Thing #32 -- Google Maps and Mashups

On the 23 Things on a Stick Ning I commented that this was one of the Things I was most looking forward to. I think there's a lot of potential for creating useful mashups using Google Maps. I said that I hadn't been very successful coding my own map from scratch using the Google Maps API. I could create markers in the right places, but couldn't get the popup windows showing information about each marker to work properly.

This Thing introduced me to Map Builder, which I was able to use to begin building a functional map mashup, complete with marker popups. One of the special collections in my library has information on a number of buildings around the country, and I am creating a map indicating where and what those buildings are, and what kinds of materials the library has for each. One thing I especially like about Map Builder is it can import data from a spreadsheet to create the map. Since most of the relevant information for each building is already in spreadsheet form, I only need to make some minor changes to the spreadsheet to upload the data and create my map.

The My Maps function of Google Maps is very intuitive to use and makes creating custom maps quick and easy. I always have a problem answering the question "Where are you from" because my family moved around so much. So here's a map I made with My Maps showing all the places I lived while I was growing up. I haven't been much more stably located as an adult, but I've left those locations off the map.


View Where I'm From in a larger map