No matter how long you’ve been blogging, there is always more to learn. As part of the Weekly Writing Challenges, once a month, we’ll highlight a feature in the WordPress.com Dashboard and challenge you to incorporate it into your blog. We want to help you take full advantage of all the tools available on WordPress.com to make your blog the best it can be — and to make your friends jealous of your web wizardry.
To participate, tag your posts with DPchallenge or leave a link to your post in the comments. Please be sure your post has been specifically written in response to this challenge; obvious attempts to link-bait will be deleted. We’ll keep an eye on the tag and highlight some of our favorites on Freshly Pressed each Friday.
As bloggers, we scan through photos and descriptive tales from our fellow writers who share their travels with us. We can use tools like Google Earth to virtually explore unfamiliar cities or reminisce about our past excursions. In addition to our own photo albums, memories, and souvenirs, we have the entire internet at our fingertips to help us imagine or recollect our favorite places. Maps symbolize the places we’ve been, the places we want to go, and the places we’ll end up, even if we don’t know it yet. If there’s anything that travel (and blogging) can teach you, it’s that the world is gigantic, and incredibly small at the same time.
On WordPress.com, you can make your traveling tales even more vivid by embedding a map from Google Maps. With Google Maps embeds, you can detail each stop on a road trip across the country, plot out your favorite local restaurants on a dining round-up, or highlight the most meaningful places that you’ve ever lived. For step-by-step instructions on how to embed a Google Map into your post, check out this guide.
To get started, head over to Google Maps, type in a location (or locations), and then grab the embed code by clicking on Google’s link icon and then copying the code under “Paste HTML to embed in website.” You can also customize how your map will appear by clicking on “Customize and preview embedded map” to modify the height, width, and style of your Google Maps embed. You can embed a map with only one location highlighted, with directions between multiple places, or you can create a map with multiple location markers.
For this week’s challenge, incorporate our Google Maps embed feature by plotting out some of the favorite places that you’ve been, or the places you want to go. Need some more ideas?
- Draw a map of your life story. Show us where you were born and where you grew up. What were the most significant places in your life, and how did they change you? Give your readers a visual by including these places on your map to show in your post.
- You’ve got three months, an unlimited budget, and a severe case of wanderlust. Where would you go? Would you take a train through Europe, or explore Asia by car? How about a bicycle trip across country? Let us follow you on your imaginary endeavor.
- Be a tour guide. Every single city has something special to share. Tell us about the quirky, weird, interesting, or cool places in your town that all visitors should see.
Need some inspiration for exploring the open road? Check out:
- The Big Van Trip Continues | staffordcreative’s Blog
- Roadtrip to Canada | jenniferkoman
- Wandering With the Watsons | Wandering with Purpose
Currently blogless? You’re a click away from sharing your story.
Create your blog at WordPress.com
LOL I use google maps all the time in my articles. nice challenge ; hope to have time for it tomorrow 🙂
LikeLike
You’re ahead of the game! I’m glad to hear you’re already using this feature quite a bit.
LikeLike
Been using it at work for a long time on various types of articles but also like to add such details to my personal articles (latest example being this one: http://looknwalk.wordpress.com/2013/01/05/st-stephens-basilica-inside-the-church-and-the-viewing-platform/
LikeLike
Interesting! never used maps in about 6 years of blogging before, now this is a good way to start!
LikeLike
here is mine, hope to travel and write more!
LikeLike
This writing challenge fit with a journey I took around Lake Michigan exploring the towns and parks along some of the miles of shoreline. Then I read your challenge and added a Google map of the trip to the last post. I use trail maps in posts, and will now add Google maps for longer trips. Good idea. http://canoecommunications.wordpress.com/2013/01/05/lake-michigan-series/
LikeLike
LikeLike
A great idea for writing Erica! Here is my take on this idea! https://1manandhisbooks.wordpress.com/2013/01/07/five-cities-i-want-to-visit/
LikeLike
I wrote a post in response to the Daily Prompt today that just happened to double as the writing challenge since I embedded a google map!
In this case, I wrote about the anxiety and helplessnesss I felt watching Hurricane Sandy smash across the northeast US (where my family lives) while I was stuck on an island in the Caribbean.
I included a street view of the tiny, narrow road surrounded by marshlands on either side that leads to my grandmother’s neighborhood. It was well under water during the hurricane.
LikeLike
A very interesting challenge. A few years back I was actually wanting a feature like this. Not sure if it was available at that time.
Very cool.
http://mindblur.wordpress.com/2013/01/08/places-close-to-my-heart-part-1/
LikeLike
I’m glad you linked to the step-by-step guide. I almost had a mini-heart attack when the maps didn’t pop up in my preview! XD
LikeLike
I’m glad to hear the guide helped!
LikeLike
I incorporated the map into a post I had been crafting for about a week. I do not have it scheduled to post until 1/9, so I have included the preview link. http://joeowensblog.wordpress.com/2013/01/09/2012-belize-trip-roads-we-traveled-places-we-visited/?preview=true
LikeLike
Erica, I’d like to highlight a Google Earth plugin from 3D Travel that lets bloggers show their travels in… 3D.
I use it in Hawaii (http://the-military-guide.com/2012/10/29/3d-hawaii-right-here-on-the-blog/) but it’s also ready to go for Las Vegas and San Francisco.
