A typical example of Google's map address interpolation shows the Seattle (Ballard) Sons of Norway Leif Erikson Lodge here. Note that the locator arrow is in the middle of 57th Street. Using the techniques described below, this is the actual location of the front door to the Lodge building (at the point of the red arrow when using the "Satellite" view mode with maximum magnification).
     Also notice that the (2245 NW 57th Street, Seattle WA 98107) "address generated" (here) location above is 2 buildings and about 200 feet East of the actual front door entrance. Left clicking on the map but not on the red arrow turns OFF the "information bubble." Left clicking on the red arrow turns ON the "information bubble." And there is more information in the front door "information bubble" than just the address.
     To create your own Precise Google Map Locator, first open a new internet browser "TAB" or "WINDOW" to open the Google Map webpage: http://maps.google.com/maps     (and "Basics - Google Maps User Guide")
     Once the Google Map webpage is open, left click on either the "Map" or "Satellite" buttons on the top edge of the map. In most urban areas, "satellite" viewing works all the way up to maximum magnification. Then proceed to repeatedly double (left) click on the map on your area of interest. Each double click will re-center and magnify the map. This should result in progressively zooming in on your house (club, school, park, etc.) until the map is at maximum magnification and the object you have chosen (front door, driveway, etc.) does not move when you position the cursor on it and double click. Since Google regularly updates their imagery, do not center on a movable object such as a car. Fine tuning the arrow point's position is done by carefully positioning the tip of the middle finger of the Google map's cursor "hand" exactly where you want the tip of the red arrow locator to be. Then right click the mouse carefully, having not moved the cursor. Upon releasing the mouse's right click button, an option box is opened. Left click on the "Center map here" option.
     Now that the map is properly zoomed and centered on your object of interest, left click on the "Send" hyperlink button just above the map. This brings up a text message box with content that reads something like this:

Hi, I'd like to share a Google Maps link with you.
Link: <http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&ll=47.670087,-122.386789&spn=0.000838,0.001671&t=h&z=19>

     In that message box, highlight (left click-hold-drag-release) and then copy the latitude and longitude portion, in this case:

   47.670087,-122.386789

     Once this information has been copied, "Cancel" the Email/Message box and paste the copied latitude and longitude information into the "Search the map" text box and then click the "Search Maps" button to the right of the "Search the map" text box.
     The Google map now showing should display a red arrow with its point at the location you selected. You can reposition the arrow by a few inches if you change the least significant digit(s) in the latitude or longitude (contained in the "Search Maps" text box) (up/down and left/right) and clicking the "Search Maps" button.
     Once you have the exact arrow location you want, modify the "Search the map" text box contents to contain your own latitude and longitude (plus whatever message you want in the final map contained in parentheses):

47.670087,-122.386789(Place whatever text YOU want here and see what happens. You cannot include extra parenthesis marks but can include {other brackets].)

     If you place the above text into the "Search Maps" text box and left click the "Search Maps" button, the map's text box will contain the text between the parentheses above. This customized text box content has replaced the decimal latitude and longitude information that otherwise is displayed.
     Now, to get the desired URL, complete with custom text, left click the "Send" button again, and this information will show up as text in the "Message" box.

Hi, I'd like to share a Google Maps link with you.
Link: <http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=47.670087,-122.386789(Place+whatever+text+YOU+want+here+and+see+what+happens.+You+can+not+include+extra+parenthesis+marks+but+can+include+%7Bother+brackets%5D.)&ie=UTF8&ll=47.671586,-122.386794&spn=0.006704,0.013368&t=h&z=16&iwloc=addr>

     Highlight the URL information <which is between these marks>, copy it, and you are left with:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=47.670087,-122.386789(Place+whatever+text+YOU+want+here+and+see+what+happens.+You+can+not+include+extra+parenthesis+marks+but+can+include+%7Bother+brackets%5D.)&ie=UTF8&ll=47.671586,-122.386794&spn=0.006704,0.013368&t=h&z=16&iwloc=addr

     The above URL / hyperlink is what you can email or use as a WEB page or email hyperlink. But since the URL can be quite long and a bit ugly, as seen above, using the URL in hyperlink mode, i.e., click here, is more user friendly. Another way to shorten a URL is this "Free Short URL redirection service. Make a long URL short with this service."
     At this point, the Google Map layout you have designed will have the red arrow point close to the middle of the viewed map, and by default Google Maps will open the URL with a map magnification 3 steps less than maximum. Most likely you want to have the map centered differently (to better view nearby streets, parking lots, nearby communities, better bubble positioning, etc.), and open your map at a specific zoom level.
     So open this map again and zoom in two times (now one less than maximum), change your browser's font size to "smallest," and left click and drag the map so it looks something like this. The red arrow is pointing at the front door of the Ballard Sons of Norway Lodge building, and in this example an attempt is being made to show surrounding streets and the parking lot at the next door bank (east) which allows Lodge member parking on weekends. Once you have the zoom factor and map position you like, left click on the "Link to this page" hyperlink on the top edge of the map. Then the text box below the phrase "Paste link in email or IM " will contain a highlighted URL that you can right click and copy. In this example, that URL is:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=47.670087,-122.386789(Place+whatever+text+YOU+want+here+and+see+what+happens.+You+can+not+include+extra+parenthesis+marks+but+can+include+%7Bother+brackets%5D.)&ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=47.670246,-122.38629&spn=0.001774,0.004056&z=18&iwloc=addr

     Using the above URL as a hyperlink for this example, you can see how the view you get of a Google map is dependent upon the viewer's browser font size setting. Nevertheless, even with a large or small browser font size, it can still be helpful to control the map's position on the page and the starting magnification. In the long URL above, there are 2 defined latitude/longitude locations. The first location is the "point of the red arrow," and the second location relates to how the map is centered.
     If you have GPS users, the latitude and longitude numbers are displayed in degrees/minutes/seconds on the Google page and in the text box, and in decimal degrees, contained in the URL and the "Search Maps" text box. And there may be some uncertainty regarding the sign (+/-) of the coordinates depending upon what GPS box is used?
     Unfortunately, Google Maps' "Print" feature strips out the information in parentheses, but all or most of it is viewable in the header row of the printed page. At the present time, the map "print" function only produces a "map" mode, not "satellite" mode, printout. So if you want a picture of the "satellite" image, you can copy the satellite picture using your "print screen" keyboard key. The size and quality of the map image captured can be improved by selecting the browser's text size displayed as "smallest" and also using the "F11" (alternate action) key to further maximize the map's image size. Then, with the map image at it's largest size, the keyboard's "Print Screen" key will copy the screen image, which can be pasted into the image processor of your choice.
     As usual, Wikipedia has interesting information about Google Maps and some map comparisons.

That's all folks!

sons2130 @ gmail.com
Gordon Mills
http://sons2130.googlepages.com