My husband and I have been traveling the country by RV since 2003. There’s no way I can remember where all we went this year, let alone answer questions like when were we last in Wyoming. So, I’ve made a map of our travels for each year. I love being able to see my maps and so easily answer those questions. I’ve made our maps public on our blog page so you can see what I mean.

Here is our map for 2017. Our home base is in South Florida. The yellow markers show our route out west, the blue is how we traveled back east, then you can see our flights to Europe and lots of stops over there, the green is our summer travels and the orange are how we ended the year. If you click thru to the interactive version you will see photos when you click a marker.

Geeks’ 2017 Travel map, click to reach the interactive version

Google My Maps

I made this map using Google My Maps – it’s a free tool for anyone with a Google account. There are several ways to get there, but my favorite is starting at the regular Google Maps.

1. Using a computer and a browser, preferably the Chrome browser, go to Maps.Google.com
2. Make sure you are signed in to your Google account. Look in the upper right corner: you’ll either see your image, or a link to Sign in.
3. Click the 3-line menu in the upper left and scroll down until you see Your Places, click that, and then the Maps tab:
   
4. You should now see a “Create Map” link at the bottom, click that and you should see an Untitled map. Click where it says Untitled and give your map a name
5. Now you can start adding markers
   1. Search for the first place you visited by typing in the search box and clicking the magnifying glass
   2. You should see the official marker for that place appear on your map, you could click that marker and then the + Add to map, but I think it is better to make your own marker
   3. Click the marker tool and drop off your marker at your stop – basically right on top of the official marker
      
   4. As soon as you click your marker at the correct place on the map (you can even zoom in to get to an exact spot) you will be presented with an info box you can fill in with your details
      
      Click Save to finish adding your marker
6. Add as many markers as you like, notice they are all being added to a “Layer” as seen in the left sidebar. If you want to make another group of markers with different colors, click “Add Layer”

That’s it! Your map is being automatically saved in your Google account. You can get back there any time by going to Maps.Google.com, menu, Your Places, Maps. You can also click the Share button in the left sidebar and copy the link to put anywhere – Facebook, email, Blog etc. – so that you and others can see the map by clicking the link.

There’s lots more you can do with your map. If you click on my map above, it will take you to the live, interactive map and then click on any marker to see photos I’ve added and more descriptions.

Mrs Geek’s Guides

Instead of making you wander thru the hundreds of videos in our library, we have compiled some content into cohesive learning modules we’re calling “Mrs Geek’s Guides” One of the first Guides is for How to make a map of your travels. It is for members only.