Google Map Mashup (50 points)Idea due Friday, April 1, or Wednesday, April 6

Map due Friday, April 15, OR Wednesday, April 20

Purpose of the assignment

You’ll make a Google map mashup that can become part of your online portfolio. This gives you a chance to show that you know AP style (as you write in addresses and other geographically located information) and a chance to build one type of online graphic.

What you have to do

  • Create a Google mash-up map that geographically displays data that would be of use to other people at UA, in Tucson or where you live.
  • Bring a printout of your map to class on Friday, April 15, or Wednesday, April 20.
  • Email Professor Schwalbe the revised URL of your map by midnight Friday, April 15, or midnight Wednesday, April 20.

The map must use

  • At least eight geographical points
  • Appropriate information for those geographical points (names, addresses, phone numbers, URLs, etc.) and a brief description or review
  • Photos for at least two of the geographical locations (The more you take, the better your grade.) (You must take your own photos. Be creative. No signs or storefronts!)

Unacceptable submissions

  • Maps created by someone else
  • Maps that show only the outlets of one brand of business, such as Subway or Macy’s and could easily be copied from that business’s website

Possible ideas

  • Prices of recent home sales in your neighborhood (obtained from zillow.com)
  • Places on campus to see public art, unusual cactuses or a certain style of architecture
  • A bike ride around Tucson with places to stop en route
  • Best places to take a date for dinner near campus
  • Cheapest happy hours near campus
  • Cheapest gas in Tucson
  • Cheapest pizza by the slice in Tucson
  • Comparative shopping of places in Tucson to buy video games
  • Record stores (the kind that still sell vinyl) in Tucson
  • Taco stands or Sonoran hot dog stands in Tucson
  • All the football stadiums in the Pac-10 Conference and nearby eateries
  • All the spring training stadiums in Arizona
  • All the national parks and historic sites in Southern Arizona
  • Ghost towns in Arizona

Good example

  • Go to
  • Click on “Biking the Grand Canal.”

Turn in a written description of your Google map mashup and the places you plan to include on Friday, April 1, or Wednesday, April 6.

Getting started

  • Go to
  • Click on SIGN IN in the upper right corner. If you have a Google account, sign in. If you don’t, then create one (it’s free) and sign in.
  • Click on my maps in the upper left corner.
  • Click on Create New Map.
  • Give your map a title.
  • Write a one- or two-sentence description of your map. Please include your name and a short description of who you are (“This map was created by Anita Rains, a junior journalism at the University of Arizona") so that Professor Schwalbe and anyone else who sees the map knows who created it.
  • Choose whether you want your map to be viewable by the public by clicking on public or unlisted. For now, either is OK.
  • Click save.

Posting data points

  • Use the zoom-in, zoom-out feature on the left side of the map (+ and markings under the yellow man) to find the places you want to mark.
  • Click on the “hand tool” to re-center the map by clicking and dragging.
  • Click on the blue pointer tool and drag to put the pointer where you want it to be on the map. Locate the X at the bottom of the pointer on the spot you want the pointer to point to. That will automatically place the bottom of the blue pointer there.
  • When you locate a point, a balloon-like window will open. Fill in the appropriate blanks to give the data point a title and a description. (The description is where you put information about your data point, such as its address, price, URL, phone, etc.)
  • Click on rich text at the top of the balloon to find icons that will let you bold or italicize type, change the color of type or put in bullets.
  • Click on the blue pointer at the top of the balloon, and a menu of pointer icons will open, allowing you to change the color or shape of the pointer icon. You can use different colors or shapes of pointer icons to represent different types of locations on your map.

Adding a hyperlink

  • Click on rich text to open a series of icons across the top of the balloon.
  • Type in the balloon whatever text you want your readers to click on.
  • Click and drag across that text to highlight it.
  • Click on the hyperlink icon at the top of the balloon. (It looks like a sideways figure 8.)
  • A new window will open. Past the URL of the page you want to direct readers to into the window.
  • Click OK.
  • Click OK in the lower right corner of the balloon attached to your data point.

Adding a photo

To add a photo to a data point, you have to have a photo with its own URL (not merely the URL for the page the image is on). You can get that in at least one of three ways (there are probably others):

  • Use a photo that you have already posted online and has its own URL.
  • Take a photo and upload it to a photo-sharing service, such as www. r.com, that will give each photo its own URL. To find the URL of a photo on Flikr, click Flickr.com on the photo, click on the share this button at the top of the page. A balloon-like window will open. Click on grab the link to open the URL of the photo.
  • Take a photo, download the free Dropbox file-sharing program ( and upload the photo to the public section of Dropbox. Launch the Web version of Dropbox, log in, go to your public folder, find the photo. Click on the blue arrow to the right of the photo name and drag down to “copy public link."

Once you have a photo with a unique URL, add it to your map by following these instructions:

  • Click on rich text in the data point balloon on your Google map to open a series of icons.
  • Click on the icon of a photo. A new window will open.
  • Paste the URL of your photo into the window.

Don’t forget to ...

  • Save your work periodically.
  • Click on done when you’re finished with your map or need to stop working for a while.

Bring a printout of your map to class on Friday, April 15, or Wednesday, April 20.

  • In class, you’ll pair up with a classmate and edit each other’s map. This should save you a few errors.

SendCarol a link to your map by midnight Friday, April 15, or midnight Wednesday, April 20.

  • Email Carol the revised URL of your map.
  • Open your map from Google Maps my maps section.
  • Click on Link on the far right, above the map. A window containing a URL will open. Copy that URL.
  • Click Send on the far right side of the map. A window ill open. In the to field, type . In the subject field, type YOURLASTNAMEmap. In the message field, past the URL for your map. Click send.

Many thanks to Professor Susan Keith, Rutgers University, for providing this handout.

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