Learning to Create a Placemark in Google...

Learning to Create a Placemark in

Make sure you are logged in to your Google gmail account. Click the Sign-In link in the upper right corner if you aren't logged in.

Now click on the My Maps tab.

To start your new map, click on the "Create new map" link just under the tabs.

Give your map a title. If you can't think of anything else, just call your map "First Attempt" and type in a one sentence description. Click the Save button when you are done.

Hint: Google Maps will save your work automatically about every minute, but to be sure you don't lose anything, it is always a good idea to click the Save button yourself as you work.

Now lets add a placemark to your map. The easiest thing to start with is a good Seattle

landmark like the Space Needle. Enter in Space Needle in the search box (to the right of the Google logo). A green arrow will show you where the Space Needle is on the map. Zoom in on the arrow until you see the location clearly. Now switch to Satellite mode to make it more scenic. When finished, you should see something similar to the picture on the right.

Click the My Maps link again to return to your map. To add a placemark, click ONCE on the

button on the top of the map as shown on the right. NOTE: Do NOT double click. The first click selects the placemark tool and then next click drops it, so youll be leaving lots of placemarks where you dont want them. ONE click only in this step!)

Google Geography: Page 1 Creating Placemarks in Your Map Maps Meet Multimedia Phil Biggs ([email protected])

http://maps.google.com/

As you move your mouse away from the buttons, youll notice that you are dragging a placemark. The X underneath the icon indicates where the placemark will fall when you release the mouse.

When you release the mouse to position the placemark, a balloon window pops up like the one below. Follow the directions in the order given to :

Your paragraph probably wont supply all the information a person might want to know about the Space Needle, so lets add a link they can click for more information. Click on your placemark, then click edit to change to editing mode. Follow the steps below to complete this task.

Type in some text that instructs the reader to click for more information. Highlight the text so we can create a hyperlink from it.

Now click the link icon to add a Hyper link.

Enter a title for your placemark here. Youll see this title as a label for the placemark all the time.

Click on the Rich Text link to activate the best tools for editing your text as your enter it. Youll notice a whole row of familiar editing icons when you do this (highlighted in red).

Enter your text to describe the Space Needle. You may copy this text or write your own. We want at least one paragraph of text.

Click OK to finish and view your placemark. Just click on the blue marker to view your creation.


Now click OK in the Placemark editor box. The link will show up similar to that on the right. To test out you placemark, click the DONE button next to the name of your map on the bar on the left. Then click on the placemark to view it. Try clicking the link to the Space Needle web site to test out the hyperlink.

We all know a picture is worth a thousand words, so lets insert a picture in our

placemark callout as well. We need to return to edit mode, so click on the Edit button next to the name of your map in the left bar. Now find the Space Needle placemark in the bar on the left and click on it to view the information bubble. You are now ready to continue editing the placemark.

Adding pictures is as easy as dragging the picture from a web page to your Placemark. First youll need to open a page with a good picture of the Space Needle. The best source Ive found is Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.com ). Open up a NEW INSTANCE of your browser (not just another tab). Now go to Wikipedia and search for Space Needle. Youll find great pictures, just the right size, at the bottom of the page. Once youve done that, the video below will show you the EASY, EASY way to add a picture!

When you click the link icon a window will pop up on your screen. Type in the URL of the link in the line provided. Use this URL for our example. Click OK to finish.


http://en.wikipedia.com/

Another way to add a picture is to identify the unique address that identifies the location of the picture. Keeping both browser windows open, locate a picture in Wikipedia of the Space Needle. NOTE: When you look for a picture, try to find one that isnt too big so it will fit on the screen well. When youve found the picture you want, right click it and select Properties from the popup menu (see right).


You find the unique address of the picture in the middle of the Properties window that opens up. Highlight all of the URL and then copy it using the Ctrl-C shortcut OR right-click the highlighted text and select Copy from the drop down menu.

Now return to your Google map and paste that URL into the window that opened when

you click on the Insert Image icon. (Use the Ctrl-V shortcut OR right-click, paste.)

It is important that you use the cut and paste technique whenever you enter these URLs (both for images and for hyperlinks). It is just too easy to make a typing error trying to type them in manually leading to a great deal of frustration. Always copy and paste.

When you click ok on the dialog box the image will appear. If not, you didnt get the URL entered correctly. My completed Space Needle placemark now looks like the image below.


We all know that practice makes perfect, so select another Seattle landmark and repeat this entire process. If you arent sure of any, use the Ballard Locks.


Learning to Create a Placemark in Google...

Documents

Transcript of Learning to Create a Placemark in Google...