Okay, so I’m a little old and not so savvy when it comes to computers etc. But I do persevere and usually manage to muddle through. Every now and then, however I come up against something I can’t seem to figure. So I have come to you with my latest difficulty hoping you can help me forward.
I’m a pretty good googler, but my foray into their maps search has me nothing but confused. I find maps, scale able, but not printable. Either too detailed, won’t fit on one page, or lacking all detail including the islands I’m looking for.
I can find old maps, from ages past, with ease but everything current comes up like google earth and is unprintable and thus somewhat useless to me.
I definitely get the sensation I’m missing something or not doing something quite right, perhaps using the wrong searching words for maps?
Not that it matters terribly but the map I’m particularly searching for, would be a single printable page, detailing the west coast (and islands) of Thailand from Ranong, in the north, to about Langkawi, Malaysia, in the south.
But mostly I’m looking for tips or tricks, or sites, or search suggestions, that more map savvy posters might feel to share, in general. So how about it? Have you had success googling up printable maps? How’d you do it?
Any and all advice welcome, thank you for your time and attention!
If I want to print, I click the printer icon (result)
If that’s not enough detail on the map, then you need to zoom in and resign yourself to printing out multiple pages. Also note, clicking the “Map” (or “Satellite”) button at the top-right of the map will toggle between the map or satellite image.
Sorry, links Not working! (though i do most sincerely appreciate the effort!) I get a blank page telling to scroll over directions, and nothing else. Plus I’m confused by something I can zoom in on, how will that work for printing a map?
It will print whatever you see on the screen. Zoom out to see the whole globe and print - you get a printout of the globe. Zoom in to see your neighborhood block and print - you get a printout of your neighborhood block.
The links all work fine for me. You should try again.
As for using the Google map data, if satellite imagery rather than drawn maps are suitable to your purpose, Google Earth might give you some finer control over what is displayed than Google Maps does, and you can print out to paper easily. Outputting the result to a static image might be a little more complex, though. One way would be to use the Print Screen key, which puts the image of your screen into the Windows clipboard, then paste that into a graphics program such as Windows Paint. In my experience, paper printouts of Google Maps (the drawn maps, as opposed to the satellite imagery) are often not very satisfactory, because the colors are so pale that important features (such as roads, in pale yellow) do not show up well in print.
Otherwise, apart from Google Maps/Earth, I think finding the exact map you want on the web is a hit or miss business. I do not think it is your search skills that are lacking. More likely the map you want is just not available on line, because (assuming such a map has ever been made) no-one happens to have scanned it into an image file and to have posted it to a web page. Often, they will have been deterred from doing so because the printed map is protected by copyright. (This, I believe, is the main reason why Wikipedia is such a poor source for maps.) Many things that exist in print are still not available on the web, and may never be. Other things are behind, often ludicrously expensive, paywalls, and only effectively available via university libraries.
Huh. Link still not working for me. Maybe because I’m on an ipad? I’ll try my desktop later today, see if that helps.
But thanks for the tips on the zoom in maps, every little bit of learning helps!
And perhaps my expectations were out of line with reality. I just figured with google earth and a whole division just for maps, I’d be golden. Perhaps not so much.
I also located some awesome hand drawn maps on a blog, but again, when I try to print I only get half, as it oversized. I tried scrolling to the second half but it still only printed the half I have. Any suggestions?
it sometimes helps if you don’t print from the web (browser) but save the image to your computer. then open the image in a image viewing program and print from there. you can crop and resize the image with more control.
Have you tried the terrain view? Its one of the options in the drop down menu. That to me looks more like the physical overview map you’re looking for.
I was recently told (by a pretty savvy guy) that the “new” Google Maps can’t be printed. Or maybe not directly from the browser or something.
At any rate, people should know there are a lot of alternatives to Google Maps.
[ul]
[li]I think Here.com has the best US roads data and a good-looking viewer. Not as fast as Google, though.[/li][li]I think Bing maps are the most attractive, and they largely use the Nokia data from Here.com[/li][li]ArcGIS online has several worldwide coverages, including one called “topo” and another made to look like National Geographic maps. Note the Basemap options upper left.[/li][li]Michelin has its own viaMichelin[/li][li]Many national mapping agencies have their own viewers. Here’s a listing.[/li][li]And there’s always OpenStreetMap, very good in many places and getting better every day, even in places with no official data.[/li][/ul]
Well, regular Google Maps still has a print button right there on every page. Even if it didn’t, you could still use your browser’s regular print menu option. Google Earth has a **print **option too.
I must be dense. If I search for Ranong and zoom in and out and then drag the map to be centered correctly I can get a printable map. What is the issue the OP is having?
Is it Zooming? you can use the + and - buttons on the map for zooming.
Is it dragging the map? You put the curson near the center of the map and press and hold the right mouse button and move the mouse. The map will drag along allowing you to center your area of interest then you and zoom in and out some more.
If you go to Google Maps you will be presented with a search box. Type Ranong in that and you will get a map close to the area of interest then you can drag and zoom to get the map you want.
The trouble is none of these applications want you to print out gas-station-folding-map sized paper output. They want you to use the app instead. The people that actually own copyright to PDF maps that print out at 2 feet by 3 feet, with tiny but readable print? They want you to pay for their product.
Best suggestion - take pictures. You know pushing to “home” and top “off” button together snapshots the screen? Set on magnification; scroll down the route taking pictures of the screen all the same scale. Use a PC to splice them together.
If that’s too much work, now you know why real maps cost money.
The basic problem here is known as “tiling.” If you want a paper map that covers a rather large area, but at a scale where you can see good detail, obviously the paper has to be bigger than a typical 8.5-by-11-inch sheet. The main limitation is the typical printer, but if you’re going to use screen shots (PrtScr –> paste in, say, Paint), then the area you can see on your computer screen when zoomed into your preferred scale is also a limitation.
So, you have to choose between:
Making your own big map by doing multiple screen shots (of Google Maps, say), each at the same scale but shifted (panned) over, with each shot pasted (“tiled”) in, say, Paint, carefully so they line up and mesh together (you’ll have to make the Paint canvas big enough to include all the eventual tiles). The whole thing is known as a “mosaic.” Then, you print it out, again as multiple sheets (“tiles” – you set this in Print Settings) which you have to tape together by hand.
Buy an appropriate pre-made paper fold-out map from a dealer. www.omnimap.com might be a good place to start – I know they sell beautiful fold-out maps covering Indonesia, at least.
