Quick And Easy Custom Maps

An Economic Development | Marketing Tutorial by John B. Marek

QUICK AND EASY CUSTOM MAPS

Quick and Easy Custom Maps

 Economic developers often need to produce
custom maps for marketing materials, client
packages, presentations and other purposes.
 Drawing maps by hand is a tedious process
which requires a moderate-to-high level of
graphic design skill.
 On the other hand, using screen captures of
Google Maps does not portray the
professional image ED organizations require.


 Following is a quick method for creating
custom maps with minimal graphic design
experience or skill.
 This method requires a basic understanding
of Microsoft Publisher. I am using 2007, but
the same general principles apply to any
version.

Step One – Google Map
Open Google Maps in
your browser, enter a
description of the
general area you want
to map in the search
box at the top and click
the blue “Search Maps”
button.
In this example, I have
searched for
“Statesville, NC.”

Use the tools on the left
to adjust the screen to
the area you want to
map. You can pan left,
right, up or down and
zoom in or out. The
map on the screen does
not have to be exactly
as you want it in the
finished map, but
should be fairly close.

Press the Prt Scr key on
your keyboard. This
captures an image of
the screen to your
clipboard. You can now
close Google Maps.
Note: Some keyboards
require the Alt key to be
pressed simultaneously
with the PrtScr key to
copy a screenshot.

Step Two – Publisher Import
Open Microsoft
Publisher on your
computer. Click the
icon for “Blank Page
Sizes.” This will allow
you to select from a
number of different
page sizes and
configurations. Note
that once the map is
created, the size can be
easily scaled down.
For demo purposes we
will choose 11 X 8.5”.

Simultaneously press
the Ctrl and V keys on
your keyboard. This will
past the saved
screenshot of your
Google map into
Publisher. Click
anywhere on the
screenshot to bring up
the Picture tool bar, and
click on the Crop
button.

When the crop button is
activated you will see
black bars at the middle
of each edge of the
screenshot. Drag those
bars inward to crop out
any unwanted portions
of the screenshot,
leaving just a map in
roughly the proportions
you want for the
finished drawing. Then
click again on the Crop
button on the Picture
tool bar to turn off
cropping.

Drag the corners of the
remaining image to fill
the desired area for the
finished map. The
image may be a little
fuzzy and there may
still be some icons,
scales or characters you
do not want on the
finished map. This does
not matter.

Step Three – Trace Image
Now that you have a
guide to work from, the
next step is to trace all
of the elements that
you want to capture
from the image onto
our map document.
To do this select the
Autoshapes tool from
the toolbar on the left
of the screen, then
select Lines and
Freeform.

Position the cursor at
the edge of the image
where a road you want
to trace starts, and
click. Then move the
cursor to the next
“turn” in the road and
click again. Repeat this
until you have come to
the other edge of the
image and hit Esc.
When you have
finished, you should
have a line which
closely approximates
the path of the road.

Note: If the line doesn’t
look exactly the way
you want it, you can
right-click on the line
and click on Edit Points.
This will allow you to
add or delete a point
(the place where you
clicked when you were
creating the line) or you
can drag the individual
points to a new
location.

Now you are going to
make the line look more
like the road on a map.
Click on line you just
created, then click on
the Line/Border Style
tool at the top of the
page and select 4 ½.
This will increase the
width of the line. I
typically use 4 ½ for
Interstates, 3 for major
roads and 2 ¼ for other
roads, but that is up to
you.

Next, select the color
for the line by clicking
on the Line Color tool at
the top of the screen.
You can choose any
color, depending on
your palette, but for
demo purposes I am
going to choose a dark
yellow.

Your line should now
look very much like the
underlying image.

You will want to identify
major highways with
their official symbols.
These can be easily
copied from the
Internet. Simply do a
Google search on the
name of the road, in
this case I-77. Most
major highways have a
Wikipedia entry with an
image of the symbol.
Right click on that
symbol and select Copy
Image.

Return to your
Publisher document
and simultaneously
press Ctrl and V. This
will paste a copy of the
image into your
document. Drag one
corner of the image you
just pasted until it is the
size you require –
usually the same size as
shown on the
underlying image – and
then drag it into
position.

To more closely
approximate the look of
the original map, you
may want to copy and
paste this symbol one
or more times.

Repeat this process
until all of the desired
roads are traced. For
most economic
development purposes,
it is not necessary to
trace all of the minor
roads, just the major
highways and critical
surface streets, such as
those leading to
business parks or other
points of interest.

You may also want to
add other
distinguishing shapes,
such as the city limits,
the perimeter of a
business park or a lake
or river. These can be
added using the same
Autoshapes>Lines>Free
form tool we used to
trace the roads. Simply
click to bring the ends
of the line together to
create a shape. For
demo purposes, I have
traced the city limits.

You can then apply a
color to this area by
clicking on the Fill Color
tool at the top of the
screen and selecting a
color from the menu.
get rid of the line
around the shape by
clicking on the Line
Color tool and selecting
No Line.

As you can see, there is
a problem with this. The
shape we just created
covers up the lines we
previously traced. We
can move our shape
behind those lines by
clicking on Arrange
from the top menu and
then selecting order
and Send Backward.
You may need to do this
more than once to get
the shape where you
need it. You can also
right-click on the shape
to select Order.

Step Four – Customize
Now, you will probably
want to add some text
to your map; things like
city names, airports,
business parks, etc.
To do this, click on the
Text Box tool on the left
of the screen and click
on the document in the
general area you want
the text to appear.
Begin typing. Your text
will appear on the
screen. You can adjust
size and font as needed.

insert some icons, an
airplane to represent an
airport, for instance.
To do this select Insert
from the menu at the
top of the page and
then select Picture and
Clip Art. Near the
bottom left side of the
screen select Clip Art on
Office Online. This will
open a browser window
which will allow you to
select from thousands
of images.

Search for a relevant
key word such as
“airplane” or “factory,”
and then copy and
paste the desired image
into your document.
Remember that you can
drag the corners of the
image to adjust the
size.

Now, click anywhere on
the original image and
click Delete. You should
have a finished map
that you will be proud
to include in brochures,
client packages and
presentations.
There are a few more
things you can do to
make it look even more
professional, however.

You can add a
background by
selecting the Rectangle
Tool from the tool bar
on the left of the
screen, and then
dragging that corners of
that rectangle to match
the outside perimeter
of your map. Then,
select a color with the
Fill Color tool.
You can also ad a
decorative border
and/or a banner using
the Autoshapes tool.

Step Five – Save as an Image
The demo map we
created today was fairly
simple, but using these
same techniques, you
can create attractive,
highly customized
maps which rival those
hand drawn by graphic
designers.
The final step is to save
the map as an image. To
do this, click File and
Save As, then choose
PNG from the Save As
Type menu.


 I hope you have found this Economic
Development | Marketing tutorial useful.
 Please feel free to contact me if you have any
comments or questions.

John B. Marek
Economic Development | Marketing
Ph. 704-237-0719
johnbmarek@gmail.com
www.johnbmarek.com

Quick And Easy Custom Maps

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