Navigating the Google Maps Interface


The first time you visit Google Maps (http://maps.google.com), you see the familiar Google search box at the top of the page and a map of the entire continental United States with Search the map, Find businesses, and Get directions links (see Figure 12.1). You can change the map that loads on startup to a view of your home city or anywhere else you like.

image from book
Figure 12.1: Use Google Maps to find your way, find businesses and community resources.

Figure 12.2 shows you how to navigate the map interface. Three buttons at the top right within the map allow you to change the view from Map to Satellite or Hybrid with a mouse click. Buttons to maneuver around beyond the viewable region of the map appear in the upper left. Click any of these controls with your mouse to move in the indicated direction.

image from book
Figure 12.2: Google displays a high-resolution satellite photo of the area you select to map.

A pane in the lower right-hand corner of the map shows a rectangle representing the area the map includes in a field approximately nine times larger than that. Click and drag this rectangle in any direction within the larger field to see adjacent areas. Additional links on this page allow you to save locations, add or edit your business, or access Maps Help with a mouse click. Finally, a distance scale appears in the lower-left corner of the map; it adjusts itself automatically depending on the degree to which the map is zoomed in or out with distance displayed in U.S. Customary and Metric units.

Finding locations with the Search box

From the Google Maps home page, type an address into the Search box to find and display a map for that location. Any of the following formats work:

  • City, State. For example, Portsmouth, NH.

  • City Country. For example, Moscow Russia.

  • Number Street City State. For example, 874 Elm Street Alexandria Virginia.

  • Zip Code/Postal Code. For example, 96720.

Latitude and longitude coordinates in either decimal or DMS (Degrees/Minutes/Seconds) format also work. Commas are not necessary. More general searches such as pizza, or office supplies, or schools place lettered balloons on the map at the location of those search items and generate a list of links with names, phone numbers, and addresses for the corresponding locations. Use the Search box to do a keyword search for the location of businesses even if the keyword does not appear in the name of that business. Similarly, type a telephone number and Google Maps places a numbered balloon at the corresponding location on your map.

Using different views

The Google Maps page defaults to the Map view. Click Satellite in the upper right-hand corner of the map to change the view of the map to a scalable satellite or aerial image of the corresponding location (see Figure 12.2). Click Hybrid and Google Maps superimposes an image of streets and landmarks and their names over the satellite image (Figure 12.3).

image from book
Figure 12.3: In Hybrid view, street names are superimposed over the top of the satellite photo of the area you map.

Note 

Portions of the image in Hybrid view may appear obscured. In some situations Google has blurred regions of the image for security reasons.

Panning with arrow buttons

For mouse users, Google has incorporated an intuitive suite of control buttons. The map includes five clickable buttons arranged in a cross in the upper-left corner. Click the buttons with the single directional arrows to pan to areas adjacent to the map. Click the center button of these directional arrows and return to the previous view of the map. You can do this with the keyboard as well. Press and hold the arrow keys on the keyboard to pan incrementally in the corresponding direction. Use the following keyboard keys to move in greater increments:

  • Page Up. North

  • Page Down. South

  • End. East

  • Home. West

Page Up shifts the view in the viewport up (north) so that the northernmost portion, or the preceding view, is now the southernmost. To see a map of the region just south of your current view, press Page Down. The Home and End keys allow you to pan left and right in the same fashion.

Controlling magnification

Beneath the panning buttons sits a slider control with + and buttons above and below it. Click + to zoom in for a closer view with greater detail. Click to zoom out and see more of the surrounding area. The +/ keys on the keyboard produce the same result.

To zoom in or out in larger increments, click and drag the rectangular handle of the ladder-like slider control in the desired direction, + or . Notice that each degree of zoom either doubles or halves the coverage of the previous view. The distance scale automatically updates with each step you move, either in or out.

Tip 

If your mouse has a scroll wheel, it also serves as a zoom tool. Scroll up to zoom in; scroll down to zoom out.

Tip 

Double-click anywhere on the map to zoom in. Double-right-click to zoom out.

Dragging maps to new locations

Click anywhere on the map and drag it in any direction for an even faster way to see adjacent areas. The standard arrow-shaped mouse pointer changes to a small hand that appears above the map. Clicking the left mouse button changes the mouse pointer to a grasped hand, letting you know that it has “grabbed” the map. While holding down the mouse button, you can move the map in the direction you move your mouse

Note 

Depending on the speed of your Internet connection, it may take a moment to update the map as you expose new map areas, particularly in the more graphic-intensive satellite view.

See your map coverage area

The inset pane in the lower right-hand corner of the map has a blue rectangle showing the area the map covers, as well as the adjacent area surrounding this region (see Figure 12.3). This adjacent area is roughly equivalent to the area of the map you are viewing zoomed out approximately 250 percent. Click the rectangle in this box and drag it in any direction for yet another way to view the areas bordering the map. Click the arrow button in the lower-right corner of this box to toggle this feature off and on. Zooming into and out of the map, changing coverage area, is simple. See Table 12.1 for a list of shortcuts you can use to zoom in and out of the map.

Table 12.1: Zoom Shortcuts
Open table as spreadsheet

To zoom in

Click and drag the slider up.

Click the + sign at the top of the slider control.

Use the key on your keyboard.

Double-click within the map.

Scroll wheel up.

To zoom out

Click and drag the slider down.

Click the sign at the top of the slider control.

Use the key on your keyboard.

Double-right-click within the map.

Scroll wheel down.



Google Power Tools Bible
Google Power Tools Bible
ISBN: 0470097124
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 353

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