The pitfalls of a shared document like this Google Map is that others are so free to add, that they may edit and change completely what you've done.
Take for example, my custom icon as seen at the top of this entry on the left. I did have the image of the Kandahari sentry* as my map pin to single out locations (instead of the usual push-pin).
Although using a simple custom image is allowed in Google Map (and here the sketch was scaled down to fit), even by my own admission, the image with its block white background did block some of the other pins on the world map, which may well have been an annoyance.
Somebody, quite wisely changed the sentry into an icon, already available, which is a bubble drawing of someone on horseback looking the same way as the Afghan sentry. Quite fortunate because the images match and certainly looking on from this blog, a viewer can make the connection as a kind of map key.
However, the trouble with a shared document like this, is that the over-zealous editor can begin to change what you intended, even if accidently. For example, my map pin to Bradford was (accidently?) migrated to Eastern Siberia and my link to Abu Dhabi, ended up near Chennai in India. I had to go back in to the map and edit these back to the correct place, and whilst maintenance is par for the course in a shared document like this (see my previous the blog references to Wikipedia posted Feb 2008), I'm not all that amused at the idea of having to re-edit something so soon, especially if some-one else has been drag and drop happy.
*the Kandahari sentry illustraton comes from some early 19th Century memoirs: Memoirs of India, Recollection of Soldiering and Sport by Sir Robert Baden-Powell, K.C.B.
The pitfalls of a shared document like this Google Map is that others are so free to add, that they may edit and change completely what you've done.
ReplyDeleteTake for example, my custom icon as seen at the top of this entry on the left. I did have the image of the Kandahari sentry* as my map pin to single out locations (instead of the usual push-pin).
Although using a simple custom image is allowed in Google Map (and here the sketch was scaled down to fit), even by my own admission, the image with its block white background did block some of the other pins on the world map, which may well have been an annoyance.
Somebody, quite wisely changed the sentry into an icon, already available, which is a bubble drawing of someone on horseback looking the same way as the Afghan sentry. Quite fortunate because the images match and certainly looking on from this blog, a viewer can make the connection as a kind of map key.
However, the trouble with a shared document like this, is that the over-zealous editor can begin to change what you intended, even if accidently. For example, my map pin to Bradford was (accidently?) migrated to Eastern Siberia and my link to Abu Dhabi, ended up near Chennai in India. I had to go back in to the map and edit these back to the correct place, and whilst maintenance is par for the course in a shared document like this (see my previous the blog references to Wikipedia posted Feb 2008), I'm not all that amused at the idea of having to re-edit something so soon, especially if some-one else has been drag and drop happy.
*the Kandahari sentry illustraton comes from some early 19th Century memoirs: Memoirs of India, Recollection of Soldiering and Sport by Sir Robert Baden-Powell, K.C.B.
http://pinetreeweb.com/bp-memories9.htm