Making a custom Google Map is a simple process. Google has a very good starter video and a 5 step quick start guide for the basics of making a custom map. But once we started making our Nelson NZ Beer Map we realized the video didn’t really show the best way to map a collection of places. We discovered a number of little tricks along the way to achieve the exact map details we wanted.

Here are some tips and hints for displaying a collection of places on a map- such as restaurants in your town or baseball fields in Nebraska. (We have not yet tried to map points along a route, but in the video that looks like a simple step once you have your places to connect.)


As you can see on our Beer Map, this type of custom Google Map has three main elements: the map area, the left panel list and the placemarkers with pop-up descriptions.

1. The Map Area

You don’t have to do anything to set the map area- once you’ve selected all of your places, Google Maps will automatically scale your map to show all of your points.

• You can, however, change the displayed area before you embed your map into your web page. We zoomed in on our beer map somewhat in this article to focus on the town of Nelson, but you could also zoom out if you want to provide a greater context (i.e. show the whole state).

2. The Left Panel

The left panel shows the name of your map, a description and a list of your place markers. The list is automatically created as you add points to the map. It shows an icon, your place name, and the first line of the description you put in the info box (see below).

•  Change the order of list items by dragging and dropping. For our Beer Map, we created them in a random order, but then re-sorted the list into the order many tourists are likely to approach the town.  We also separated the breweries from the pubs.

3. The Place Markers

The real work and art of creating your map is putting the places on the map. Each place includes a place marker and a pop-up info description. The Google instructions have you start by dragging the placemarkers onto the map. We found this to be a slow and inaccurate way to locate existing places. Unless you are zoomed all the way into street level, your marker will land far from the actual address. Also, a manually added placemarker info box is completely blank, so you have to add all the details into the description box.  Here’s an easier option:

1. Search for the exact address: “123 Main St, MyCity, CA” using Search Maps at the top of the window. 
   
   • You’ll get a list in the left panel including the place at that address and maybe some other related links.  
2. Select the verified Google place, which already has separate fields for address, phone, website, etc, and might have a photo.
   
   • This will display its info box on the map. 
3. Click the “Save to My Maps” link at the bottom of the info box (you might have to scroll down within the box to see the link.) 
4. Choose your map from the dropdown list (again, you might have to scroll down.)
   
   • This will automatically take you to the placemarker and info box on your custom map. 

Now, you have added the place and don’t have to type everything, but you can change anything you want.

Editing the Place Info

Things you can change in the info box:

• Title – The name that will show on your left panel list.
• Description – the first 5-10 words will also show on your left panel list.
• Icon – Click on the icon to change it from the standard pin to an interesting shape.
  
  • You can also get fancy and “Add an Icon” if you have a 32 x 32 pixel or smaller image saved somewhere on the web that you want to use (see the Penguin Map we link to in our South Island Penguins article for a very cute example.) Then choose My Icons to see your custom choices.
• Place Details – Click Edit to change the name, address, phone, website or photo. One pub we added brought up the name and phone of the previous business at that address, so we fixed it.
  
  • Be aware, though, that the original info will be displayed if someone clicks the hyperlinked place name in your info box. (To see this hyperlink, click Done on the left panel, then click the place to view the info box again.)

More Tricks

Here are a few more good techniques we used:

• If you don’t know the exact addresses of all the places for your map,  you can use the “Search Nearby” trick mentioned in the video:
  
  1. Click the Done button in the left panel to save your map. 
  2. Click one of your places.
  3. Click the Search Nearby link at the bottom. 
  4. Type a business name or category.
     We typed in “brewery” and got a list of breweries without having to type each exact address. 
  5. Follow the place marker steps above to add the place to your map.
     Frustratingly, if you add one of the list items to your map, you lose your search list and have to search again, so remember to right-click a name in the list and choose “open in new tab/window” before adding it. Then you can go back to the list for the next one.
• Sadly, not all of the local breweries came up using Search Nearby. When you know a place exists, but there is no verified Google place for it, you can still cheat if a neighboring place still comes up:
  
  1. Add that place to your map.
  2. Use the editing steps above  to change all the details.
     This gives a more complete looking listing than just starting from scratch. Again, be aware that the place hyperlink will still display the original info.
     Sometimes when there is no verified place, unverified places or personal places show up which have been created by people like us. You can still add them to your map, but you might have to re-enter most of the details yourself. 
• If there is no verified Google place, you might want to scroll to the bottom of the left panel and use the “Add a place to the map” link. This doesn’t do anything right away, but it submits the place for review by Google to be added. Later you might be able to go back and update your map with the “verified place” that you had added! (Businesses can also add themselves to Google Maps.)
• Google doesn’t let you create a Legend or Key explaining all the fancy icons you have chosen, but you can add one (words only) into the description of your map on the left panel.
• Finally, if you do want to use the Map Tools such as the drag and drop pins or lines, some browsers have trouble with the Java Script, so you might see only some of the tools. (Where did that pin tool go???) Try reloading the page in your browser until you can see the tool you need!

Resources

• You have to sign up for free Google account to create maps. Be aware that the name you choose will show on your map and any public profile information can be accessed from there as well.