Mobile Data Collection: Maps

Renaming the Map

By clicking on “Untitled Map” on the left panel on the side of the screen, the map can be renamed. In this example, the name “Example Map” is selected. If needed, a more detailed description of the project can be added. Click “Save”. (See Figure 4)

Import of GPX File

In order to import the previously exported GPX file, click “Import”.

This will prompt a screen where the saved GPX file (created with Strava) from the directory of the computer will be selected. After a few moments, the GPS data should be visible in the correct location of the neighborhood, where the perimeter data was previously recorded. (See Figure 6)

Formatting and cleaning

To simplify and clean up the import, the start and end pin of the recording can be deleted as well as the name edited for easier readability.

For example, to delete the green pin, first select the pin on the panel on the left hand side. This will prompt a pop up field over the GPS location.

To remove the green pin, simply click on the “garbage can” icon. (See Figure 7)

This concludes the import of one neighborhood onto the custom map in Google My Maps.

Additional Neighborhoods

In order to include additional neighborhoods to the map, first, download GPX files from Strava, save, and add a new layer.

Click “Add layer” on the panel on the left. This action will create another untitled layer with the “import” function. Repeat the previously outlined steps of importing and cleaning the data points.

Now this step can be repeated until all the study neighborhoods are added to the map.

Note: Similar steps are taken to import GPS locations from samples.

Import sample GPS location

Importing sample GPS locations/ data points follows the same procedures as the Strava GPX files. Add a new layer to the map, then locate the csv or excel file with the sample collection data and upload it.

Note: If during the import of the excel file a message appears that the file is too big, it can be because of two reasons: 1) there are too many columns in the file, and 2) there are more than 2000 entries (rows).

Solution: for 1) copy the file containing the sample data and delete some columns not related to the data visualization. For 2) the data limit for one layer on Google Maps is 2000. This means, if there are more than 2000 samples, the file needs to be split and two layers/ uploads must be made to display all data points.

Occasionally, when importing data points, Google does not automatically recognize longitude and latitude columns of the excel file. To fix it, search for the latitude and longitude columns and select which one is appropriate to each, then select “continue”. (See Figure 9)

This gives Google the correct coordinates to the sample locations. Next, select which column will be the title of the location markers. For ease of information display, sample ID is selected.

When all the data points are imported, the map will look similar to Figure 10.