Building a collaborative map with your team using Google My Maps and My Maps mobile (Basic)

View and download the presentation

Build a map by adding locations, lines and polygons

1. Go to Google Drive and if you don't have an account sign up, if you do have an account sign in.

2. Create a folder in your Google Drive and give it a name (click the +New button on the upper left side).

3. Within your folder create a new My Maps and give it a name.

4. Search for the building for our hotel (le Westin Montreal) and put a marker on it.

5. In the marker description box, add the hotel website URL and an image of the hotel that you can search for online.

6. Search for your workplace and place a marker on it. Add something interesting about your work to the marker description box.

7. Add driving directions from your workplace to the hotel. How many kilometers is it by car?

8. Zoom in to the hotel and draw a polygon around the building to highlight it. Change the color and transparency of the shape.

9. Turn to the person next to you and share your maps. Call up your neighbor's map in your Google Drive and take a look at it.

10. Ask your neighbor to create a new layer in your My Maps and add points, lines and polygons to illustrate something about their home community. Do the same in their map.

Build a map from files

1. Go to the Data Downloads folder (above) and download the files to your computer desktop.

2. Go to your Google Drive folder and upload the files (click the +New button on the upper left side to get to the upload menu). Hint: it will be easier if you create a folder on your laptop for all the files, and then upload the entire folder to your Google Drive folder (it will create a subfolder).

3. In your Google Drive folder create a new My Maps and give it a name.

4. Import the KMZ files from your Google Drive folder to your My Maps in order to create different layers in your My Maps. Remember to create a new layer for each file import.

5. Change the style on the polygons and markers.

6. Open and edit the data tables. Delete any columns that you don't want and add columns of data that you think would be useful. Notice that when you import datasets your ability to edit markers is limited by the data table, unlike when you add markers, lines and shapes directly to the map. You can, however, still add photos without changing the data table.

Link to full size map

View and edit your map on your phone or tablet

Using Google Maps on both Android and OS devices:

1. Make sure you have Google Maps installed on your phone (if you have an iPhone you need to add Google Maps, not Apple Maps).

2. Make sure you turn on geolocate, and make sure you are online (either cell service or wifi).

3. Open Google Maps on your phone and find our hotel. Get driving directions to the airport.

4. Sign into your Google Account on your phone.

5. Open Google Maps and view the two My Maps you created.

Using Google My Maps on Android devices:

6. If you have an Android device make sure you have Google My Maps installed (this is a separate app).

7. On an Android device call up the maps you created in the My Maps app, edit your My Maps and then view it on your laptop (you'll need to refresh the screen to see new edits).