A few notes on how to use MapShare

Welcome to MapShare. I will be posting maps here that you can copy and customize to help with your travel plans. I hope you find these maps helpful and I hope they inspire you to explore new places.

How to use these maps offline:

The maps I am posting here can be copied and saved to your own Google account and then you can work on them there. I highly recommend using a desktop or laptop computer for this and not a smart phone. Once you have your map set up just the way you want it, the last thing you will want to do before heading off on your voyage is to download an offline version your map to your phone or other portable device.

Here’s how to do this:

  1. Download to your phone an offline mapping app. If you have an Android phone get the app called Locus and if you have an iPhone the app you want is called Galileo.
  2. Then once you have this app, zoom in to the area where you will be traveling and download the street map for that area. You may need to download several maps depending on how much terrain you will be covering. Make sure you have all the maps you need before going away.
  3. Then access the online version of the map in your phone’s web browser (not in the Google Maps app). In the upper right corner of the map legend (which is on the left) there are three vertical dots that open up to a menu. Open this menu and one of the selections is “export to KML/KMZ file”. Do that and then your phone will ask you if you want to open the file in Galileo/Locus. Yes, you do. It should load all the points on your custom map into your offline map. This is great because then the map will work even if you don’t have wifi, will use less battery power, will load faster and you won’t need to use your cellular data/international roaming data.
  4. Now you’re ready to travel with a custom map that has just the points of interest that actually interest you and will work anywhere (assuming your smart phone is GPS enabled, which most are).

A note about sources:

I’ve compiled information on these maps from various sources, including, especially, my own experiences. Other sources of information include the New York Times, Michelin Guides, The Rough Guide, DK Eyewitness guides, Rick Steves, Let’s Go and various publications issued by regional tourism bureaus.

The phrase “Found on Map”, which you’ll see on various map entries, indicates a point that caught my interest while I was  zooming in and looking around on the map and I have no further information about it at this time.

I have made every effort to give credit where credit is due. In many cases I use abbreviations to indicate where I first learned of a point of interest. If you have a question about where certain information comes from please leave a comment and I’ll get back to you.