Saturday, April 8, 2017

A Google Map of the National Parks

So this has been done before, but not just the way that I wanted it to be. When I plan a road trip, I like to look for all the national parks that are near our destination or on the way there. I like not just the national parks, themselves, but also the historical sites, the memorials, the national battlefields, the national recreation areas, the scenic trails... you get the idea. If our national park service owns it, I want to know about it. And I just kept not finding the exact kind of map that I wanted, or if I found a good one, it was made by another individual, which means that they could take it down whenever THEY wanted and then I'd be back in the same boat of not having a good Google map of the national parks...

...So I made one:


Here's a pretty little pic of what it looks like when you zoom in:


It's not  a perfect Google map of the national parks, because I had to put in the office of some sites to get a street address, and that may not be exactly where the park is located, and I couldn't mark the entire length of a scenic trail, just a couple of waypoints, but this is enough that, when I'm planning my next road trip, I can simply reference this map instead of Googling eighteen different things like I had been doing.

That's not all, though, because THIS map is only step #1. You know what I really want? I really want a Google Map with only the national parks that offer a Junior Ranger program marked, so that when I'm planning a road trip, I can easily see which itinerary offers us the best access to the most Junior Ranger badges. So you know what I'm gonna do?

I'm going to make that map next!

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