Let’s imagine that we need to send a client a sketch map so he can view it online or in his GPS Navigator. For example, if we have a parcel for sale with the path to get there and its road’s indications. Another example could be an area of the MODIS satellite view from that day that we hope to load in our mapping program.
The simplest would be to draw it on Google Earth and send the saved kml, but if we want to use background data like MODIS images, OSM or a Google Maps field view, surely it is not so simple.
For this, GPS Visualizer has a very practical free service that leaves us to work online sketches of type area, route and point. Then the file can be saved as kml or gpx.
To draw an area we just have mark items, it can be modified with drag and to close it you must click on the first point. In the route case, click on the last point; at the end appears the option to enter the stroke’s name.
As background, it can be chosen Google Maps in hybrid versions satellite imagery or terrain. It can also be placed:
- Open Street Map
- Daily MODIS
- Blue Marble
- Landsat 30m
For countries with more information, please see also:
- USGS topo, aerial+G
- OpenCycleMap topo.
- NRCan Canadian service.
Also, next to the choice of the background image you can select a transparency percentage that in case of being 100% it should only show a drawn map. This is the best of GPS Visualizer, that, when layers are being finished, it can be saved as kml file for viewing on Google Earth or GPX to load on a GPS navigation equipment.
In some cases, blocked pop-up can interfere when saving files. Depending on the browser you must allow pop-ups to be displayed, in the example I’m using Google Chrome.