Google Apps Hacks

290 GOOGLE APPS HACKS

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Google’s My Maps allows you to add your own

placemarks on top of Google Maps

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Organize location (and time) on top of Google’s maps service.

You can add your own layer on top of Google Maps, including routes and markers, areas and info

windows. You can share this layer with others and even collaboratively edit the layer with other users.

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To create your own map layer, go to Google Maps (http://maps.google.com) and switch to the My

Maps tab on top. Click the “Create new map” link. You will now be asked to name your map, add an

optional description, and choose between a public and an unlisted map.

Unlisted maps are still publicly accessible, but only to people who know the full address—usually, this means

only people you shared the map with will see it, but if one of these people has shared the link without your

permission, it could be many more people.

For this example, I will create an overview of Barcamp conferences in Germany. (The concept of

a Barcamp, a dynamic “unconference” typically discussing technology and the Web, originated in

California and has spread to many other places since.) At this time, these conferences don’t have a

single umbrella organization in Germany, and their home pages are scattered all over the place—by

adding a map view, I can make this more user-friendly.

You will ...