annotation

Google Maps makes it easy to create your own maps and annotate them by using a variety of media.

When you first launch Google My Maps, you are prompted to create a new map or open an existing one. Sign in with your (NYU) Google account to create and save your new map.

You can create new maps from inside My Maps by clicking on the map menu button (the three dots). You can annotate your map using a variety of tools and content. You may drop placemarks wherever you want and select or import an appropriate icon. Each marker activates the ability to add text descriptions as well as images or videos. You can also annotate using drawing tools and directions made available by Google.

We have organized some of the most useful tools below followed by a quick tutorial on how to use them.

Adding Layers

You can group different parts of your map by adding layers so that you can toggle the visibility of certain annotations on and off according to your needs. Layers are useful for categorizing different annotations, such as distinguishing points of interest in a map (e.g., landmarks, restaurants, parks, etc). Items within the same layer can be styled together. (See “Style and Label Map Content” below.)

Adding Places

Tip: you can add several places within the same map layer and display them according to a rule (adding labels, selecting their appearance, etc; see “Style and Label Map Content” below).

By Address

Using the search bar, you can type in the address or name of the location you would like to add to the map. Once you select the appropriate place, click “Add to Map.” You will be given options to customize the location icon (color and shape) as well as add a title, description, images and/or videos from an online source to your pin.

Manually

Click the placemark icon on the toolbar. Your cursor changes into a “+” that will show where the you will drop the placemark. Move the cursor to the right location, then click once to drop your placemark. You will be given options to customize the location icon (color and shape) as well as add a title, description, images and/or videos from an online source to your pin.

Adding Lines and Shapes

Add lines and shapes to your map to trace a pathway or roadmap, or emphasize and highlight an area. Select the layer you want to edit, and click the Line or Shape icon on your toolbar.

Measure Distances and Areas

The ruler tool allows you to measure distances (in straight lines) or areas (of a polygon). Simply select the tool and begin drawing your lines by adding points to the map. Double click to get the final distance calculation. The selection will disappear after your next click.

Style and Label Map Content

You can style all of your items individually by clicking on the color or icon selection tool below the item’s description. As an alternative, you can also style content together by way of using layers.  

Style content together

1. Select how you want to style your layer content under the “Group places by” dropdown:
2. Click Style below the layer title.
   
3. Select the layer you want to edit.
   • Uniform style – This choice makes all the content looks the same but allows you to change the color and icon shape of the places at once.
   • Sequence of colors and letters – This choice automatically assigns a color gradient and letter to each placemark icon, keeping the same order as Individual styles. You can change the icon shape.
   • Individual styles – This choice gives you the option to color all of your content one by one, and give them all different styling.
   • Style by data column – This choice gives you the option to use a data column to group your data for styling. Click one of the column titles to select it, then click the radio button next to the type of style:
     1. Range – This option breaks up your numeric data set into up to 8 buckets. You have the option to have this displayed in a gradient or assign each respective bucket a unique color.
     2. Categories – This option groups your data into matching attributes and sorts them in descending order by amount of map content present.
4. Select from different colors, icon shapes, and line widths. You can also choose from a large set of fun icons by clicking the More icons button, or add your own custom icons.

Once you’ve selected how to style the overall layer, you can modify the style, or change individual elements.

Label your markers, lines, and shapes

You can choose to display labels for any feature directly on the map for easy browsing:

1. Select the layer to which you want to add the labels.
2. Click Style below the layer title.
3. Click the “Set labels” drop-down menu, then select the column header (e.g., title or description) you want to have label the features on this layer.

Importing Data

You can add lots of geographical information into a map at once, by importing a sheet from Google Drive or a CSV, TSV, KML, KMZ, GPX, or XLSX file. Follow the steps below.

1. Click the layer where you want to add data and select Import.
2. Drag a file from your computer, select a Google Drive file or open a previous My Maps map.
3. Click Choose a file to upload.
4. Pick one or more columns that identify the location of your data and click Continue.
5. Pick a single column to label the data on the map.
6. Click Finish.

Places will be automatically added to the map and available in a list in the legend on the left. If you encounter any errors, check out Google’s documentation on troubleshooting data imports.

Sharing Your Map

You can share your map like you would any other Google document or file, selecting your preferred permission and visibility options. In order to embed the map on a website, you must make it public first. Copy the iframe code and paste it on your website page or post.

See below a map that we created to illustrate these features: