I took a bit of a break from things this week to spend a little time cataloging some waterfall data derived from location visits, Panoramio, and coordinates found in the book by Tim Ernst book, “Arkansas Waterfalls, 2nd Edition.” The result of this effort is an awesome little online map that can be saved offline for reference in the field. It will be a huge help in future exploration efforts.
The Google product, MyMaps made the process rather simple, enabling sharing with anyone, and the offline access. Accessing the map, one can zoom in so the points are not all bunched on top of each other, and click individual points to get more information on the waterfall associated with the point.
The process is rather simple. The data will need to be in one of four file formats (CSV, XLSX, KML, GPX). After compiling all of the information, it only requires a quick upload. One or more of the columns needs to contain GPS coordinates or a City/State combination; all of that can be in separate columns, if that is one’s preference.
Accessing Google MyMaps, select to “Create a New Map.” In the display that follows, simply choose to import from the dialog box on the left.
Once the data loads, the process will request which columns define the location of the place marks for the map, and which column to use for titling the markers.
After assigning those, the map displays all of the points, and options come available to improve appearance. That which will make the most impact is “Style,” which refers to how the points display. For this particular map, the GPS Rating column was chosen, so one could quickly identify which falls were going to be the most difficult to locate on the ground.
Other options related to Style are also available, including ranges, categorization, or each point with its own individual style. If a different marker is desired, just hover over one of the categories or ranges, and a little paint bucket appears. Click on it and choose a different color, shape, icon, or upload your own marker.
Several other options within this overall dialog help refine the appearance too. Click the title to personalize it with a specific name and description. The three vertical dots next to the Map Title (in this case, Arkansas Waterfalls by GPS) provide the ability to copy the map, set the default view (extent), print the map, embed it on a web site, or export it to KML. You can also create multiple layers of data, as well as share it with others for viewing only or collaboration.
The three vertical dots next to the Layer Title (in this case, GPS Rating) enables renaming or deletion of the layer, or one can open the data table associated with the layer and work on the data from that angle as one would with basic spreadsheet functions.
Overall, this was a fun little test project that should make it much easier to get to this information while I am out on the road, especially since the recent integration with Google Maps. To accomplish that you will need to save the map, then simply launch Google Maps and navigate to your save maps. The map then overlays Google Maps with all of the functionality.
Access a live version of this map and try it out for yourself!
