To view data logged by the GPS shield you can use the Google My Maps service to load and display the CSV data saved to the SD card.

Start by copying the CSV file off of the GPS shield's SD card and moving it to your computer.  Then in a web browser access Google My Maps at:

https://www.google.com/mymaps

Note that if you receive an error that you can't access Google My Maps then you probably have a Google apps account and need to ask the administrator of it to enable Google My Maps.

Once Google My Maps loads you'll want to click Create a new map:

Now click the blue Import link under the new Untitled layer in the upper left:

In the dialog that loads click the Select a file from your computer button and navigate to the CSV file you copied from the SD card to select it:

Once Google My Maps loads the file it will ask you to choose the columns that contain location information.  Make sure only the latitude and longitude columns are checked, then click Continue:

In the next dialog select the note column as the title for the markers, then click Finish:

You should see all of the locations loaded as points on the map, awesome!

Now to change how each type of location is displayed click the Uniform style link with the paint roller icon on the layer in the upper left:

Then click the Uniform style combo box and change it to the note column under Style by data column:

Click the X in the upper right of the Group places by dialog to clear it.  You should see inside the layer there are two groups, one called Location with a marker for each periodic location log and another called Good Candy with a marker for each location the button was pressed.

To better view the good candy locations you can change the styling of the markers.  Highlight the Good Candy group and click the paint can icon on the right side of it, this will bring up a menu to change the marker style for the good candy locations:

Pick a different color and icon for the good candy locations.  Then do the same for the other group, Location, to change how the normal location markers are displayed.  You can adjust the marker style to anything you desire!

Change the map title by clicking the Untitled map title in the upper left.  Give the map a good name and description.

For example here's a map with red stars for the good candy locations and green markers for the other locations:

That's all there is to viewing the track your treats GPS data on Google My Maps!

The map should automatically be saved to Google Drive so you can access it again in the future.  Use the data you learned to help improve and optimize future trick or treat runs for maximum candy acquisition!

This guide was first published on Oct 12, 2015. It was last updated on Mar 26, 2024.

This page (Google Maps) was last updated on Oct 09, 2015.

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