HistoricOmaha

I wish Google Maps and Google Earth had been around when I was in school. They certainly make geography more fun.

It has been possible to create customized Google or Yahoo maps, but the process has been rather technical. You had to geocode points and build an XML file. Now Google has a VERY easy way to make custom maps online: My Maps. It didn’t take very long to put together the map above. Each polygon or point can have an HTML annotation – text, links & images. You can see the interactive version of this map here.

Google launched My Maps, a new feature in Google Maps that lets you mark some places on the map and annotate them. Essentially, it’s an easy way to create a KML file from Google Maps (until now, the feature was available in Google Earth). To create a map:

• Select one or more places from the map.
• Draw lines and polygons to highlight paths and areas.
• Add descriptions by typing HTML code or using a rich text editor.
• More in this user guide.

Each map will have its own permalink (like this map of Googleplex) and can be exported as KML to see it in Google Earth. Google wants to create a big directory of maps, so if you decide to make your map public, anyone can find it in the search results.

[via Google Operating System]