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Using Google Maps Engine Lite for Cultural Mapping

Indigenous Mapping Workshop 2014

Aug 28, 2014

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Stz’uminus Storied Places prototype project

https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zXtSJ382uT8o.kcP3K7nsDUhk

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What is Google Maps Engine Lite?

A easy-to use mapping tool with data stored in Google cloud

Collaborate with others
Import small spreadsheets of locations
Style and visualize 3 different data sets
Annotate with photos, video and text
Embed on your website and share online

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Getting Started

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Create a new map

mapsengine.google.com/map

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Give your map a title and description

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Add your data

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Add a location by searching

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Add to the infowindow

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Add to the infowindow

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Add columns to your data table

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Add columns to your data table

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Add columns to your data table

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Add information to your new column

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Add a location by browsing

I showed you how to add a location by searching for it (i.e. “Arlington, VA”), but what if the location that is important to you doesn’t actually have a name that is searchable in Google Maps...for example, a special tree you used to sit by? You can add a location by browsing the map for it. For example, I’m not sure how to search for the school I used to work at in Ukraine, but I can find it.

First, I will search for “Haivoron, Ukraine” to get closer to my goal.
Then I’ll change the basemap to satellite imagery so it’s easier to find the building. Click on the down arrow next to “Base map” in the panel and select the satellite base map.
Now I can zoom in and out and pan the map to find the school I spent 2 years at.
Once I find the location, I can click the placemark tool to drop a placemark.
Then, complete the infowindow and click “Save”.

Note, that you can also add lines and polygons using these tools under the search bar.

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Add a location by browsing

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Add a location by browsing

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Style your map

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Change the icon style

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Change the icon style

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Hands-on Exercise

1. Go to this map.

2. Ask the person next to what the 3 most important places in his or her life are.

3. Add each location to the map and fill in the infowindow.

name = Who are you interviewing?

description = What is the significance of this location?

name of place = Give the place a name.

year last visted = What year you were last at this place.

4. Change the icon to one that represents the location.

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Style icons by column

Great job on the map! Now, I only showed you how to style each icon individually, but I do want to show you the other styling options. Let’s say, for example - we had added another column to our data table called “category” and had some standard categories for the type of place locations that are important to people, for example: birthplaces, workplaces, community places, places of worship, etc. How could we style our icons so that each category was represented by a different icon, without going through each location individually?

In this example map I’ve created, I have a category column in my data table in which I did identify a category for each location.
In the panel, click on “Style” and then select the option to “Style by data column”, and we’ll style by the column entitled “Category”.
That will group my locations by category in the panel. Then I can use the paint bucket icon to select one icon for each category.

Map: https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zOFk5XwwQYkY.k81GhRRXAJf4

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Label your placemarks

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Select a new base map

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add photos & video to your placemarks

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add online photos to your placemarks

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add online photos to your placemarks

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add YouTube video to your placemarks

note: YouTube videos should be set to ‘public’ for GME to display them well

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add YouTube video to your placemarks

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Collaborate online to build your map

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Using Google Forms and Sheets to collaborate on maps

we can crowd-source Google Maps Engine Lite by using tools in Drive like Forms and Sheets

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Forms can be quickly created

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… & share w/ others to populate a Sheet

click here to open IMW2014 demo Google Form

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responses in the form will

populate a Google Sheet

note the RESPONSES Sheet will be auto-saved in the same place in Drive as your Google Form

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… then import the Sheet into Maps Engine Lite

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… and on the import Google Maps Engine will geocode your data

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… and ask you which column to use to label your placemarks

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… giving you a crowd-sourced GME map that can be styled and shared

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Share your map

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Share a link to your map

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Set your privacy settings

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Collaborate on your map

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Embed your map in your website

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A few more things….

import KML
Draw polygons and lines

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view in Android with

Google Maps Engine for Android App

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Google Maps Engine Pro

Highlights of Maps Engine Pro

more layers
more points, lines, polygons
higher storage
custom icons
measurement tools

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Q & A