My Maps a great new resource

Google has done it again! The Google Maps home page now offers "My Maps". This tool lets you add several map points, lines, shapes, balloon text, pictures, and more.

Prior to this new feature, I had tested MultiPlottr, which is a similar tool and does use Google Maps. Google's My Maps appears slicker and offers the familiar ease of use and easy to learn GUI we've come to expect from Google. With Google My Maps you have to guess at location by dragging a plot marker. Try both and see if you agree.

Side note: There is a limit of 50 plotted addesses per map at present.

Ideas for possible uses

• Plot the street addresses of your church members. A visual look at clustering and dispersion may give you added insight for outreach or visitation planning.
• Plot members' addresses, but use different colors for:
• Members who have moved out of the area but still attend.
• New members within the last year.
• Founding members (if the church is new).
• Members who have not moved out of the area.
• Your church's street address (the key reference point on the map).
• Location of selected community resources (City Hall, Courthouse, City or County agencies that help people, Clothes closets, etc.). This might become the basis for a "Where to get help" portal page for your community.
• Home address of visitors in the past year.
• Plot the location of an event away from the church. The Church Art Online Plus Calendar does this, but that is a paid subscription. You could email this map link to all church members and any visitors that gave you their email address.
• Plot any type of demographic information about your members that is related to their address. Just remember the 50-address per map current limit.

Special note about long links. Remember that if you email map links, you should check the length and potential for problems at the receiving end. If the link is a long one or contains special characters, the recipient's email messages may "break" the link, especially when it wraps lines.

A way to avoid that problem is to use the free "TinyURL" online service to create a special short link when the target is a long one. TinyURL creates a special very short link that points to the long one you provide. An example long link reduced by TinyURL: http://tinyurl.com/ywzpx8 .

TinyURL also offers a "preview" feature that lets people see the actual destination link before they decide to select it. Here's an example of the same link as a "preview" one: http://tinyurl.com/preview.php?num=ywzpx8