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Tutorial PositionMap/JCapPM for Google Maps template


Here comes a quick tutorial for building a Google Maps photo album. The setup is easier than for the Standard and Dynamic-map template (see first tutorial) since you don't have to care about the map which is provided by Google Maps. However, you need to be connected to the internet when displaying your album since the map needs to be downloaded from Google Maps.
If you want to create a Standard or Dynamic-map album, which is suitable for both online and offline presentations, please refer to the first tutorial.

You'll see that few steps are identical to the first tutorial but I've repeated them here, so you can follow straight forward and don't need to switch.


1. Install PositionMaptop

Once JAlbum installed on you computer copy the content of the downloaded skin PositionMap in the skin folder of JAlbum:




2. Geotag your photos top

If your photos carry already longitude and latitude information, you can skip this step. If not, you have to geotag your photos either with a third party software or with JCapPM which offers three possibilities to geotag your photos:
  1. import a GPS tracklog file (TXT or GPX format)
  2. use JCapPM's Fast-Access panel in conjunction with Google Earth
  3. use a calibrated map
The first option is the fastest one to stamp a huge number of photos in a few seconds.

The second option is very handy when you just want to stamp some files (or folders) manually and when you also want to add areas and lines or angles of view.

The third option requires a bit more setup work but you can then build photo albums using any template.


3. Build the album structure top

You have taken photos from various locations. The whole area should be covered by the root folder which may be further broken down into "local areas" which are represented by subfolders below the root folder.
In my example my root folder "c:\photos\2003Bretagne" is splitted into 3 regions, means 3 subfolders:



You need to geotag these 3 subfolders (not their content but the folders itself). I suggest to use JCapPM's Fast-Access panel in conjunction with Google Earth. Don't forget to switch to "area mode" else you would tag only a precise point, not an area.
If you don't geotag them, PositionMap wouldn't know which map to show for the root folder and where to imprint the borderlines of the "local areas".

4. Set up JAlbum top

Open JAlbum. Choose skin "PositionMap" and your prefered style sheet.
Change the "Image directory" to point to your album root folder. Change the "Output directory" to where you want to have created the html album. I recommend that "Output directory" is different than "Image directory".




The thumbnail layout of 5 columns and 1 row is suitable for small(er) screen resolutions. You may choose more columns as well.


5. Set up PositionMap top

5.1 Choose Google Maps template
Switch to the PositionMap tab and then to the tab "Index page" and "Main settings". Choose the Google Maps template.



You may also select "smart no-map" which is handy when folders don't have any photos carrying longitude/latitude information. In this case it's smarter not to show a map since we don't know from which region the photos are. Without a map we have have more place for thumbnails so I suggest to change our inital number of only 1 row to 4 rows (or even higher for higher screen resolutions) for such folders.


5.2 Enter Google Maps key
Switch to the "Google maps" tab and enter your personal key you received from the sign-up page of Google Maps for your web site.



You don't need to touch any other field since PositionMap uses default values when fields are not (correctly) filled out. If you like to personalize, feel free to do it. For more details about, please refer to the corresponding help page.


6. Generate the album top

In JAlbum, click the "Make album" button (in the main window) and when it's finished, click "View album".

Congratulations, you are done!

Of course, there are many more options, like adding:
  1. captions and descriptions which can be used for folders, thumbnails, slide images, tooltips and page titles
  2. borders, frames and shadows around thumbs and images
  3. markers for new folders
  4. GPX track integration
  5. Google Earth integration through KMZ file creation
  6. video integration
  7. imprints (i.e. copyright watermark) on thumbs and slide images
  8. magnifier integration for slide images
  9. footer link and number of files in folder or album
  10. code for access statistics
  11. specific folder configurations
  12. external image servers configuration
  13. and more ...

Just try it out!