Share a collection of photographs on a personalised Google map

First, visit Google Maps. At the top left of the page, just below the Google logo, is a link for My Maps — click it. If you’re not already signed in to Google (for access to Google Mail, say), click the Get started button and enter your Google username and password. If you don’t yet have a Google account, register for one by clicking the Create an account now link and following the prompts.

Type in a title and description for your personalised map. Also, decide whether the map will be Public or Unlisted. With the former option selected, anyone will be able to find and see your map, while the latter is only accessible from a web address you share. This option can be changed later, so a map can be kept private until it’s finished, if you prefer. Click the Save button to proceed.

Find the first location. You can do this manually by clicking and dragging the map and using the zoom slider to centre on the appropriate point, or search for a place using the Search Maps box at the top of the web page. With a location pinpointed, click the My Maps link again, then click the name of the map created in Step 2 to begin editing it.

If desired, use the box on the left to change the map name and description. Otherwise, notice the three buttons just below the Traffic button in the map frame. The left-most of these (a hand icon) is selected by default and allows the map view to be dragged around with the mouse. The middle button is used to drop a marker on the map, so click to select it and then click on the map to place the first marker.

A balloon will then appear with text fields for a title and description for the marker. To change the appearance of the marker that appears on the map, click the icon at the top right of the balloon and choose from the selection that appears. To add more than just a written description, click the Rich text option to see some text-formatting options. Online images can be inserted from here, too: click the photo icon (the last one on the right), then type or paste in the image’s URL.

Click the OK button on the marker bubble to finish editing it. Add more markers in the same way and drag and drop existing markers if they’re not in the correct place. Google litters its Maps application with its own markers for various points of interest: click one to open its details bubble and it can be added to your own map by clicking the Save to option. Use the dropdown menu to choose the relevant map, then click the Save button. A new marker will appear on the map: edit its icon and the other details by clicking it.

To plot a route on the map – to show your holiday travels, for example – use the Line button to the right of the marker (middle) button. Click it and the mouse pointer will change to a large cross: now click successive points on the map to plot a route. End the route with a double-click (or by clicking the last-plotted point again) and a details balloon will appear, just like the one used for markers. Make sure the whole area of the map you want to use is in full view when plotting a route, because the map cannot be moved around while you’re plotting the line.

Once a ‘B’ linE has been plotted, the individual points can be dragged around as needed. Switching to satellite view (just click Satellite) is also a good way to find places that may not be easy to spot in the normal Map view – particularly useful for footpaths that don’t appear on the map, but that are clearly visible on aerial photographs. To have the route ‘stick’ to roads (useful for plotting a car or cycle journey quickly, for example), click and hold the Line button to see the Draw a line along roads option.

Click the Done button on the left of the My Maps page to finish editing the map. Resume editing at any time by clicking the map name under My Maps. There are a couple of ways to share completed maps. With the map selected under My Maps, click Send at the top right of the page to email a link to the map (sent from your Google Mail address). Alternatively, click Link to get a web address for the map you can copy and paste for use anyway. (Don’t copy the URL from the browser’s Address or Location bar – it won’t work.)

With a map selected under My Maps, you will also see a Collaborate option on the far left of the page. Click this to invite other people to work on the map – members of a camping club could recommend campsites, for example. In the pop-up window, it’s possible to allow your collaborators to invite other people to edit the map, or even allow anyone to edit it. Take care with this latter option, though, because you run the risk of someone deleting all your hard work.