Maps can be an awesome tool for connecting people with their surroundings. This is particularly important for networking and movement building, as people are often unaware of the awesome projects that may be going on just a few blocks away. This document is meant as a tutorial – to help the average activist make an awesome map for his or her organization.

First, you need to decide what info you want to include on your map. For this tutorial, I’m including address (necessary), name, website, picture, and homepage. You can group members somehow, but I’m unsure exactly the best way to do this.

Assuming you’ve collected this data for all points on the map, you next need to geocode your document. Geocoding essentially means turning addresses into useful latitude and longitude points. There are a couple ways to do this, and I probably haven’t found the best way. If you have Google Earth Plus ($20/year), Google Earth can do this for you with a Comma Separated Values (CSV) spreadsheet. I’ve been using a free internet geocoder here: http://www.batchgeocode.com/

Ok so click on that link and follow the instructions. You will have to arrange your spreadsheet in a similar manner to theirs, which shouldn’t be difficult. Here is my data.

Next, copy and paste the spreadsheet into the box on the website. Click “Validate Source” and change any settings you want to show what you want in the description. Then, click “Run Geocoder.” You now have coordinates!

Go to the bottom of the page and ignore the Yahoo map. It shouldn’t be hard to do, Yahoo maps suck. Click on Download map to “Google Earth (KML) File.” Save your file somewhere where you will remember it. You may now open your map in Google Earth, if you wish. I've discovered that editing groups of points and aggrigating them is MUCH easier within Google Earth than Google Maps. Check it out!

So that’s really cool, but you’re still the only one who can see it. We need to create a Google Map. Google maps can be beautiful, but the system is kind of obtuse and difficult to use. With a large data set, you may encounter some difficulties in the following section...I recommend checking out Google Earth, it simplifies things a lot.

Ok, so first, make sure you are signed into your Google Account and then go to Google Maps (http://www.google.com/maps).
Click on “My Maps” and then “Create New Map.” Enter a cool name for your map and then click on “Import.” Browse and find the KML (or KMZ if you saved in Google Earth) file you created earlier. Click upload from file and you should have points! At this time, you can further edit description and add HTML to any of the points.

You can now share your map with anyone by clicking “Link this map” in the upper right hand corner. You can also embed it into any webpage to create an interactive map. I tried to embed one in this page, but couldn't figure out why the html wasn't working. Brook?

under any case, the link is here

Here's another map I made of TEAM MN schools and coal plants. I'm thinking of adding contact info for each of the schools to help better connect us! More on how to do this later...

This is really just the first step to creating a useful map. You get to decide what info to include and what info would be helpful. The possibilities are really endless. We made one earlier that connected SSC members with nearby coal plants. Essentially, though, once you have the data you want, you can add it to any Google map that’s in existence. You can also invite collaborators to help develop your map, making it more open-source. Have any ideas? Need any help? Can you make this process easier? Has this skillshare been helpful and clear? Hook it up!

Kai