How to create your own map for satellite navigation. Services for creating interactive maps How to make a map using

Long gone are the days when it was enough to indicate the address and phone number on the contact page. Today, any company that values ​​its customers must place a location map next to the address. This is very convenient, including in terms of UX. Create a simple card You can get directions using the Yandex.Maps constructor or Google Map. But sometimes something more complicated is required - for example, a map may be needed for a presentation or for creating infographics. In this case, you can use special online tools to create custom maps. Some of these tools allow you to create interactive maps that present information in the most user-friendly way. FreelanceToday brings you 10 free map creation tools.

Animaps service expands functionality Google Maps, allowing you to create maps with animated markers. Markers move around the map, showing, for example, the route of movement. A very useful service for creating interactive infographics. With the help of Animaps, you can create a whole story about any event, accompanied by text blocks and illustrations.

The easy-to-use Scribble Maps service has many tools for creating almost any kind of map. You can make a regular route map, but at the same time, the service can be useful for designers who would like to create colorful infographics. Scribble Maps has the ability to add text, images, draw and paint over various geometric figures, place markers and much more. If you need a map-based infographic, there is no better tool. The finished map can be posted on a website, blog, or sent to a client, saving it in PDF format.

The creators of the MapTiler service made sure that the maps created by the user are displayed on any device. MapTiler is one of the most convenient applications for preparing tiles using the Google Maps API. Unfortunately, the free version of the program has very limited functionality, with which you can create only the most basic maps.

HeatmapTool is the best online service for creating very accurate heat maps. With the help of such a map, you can quickly visualize data using different colors. The service allows you to control the radius, scaling and opacity of heat spots. Information can be updated in real time. What was it created for? this service? First of all, for the visual display of any statistical data in a pre-selected region. You can make fairly complex maps, for example, using the service, you can show the coverage of the cellular network, the population density in the country, and much more. The service is very powerful, with its help you can quickly process even very large amounts of statistical data.

Since the acquisition of Nokia, Microsoft has significantly improved its mapping service Bing Maps. Nokia maps have always been highly detailed and have good coverage, so you don't have to worry about accuracy. The functionality of the service cannot boast of diversity, but tracks, markers and geometric shapes are enough to create a fairly informative map. It is also possible to add images and text comments. After the work is completed, the result must be saved, after which Bing Maps will generate a link and code for embedding the map on the site.

The friendly user interface of the Click2Map service will help you quickly and easily create interactive maps of any complexity. The powerful functionality of the service will allow you to create professional cards as soon as possible. With the help of a large set of icons, you can personalize the map if you want to talk about a particular field of activity. Thematic markers will allow users to easily navigate the map. Markers can also be used to locate a specific point. Marker supports different kinds content - text, images, HTML code. To get access to all the features of the service, you will have to subscribe to a paid subscription, however, if you register a free account, you can create maps with a limited number of markers, a maximum of 10.

Mapping service ZeeMaps makes it easy to create, publish and share interactive maps. The service works on the basis of Google Map and with its help you can create even a very complex map with a lot of data. Statistics can be imported from Excel, Access, MS Outlook and other programs. There are no restrictions on the number of markers, information can be changed at any time at the request of the user. You can add pictures, text, audio files, and YouTube videos to markers.

The UMapper application allows you to create embedded flash cards. The UMapper visual editor is intuitive and can be used to add markers, draw shapes, and add interactive elements to the map. The service takes map data from Microsoft Virtual Earth, Google, Yahoo, OpenStreet, which makes it truly universal. With the help of the application, you can even earn money - if the created card receives 50 thousand views in a month, the service will transfer $12.50 to the user's account. The disadvantages of UMapper include the watermark that appears on the map when using the free version and the display of embedded advertisements on the map.

GmapGis is a simple online application for drawing on google maps. You can place markers, measure the distance between two points on the map, draw lines and geometric shapes. All the functionality is presented at the top of the page, so there will be no problems using the service - everything is very clear. The result can be saved as a file or as a link. When using GmapGIS, a problem may occur - the user cannot draw a line or draw a shape. In this case, the developers recommend closing and reopening the browser. After that, you will have full access to all functionality.



• You want to make a different version of an existing map. With other descriptions, other accents, change some objects. Changing a copy is usually much easier than doing everything from scratch.


• You want to make a map of other events, but in a close time interval. For example, after the "Civil War in Russia" I want to do the "First world war". Most background objects (countries, cities, railways) will match. No need to apply them again, you can copy existing map, remove the excess, add a new one and save with a different name.
• You just want to experiment on the finished map. You can play with your separate copy as much as you like. In addition to copying the entire map, you can copy individual objects from map to map. For example, rivers and mountains have changed little in the history of mankind (although there are exceptions). I don't want to reapply them on every map. They can be imported from another map. Below I'll show you how.

