Using Google Maps on Google Site.
Using Google apps is very interesting, as I always say; I’m in love with uncle Google. Recently I had developed an event notice website for my company where I displayed a Google map of event address, this works well but unknowingly, map will not show for a visitor who just wants to see event information on the site. (User not signed in problem), For users of own domain, you may want to pay attention. This is why I created this tutorial.
Adding map addresses to your spreadsheet
1. Create a spreadsheet in Google Docs and name it GoogleMapAddresses
2. In the first column of the spreadsheet “GoogleMapAddresses” , type in the address "You may test to see that Google can find this address using http://maps.google.com/ ".
3. In the second column of same row where you typed your address in step 2 above, type the tooltip for the marker on the map e.g. “Google Office” .Repeat for as many addresses you want to use on map. Please do not leave any rows in between empty!
4. Highlight both cells that have your address and tooltip (Hint: use shift key when selecting)
Click on INSERT-> Gadgets->Maps, click on Add to spreadsheet button (See how it looks on your site-debugging)
The range will be inserted automatically based on the cells you had selected in step 4 above.
Optional settings:
1. Enter title of your choice in “Title”
2. To use the last column for tooltips, check “Last column as tooltips” then click Apply.(Note, this is the option that allows address description of “Google office” to show when you click on the marker on the map.
3. To enable zoom using mouse check “Zoom using mouse wheel” then click Apply.
4. Use any map type of your choice from the drop down menu in “Map type” for this tutorial we will use ‘normal’
5. Click Apply and Close button, Verify that the map is OK,
6. On the map, Click the little menu in the upper right hand corner of the gadget,( see image below) and click Get Query Data Source URL.
7. In the radio button, click “Selected range” right-click and copy the URL to the clipboard.
8. In your Google Site, Click “edit” to edit the page you want to show the map.
9. Click Insert-> More-> “Enter Google data connector” in search field and hit Search.
10. Insert the Gadget into the page ,Fill in the fields, Enter URL you copied in step 7 above into the Data Source URL field, check “Last column as tooltips”.
10. Save your changes and verify your map, click on the red marker to see if the tooltip is OK
TROUBLESHOOTING SECTION
Google is very strict with document security and this is why I love Google Docs, I had tried using a Java client to get (stream) my docs from Google but sometimes server denies me due to security features so if you really want to use your docs well, then security is nothing to toy with!
This section is the reason why I created this tutorial, it took me hours to figure the problem and this is why I have created this tutorial for someone to read and use.
If you are using a Google domain e.g urname@gmail.com
1. Just before your spreadsheet editor, click on Share -> “see who has access” link
2. There are three options available, for a website that the whole world can see, choose “People can view this item without signing in” hit “Save & Close” button.
If you are using a custom domain e.g urname@urdomain.com
Repeat steps 1 – 2 under TROUBLESHOOTING SECTION
NOTE: If your check box is grayed out under “Share with others” in step 2 above, don’t panic, just ask your administrator of your Google app to modify settings to allow sharing of documents outside domain.
If you cannot get hold of your administrator, maybe he is on a holiday to Bahamas, then you may want to create a new Gmail account and put these spreadsheet document.(You have to repeat all steps as URL will change)
Sources:
1. Use the Map Gadget to add interactive maps to your spreadsheets
http://docs.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=91601
2. Using a Google Maps Gadget in Google Sites
http://wp.jarretthousenorth.com/2008/06/05/using-a-google-maps-gadget-in-google-sites/
Regards,
Babajide
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