How about creating a custom Google Map of all the amazing cities you have visited until now or an annotated map that gives you simplifies reaching a destination by giving driving directions? Or would you like to create a Google Map that displays the testimonials of all your customers that exist in different parts of the world.
There may be scenarios when you wish to create your own Google Maps specific to your necessities. Here we list the best online tools that can be accessed to simplify creating custom maps in the browser without the need of any program knowledge.
How to Create Custom Google Maps
An easy way to create a custom map is via the Google Maps website itself. Open maps.google.com. Click on Create Map mentioned under My Places. Now search a place or drop a placemark manually and save it in your map. Repeat the same steps and add all the places of your interest in your custom map.
Click on Create Maps on the Google Maps Website to create your own map
The style of the individual pins can later be changed. You can also add rich-text descriptions, photos and videos to the locations. They will show when someone clicks on the locations pins.
The My Places option in Google Map can also be used to create a directions map. Choose the ‘Draw a Line’ tool and drag it along the route of your choice. Double-click to end the drawing.
How to Make More Accurate Route Maps
Those who own a Smartphone can use GPS recording apps such as My Tracks (Android) to create a custom map. They log your location at different times and then make a complete route from all the points. Drive to the starting point and press the record button on your Smartphone. On reaching the destination end the recording. The app will export the route as a Google Map.
QuikMaps is another way for driving directions maps. It transforms Google Maps into a whiteboard via which you can scribble the routes on the map simply like you draw freehand on a canvas. After you have sketched the route, export it as a KML file. It can then be imported into Google Maps or Google Earth to publish easily.
Quickmaps can be used to drive direction maps.
How to Make Google Maps from Excel Sheets
The only disadvantage with Google Maps tool is that you cannot enter places in bulk in them. There are options to import KML and geoRSS files but the issue is how to create such files at the first place.
BatchGeo is an online tool that can be used to import location data from a spreadsheet table and mark those addresses on a Google Map. Postal addresses or latitude and longitude coordinates can be copy-pasted and BatchGeo mark them on the map after decoding. The tool is useful but the map cannot be exported with the free account.
How To Add Animation to your Google Maps
Flight tracking maps show multiple airplane images moving on different paths on one Google Map. You can also create a similar map for you through Animaps.
Through Animaps you can create animated markers that will move on the pre-defined routes on the map. You can have many markers on the same map whose playback speed can also be controlled.
Animaps can be used to create animated markers on the pre-defined routes.
Customized Google Maps for Advanced Users
Customized Google Maps can be created by advanced users by simply altering a few parameters in the URL of the map. Static Maps API has the list of all the parameters that Google Maps support along with a few examples. The major advantage of the static image maps is that they can be modified very quickly and they are also easy to embed since they do not depend on IFRAMES or JavaScript.
People who do not prefer to create personalized Google Maps that look quite different from the standard maps and also have custom data must follow the code samples in JavaScript.