Creating a new map



• The name of the card. Here, I think, everything is clear.


• Description and picture for the list of maps on the main page. Your card will not be displayed in the general list of cards on the main page until the "Published" checkbox is checked in the settings (which I will discuss below).


• Time step and time frame of the map (start date and end date). Time on the map is discrete. You can choose the minimum step - day, month or year, depending on how detailed you want to describe the events. The step is common for the whole map, in the current implementation it is impossible to make part of the map in detail, but not part. Unlike all other parameters, the pitch cannot be changed after the map has been created.


• card type - satellite image or modern map(modern countries and cities). A satellite image is more suitable for describing historical events, a map is more suitable for describing modern ones. The user can always switch to another type (switch in the upper right corner of the map).


• Unknown area. If in the period of history you have chosen, not all of it was known to mankind earth's surface, you can enable this setting. Then the Map will be covered with a black area, in the middle of which there will be a light window that can be adjusted. You can configure this window to change as the map events progress. (the maps of the Great Geographical Discoveries can be based on this). The user can disable this area (icon in the lower right corner of the map).


• Editors - If you want to fill out the map collectively, enter through "," the names of the users to whom you want to open editing (they must be registered). The map will appear in their "My Maps" window.



• "Published" - after that the map will appear in the list on the main page and will be available for viewing by users.


• "Editing is open" - any registered user can edit the map, not just editors. The history of map changes is saved and you can roll back to the previous version. Rights settings, deleting a card, deleting latest version available only to editors.

Copying a map



1. Go to desired card

 

2. Click on the "save a copy" icon on the bottom bar.


3. Log in or register (if not already registered).


4. Enter name new card and click "save".

Importing objects



1. Log in to your card


2. Switch to edit mode (the "edit" button in the lower right corner).


3. Click on the "import objects" icon on the bottom panel.


4. Select one of the ready-made maps and click the "Show" button. A list of features on that map will be displayed.


5. Select the necessary objects with checkboxes and click the "Add" button under the list.


6. Copies of objects will be added to your map. After that, do not forget to save your map to the server.

This is one of several drawing tutorials. geographical maps, which I create for , an amazing group that I help to develop.

If you used this tutorial, tell me, show me, I would really like to see what you did! And feel free to ask questions too!

For this tutorial you will need a font. Booter Zero Five(see link at the end of the lesson).

This map making tutorial involves (made up) maps that look more like fantasy or pirate maps. They have no elements. environment. If you want to create a map for your world / just for fun / or for something else, you will get it, in just one hour of work!

Before you begin... you'll need Photoshop, a map file, and a font (see link at the end of the tutorial). It would also be nice to have a scanned photo of some landscape that you would like to depict on your computer. I used Photoshop CS3 Extended to create my map. I also used brushes for some of the steps.

STEP 1

Take a close look at this screenshot. Don't forget to Save it As (Save as...) and create a background layer.

STEP 2

If you have a sketch, scan it or open a photo. Open it in separate file PS, increase its brightness if necessary (Image – Correction – Brighten / Contrast) (Image – Adjustments – Brighten / Contrast). Insert the image by dragging it with the mouse onto the map file. You can resize the image in two ways: either by clicking Edit – Transform – Resize (Edit – Transform – Scale), or, while holding the SHIFT key, pull the diagonal arrows that appear at the corners of the image.

STEP 3

Whether you imported an image or not, create a new layer on top of the Map layer, grab your brush and start painting your terrain. It is better to make it a little larger than the image itself.

STEP 4

After completing the sketch, take the Eraser (eraser) and walk along the outer edges of the sketch. They will be crooked and out of line, so you will need to go over these lines a few times to clean everything up. If you want to make islands, make them now.

STEP 5

Now you can take the tool Quick selection (quick selection tool) and select everything that is outside of your land. After that, we start to erase even more; no continent or country is perfectly straight, round or angular. Let's add debris, depressions and cracks all over our map! =P Also, add some non-ideal-shaped rivers and lakes. Your people will surely need water to survive!

STEP 6

Population! Open the group Cities (Cities), and make the Capitol...more precisely the Capital (capital turned into capitol by mistake) and the City (town) visible. The capital is circled in red. You will probably have more than one settlement / city / village / etc., and here's how to multiply them: click the second mouse button on the layer with the City (town) and select Duplicate layer / Make duplicate (duplicate layer) in the list that will appear. The new city will appear on top of your original city. Remember this for the next step!

