.
Now I’ve got to Neel’s Gap, I’m stopping for a cup of tea. Being lazy, I didn’t enter my route to the Ironhorse Motorcycle Lodge, let alone Bland, so I settle down with my tea to do it. But I’ve left my laptop somewhere and trying to do it on a phone is agony, so I’m afraid you’ll have to make do with these instructions.
Actually, there’s a couple more things:
Storage: Because you’re working on line and have to have a Google account, the Map is being constantly saved to the Cloud while you’re working. That’s a good thing; but, because it lives in the Cloud, you need an internet connection to view it.
Sharing: Usually I want to be able to share the map so members who want to can view it and drill into it a bit if they want. Here’s how to do that.
Picture 23—Click where it says <Share>.
Picture 24—Give the file a name, a description if you want and press <OK>.
Picture 25—On the next screen, select <Change> where I’ve circled it.
Picture 26—I choose to allow anyone with the link to access it. That allows anybody with the link to look at it, even people without Google accounts.
Picture 27—Select as follows and click <Save>.
Picture 28—Finally, make sure the <Link to share> is highlighted and that you copy it. That’s the link you’ll need to point others to your map.
This is the link https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=z...p=sharing.
Clicking on the link above should take you to my completed map.
Good luck.
* A note on layers—A layer is a collection of like things—points, driving instructions, etc. You can turn whatever it is they display on and off with the relevant check box. Be warned, though, there is a finite number of entries in each layer. So when you’re plotting driving routes, you may run out of points and have to start a new layer to keep going.
There is also a finite number of layers you can use in any one map. I think it might be 10, but don’t quote me.
END NOTE After I finished writing this, I went on with the map. I did a ride along the Dragon and back and then off to the Blue Ridge Parkway where, just past the turn off onto 151 north (Pisgah Hwy), I got stuck. For some reason, Google Maps will simply not let me go along the BRP past that. It knows more than me. So, like many a motorcyclist getting tired late in the day, I changed tack and went the quickest way through Asheville.
Hope all that helps.
