In this tutorial, I’m going to show you how to create a custom Google Map with multiple locations.
This map can be shared or embedded on any website.
I’ll show you two no-code tools for doing this: a simple, free tool and a more powerful tool.
Let’s do this!
Tool #1: A simple map maker
If you want a simple, free tool for making a map, try Simple Map Maker.
It’s a simple tool for mapping several addresses at once.
Just paste your location data into the text box and click Create Map:
The only downside? There’s only a few customization options and maps can’t be wider than 640px.
Tool #2: A map maker with more customization options
Step 1: Sign up and create a map
So to start, sign up at Atlist and click Create Map:
Step 2. Add markers
There are two ways to add markers:
- Add a single marker by searching for an address
- Add multiple marker locations by uploading a CSV spreadsheet
Single marker
To add markers one-by-one, just search for an address in the search box:
Geocoding happens automatically but you can always adjust location data by editing the marker and switching to latitude and latitude. (This is also helpful if you need to pin point a location.)
Multiple markers
To add multiple markers, you can upload a CSV spreadsheet. Just click Import CSV:
Then upload your CSV and you’ll have now mapped multiple locations on the map!!
Step 3. Add photos, buttons and more
Clicking any location will open a Modal.
Modals can contain all sorts of content— photos, videos, buttons, HTML, text and more.
Let’s start by adding adding a Note and Photos to one of our locations:
Then let’s go to Customize -> Modals and add a Button that links Google Maps for directions:
Step 4. Change our map style
Next up, it’s time to customize our map style!
To set a custom map style, we’ll need to go Customize -> Map. There we can choose from a variety of themes:
If you don’t find enough options, there are more ways to find or create your own map theme:
- Snazzy Maps — Thousands of free themes that you can import to Atlist. Here’s a short video demonstration.
- Stylist — A simple, free tool for creating custom map themes.
We can also control the amount of point of interest icons and names visible on the map. Just go to Customize -> Maps and turn down down Labels:
Step 5. Change our marker style
Next let’s go to Style -> Markers. Then we can choose a marker icon and set the marker color, size and border:
Very nice!
Note: You can also style individual markers or organize markers into groups and give the groups a custom marker style. Read more here.
Step 6. Advanced options
There are plenty of more advanced options we can do in Atlist:
- Groups — Categorize markers into groups. Visitors can show or hide the group as they’d like.
- Tags — Filter marker by tags.
- Search — Add a search bar so visitors can find the closest location to them. Very useful for creating a store locator or finding the most efficient route.
- Import Spreadsheet Data — Upload a spread with location data.
- Current Location — Add a current location button in the top-right corner to show a users current location on the map. Read more
- Street View — Add a Google Street View button.
- Disable Zoom — Disable zooming for users.
- Full Screen Button — Allow users to open the map in full screen.
Tool #3 Google My Maps
You can’t use plain ol’ Google Maps to create a custom map with multiple locations — which is why Google created Google My Maps.
Google My Maps is a free map app from Google.
It has some limitations— for example it’s difficult to customize the style and functionality of the map.
But I’ve found it useful for road trips and route planning. It has some great features:
- Multi-stop routes — Setup routes along multiple locations.
- Shapes — Draw polygons on the map.
- KML and other data — You can import KML and Excel data into the mapping software.
- Import into the Google Maps app — You can load your Google My Maps map into the Google Maps app on iOS or Android. Just hit the menu icon and look for the Your Places option.
This tutorial is a great way to learn Google My Maps.
Conclusion
A few final, helpful tips:
- You can try Atlist at atlist.com.
- You don’t need to re-embed your map every time you change it. Maps will automatically update.
- You don’t need to an API key from the Google Maps API to use Atlist. Atlist takes care of that.
- Atlist totally works on mobile devices— so everything you can do on desktop, you can do on iOS or Android too.