STEP 7

Open the group Landscape (landscape). You have a choice of more realistic and freehand drawing-like objects. To keep the picture from looking ridiculous, use only one of these styles. You can place these objects wherever you want, and you can also duplicate (multiply) them. When planting trees on your plot, place mountains, rocks, and forests, consider the environment if you haven't already. Civilization and vegetation, for example, usually spawn where there are water sources. If you need to resize something, use the technique described in STEP 2.

STEP 8

Open the group Text (text). It contains the following layers: the name of the River/Forest/forest name), the name of the City (town name), and the name of the Continent (continent name). You can use a wider variety of fonts (eg Calibri for forest names, Juice for country names, etc.). The easiest way to make the font fit is to duplicate the original text and change its font. Next, we play with effects. In this case, the outer glow and drop shadow look very good here. Don't forget to give names to all worlds, continents, countries, regions, states, villages, settlements, cities, capitals, oceans, rivers, lakes, mountains and plains. You don't have to name every detail on the map, but it will hurt your eyes.

And it's done! WOW! Well, at least not unless you really want to make your map something one of a kind. If you still want...

ACCESS TO THE NEW LEVEL IS OPEN!!

Scroll down the page to see the most interesting, but absolutely optional effects that can be applied to the card.

SUPER DRUPER EFFECTS

The following is optional, but it contains some information that will help improve your card.

Card Paper

If you want more focus and texture on your map, you can change the background! First, create a new layer on top of the map layer. Take a brush, select White color, and for the cause. Personally, I like scatter brushes for this, but you can use any other brushes, for example, with coins, ships, animals, plants, etc.

Pay attention to the screenshot below, where you can see the changes after processing with a brush. If you are using a diffuse brush (or any other brush with unusual patterns), use it to paint over the entire surface of the map so that there are no empty spaces.

Add Brightness

Is your map not bright enough for you? Click Image – Correction (Image – Adjustments) and the following options will open before you: Tone / Saturation (Hue / Saturation), Brightness / Contrast (Brightness / Contrast) and Curves (Curves), which are the best corrective options for our map. Go ahead, experiment! Notice the difference between this screenshot and the one above. Thanks to the Brightness/Contrast correction.

Guide Arrows

No decent map is complete without a compass!

The layer with Compass (compass) is placed under the group of layers Landscape (landscape). Place it in an area where there is no land, adjusting the size if necessary. I also like to add all sorts of effects to the compass. Experiment! On the screenshot you can see my favorite settings (the words highlighted with a “marker” are the names of various effects).

Watermark - protection from paranoids (me, inclusive). Watermarks can protect your work from theft. If you have your own signature - or even if you want to use your name, e-mail, dA page address - you can add it. Create a new layer (regular or text). All you have to do is add a "watermark" to the new layer, resize it and reduce the opacity (Opacity) or leave it as you like. Speaking of watermarks and things to like... this whole tutorial is watermarked... don't even think about stealing it!

Also, if you want to create paths and signs on the map to give it a taste of ADVENTURE, just add a new layer on top of the terrain layer (land), take a brush, select a color close to the color of the map, and paint! You can also use humorous brushes, like the sea dragon on my map.

MAP READY!

Download font Booter Zero Five you can here: You cannot download files from our server
- Download with object layers

You can also watch this lesson in video format!

Undoubtedly Google Maps is the leading mapping service on the market providing GPS tracking and navigation services. But today the scope of maps is constantly expanding and has already gone beyond the traditional route planning and search for objects.

We often see maps showing environmental pollution, maps of urban transport or aircraft (remember the famous one). In business, maps can be used to display and analyze the location of customers or a retail chain. Travel companies can use the maps to inform their customers about the travel itinerary and tourist attractions (attractions, catering establishments, hotels and hostels.

It is clear that geolocation services will play an increasingly important role in the future and the need for such services will only grow.

With this in mind, there are already several online services on the network that allow create your own maps, i.e. place markers and marks on them, show routes and highlight areas, draw cartograms (they are also heatmaps, from the English heatmaps) and much more.

The created maps can be shared, embedded on your website page or exported to PDF for the preparation of printed materials - as already mentioned, the scope is very wide.

So let's move on to the most popular mapping services.

mapme

Cost: Free, $99 and $199

Animaps

Cost: free

click2map

Cost: $39 per month

Zee Maps

Cost: free (up to 5 cards) and paid, depending on the tariff plan.

Scribble Maps

Cost: free

GmapGIS

Cost: free

heatmap tool

Cost: free (with watermarks and restrictions on the number of objects and views) and paid depending on the tariff plan.

MapTiler

Mapbox

Cost: Both free and paid plans are available