How to Create a cue sheet from a Google Map

This tool will create a very readable cue sheet using Google Maps, customizable for ease of reading and more accurate than the cue sheet created on MapMy Ride. It allows you to create and move point on the route without having to back up or start over. It's free and easy to use if you are comfortable doing your own editing on Excel. We also recommend trying the new online mapping tool., Ride With GPS .

Read all the instructions first.. Google Maps will open in a new window, so you can refer back to this page during the process if you need a reminder.

(Note: the cue sheet generator tool currently works in Internet Explorer and Chrome but may not work in the most recent version of Firefox.)

(1) Highlight and copy the javascript code below. Make sure not to highlight and copy any other text from this page. If you start from the top to the bottom, you will be less likely to highlight other text

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javascript:(function(){var%20script=document.createElement('script');script.src='http://www.winthefight.org/googlemap_cuesheet.js';document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(script);})()

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(2) Click Here to Go to Google Maps. Where it says Search Maps , enter the address or location where you wish to start the ride. Then click on Get Directions and enter a destination near your ride other than the start location. A blue travel path appears. Pull any point on the blue line until you have the route you want. By thus creating "multiple destinations" along the route, you can even create a loop, returning to your start location.

(3) After you are happy with your Google map, paste the code you copied above into your browser window (replacing http://maps.google.com/) and hit enter. That will take you to the cue sheet generator page.

(4) Followinstructions on the page that appears, with the option to choose cue sheet, GPS or Garmin coordinates . Garmin Edge uses GPX files. I usually click to not include elevation data, in order to keep the cue sheet easier to read.

To create a cue sheet using Excel or other spreadsheets:

Click on Generate Cue Sheet. copy the text of the cue sheet that is shown and paste it into a spreadsheet or word processing program. The current version of this google map tool does not paste the data field into columns, which make it easier to eliminate data fields that you don't want, such as incremental fields. Here's how you can do it if you have pasted the cue sheet into Excel. You may also paste it to Word or any other text editor, but you will not be able to edit or delete columns, such as the mileage increments.

(1) In Excel highlight the first column, including only the numerical field area (0 to the last number field) , not the text.

(2) In the menu bar at the top of Excel, go to Data and then down to Text to Columns. Follow directions, using Next and then Finish. If you have correctly chosen only the first column without the title areas, you should now have four columns:, which you would name Total miles, Last (incremental) miles , Turn, and road name.

(3) In Excel you may wish to place the cursor in the incremental files column and then delete that column. Now to clean up the presentation, select all, and then click to Align Left. Resize the columns to fit your sheet best.

To create a file for your Garmin Edge

(1) Click on Generate GPX file for Garmin Edge (use other Garmin files for non-Edge Garmins)

(2) Copy the entire file that appears in the box, and paste it into Notebook or Notepad, not Word . Save the file to a folder where you can find it, with a name, such as newroute.txt. Now change the file extension from txt to GPX., so it looks like newroute.gpx or whichever name you give it.

Plug your Garmin Edge into a USB port on your computer. When the Device Found box appears, open the GPX folder, which is inside the Garmin folder. Drag the new .gpx file you just created into the GPX folder on the Garmin.

(3) You will find this file on the Saved Routes option on the Garmin Edge.

For more information about the cue sheet generator and how to add the creator to your bookmarks or favorites folder, visit the author's site at http://www.the-yosts.com/googlemap_cuesheet.html .

How to create a Route Map

You may also create a nice looking route map from Google Maps. The easiest way of course is to just print dirctly from the Google Maps page. Icreate my custom maps with Adobe Photoshop, basically as follows:

(1) Make sure your entire route is showing on the Google Map page. Press the "Print Screen" button on your keyboard.

(2) Open Photoshop or similar image editor, and paste the map into a new page. Keep in mind that Google Maps are copyrighted, so if you wish to reprint or distribute the maps they should be significantly altered. Here's what I do:

(3) Remove all colors from the map except for the route color, using the hue/saturation feature.

(4) Adjust brightness and contrast as desired.

(5) Crop the page to show just the map, and erase surrounding roads, images, etc that would be distracting when trying to read the map on a bike Keeping the map simple, clean and easily readable is key.

(6) Adjust the image size to fit an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet.

(7) Add any text, direction arrows, etc. Tweak it to make it look right, and your map is finished.