3D Travel is submitting the code to WordPress for release through their plugin directory, but it’s available now. In my case, it lets me share my favorite surf break with my readers.
LikeLike
Thanks for sharing, Doug.
LikeLike
Great post Erica! I’ve been wondering how to do this for ages 🙂 Thanks
LikeLike
Will try this soon, thanks a lot for this new challenge!
http://arlene1956.wordpress.com
LikeLike
شكرا جزيلا 🙂
LikeLike
What a great idea. Never thought to do this/didn’t know I could!
LikeLike
Reblogged this on cftc10.
LikeLike
Awesome challenge, and I totally did this to keep things straight in my head. Portia Adams (my main character) lives in 1930s London, so I created a Google Map specifically for her adventures: http://aportiaadamsadventure.wordpress.com/2012/03/12/adding-some-locations-from-book-6-to-the-google-map/
LikeLike
What a cool way to use Google Maps!
LikeLike
Thanks!
LikeLike
how interesting! I did something similar in my 2012 in pics album — marked the places I visited last year using Google map and took a snapshot of it! here it is: http://reerc.wordpress.com/2012/12/29/at-home-abroad/
LikeLike
Excellent..
LikeLike
Great idea! Thanks for the step-by-step instructions. Maybe I’ll try it for my upcoming posts where I’ll incorporate a few photos of Montreal, San Francisco, LaJolla and Tulum, Mexico. Would have been a nice addition to my September 2012 post called ‘The Hunks of Huntington Beach, CA.” Happy trails to all!
LikeLike
This is awesome, I’ve been wanting to figure out how to work interactive maps into my posts for awhile, and I got stars in my eyes and got right to work making a map as soon as I read this. It works perfect as a follow-up to a rather ambitious travel post I published yesterday. Thank yoooou! (*^o^*) http://thejwsdojapan.wordpress.com/2013/01/08/winter-break-whirlwind-the-map/
LikeLike
I hope I can do that….let me see…:)
LikeLike
i’m takin’ you on a food trip.. c’mon ^^ http://theeclecticeccentricshopaholic.wordpress.com/2013/01/08/serendra-a-food-trip/
LikeLike
Great prompt: http://wp.me/p2oI0M-9r
LikeLike
http://weeklywritingchallenge.wordpress.com/2013/01/08/writing-challenge-map-it-out/
LikeLike
This feature was perfect for what I had planned to writing today- about visiting a SF Bay Area beach before returning to wintery NYC http://newyorkcliche.com/2013/01/07/fool-on-a-california-beach/ I never would have considered such a thing with out your great challenge. I’m sure I’ll be able to use it again, thanks for the introduction!
LikeLike
I did it! Finally! I had no idea I could do that :O) Please check out my blog post as there is some important information about helping schools become more energy efficient. http://mygardenblue.wordpress.com/2013/01/07/how-green-is-your-school/
LikeLike
Would love to get in to some of these sort of postings.. I’ll have to wait though until I can sort out being seen on the reader ‘at all’.. even a smaller tag like Gerard Way, shows posts from months ago.. but not mine.
Just wanted to add that, but hey am loving the posts on Map it Out.. well done!
LikeLike
Oh well, until anything changes
My Top Referrers like here: (since Feb 2012)
1: Tumblr
2: Twitter
3: mychemicalromance.com
4: Google, Bing, and Yahooo Search Engines…
5: wordpress
LikeLike
Had thought I’d be positive, with another posting for Review of 2012 in Pictures…. still not in Reader how ‘sad’ kept the tags minimal etc..
Kept my eye on the topics I only used about 6 tags including Photography, Music, My Chemical Romance anyhow, I’ll add it here>
http://apanache.wordpress.com as it’s on my front page
or the story itself >
http://apanache.wordpress.com/2013/01/08/review-of-2012-in-most-clicked-photos/
Have a great day / night where you are all ‘at’ 🙂
Sasha
LikeLike
That was a lot of fun Erica, Thanks for the idea! Had a great time sorting through ideas and pictures from where I grew up and miss it a lot now! 🙂 (as for the reader, don’t know why it doesn’t ‘like’ me! at least Tumblr promotes and refers me hey? Otherwise I don’t know ‘where’ I’d be! lol)
Here’s my ‘Just Map It’ Story, enjoy..
http://apanache.wordpress.com/2013/01/09/just-map-it-i-miss-queensland/
LikeLike
Are you having trouble seeing your posts in the Reader? If so, just let me know and I can shoot you an email privately to see what’s going on.
LikeLike
Thanks so much Erica,
Well yes and for the last 3 posts I believe.. I have been researching also in a few places like ManageWP albeit that is mainly for WP.org accounts did at least accomplish a Performance Test, and unfortunately don’t understand much of it.. (not ‘with it’ on css creating or working with etc..
So yes please do email me 🙂 Appreciated
LikeLike
Thanks for helping me sort out the issue Erica!
You’re an Ange!
🙂 Sasha
LikeLike
Good challenge, made me dig out this old number! http://tranquilsigh.wordpress.com/2013/01/08/a-transamerican-journey/
LikeLike
I was impressed by how easy this is. Here’s a rock n roll Tour of London: http://everyrecordtellsastory.com/rock-n-roll-london-tour/
LikeLike
I have a huge appetite for challenge, but these days I am very limited by my economic circumstances. I have found that using Google earth as a means to walk down memory lane, and explore new landscapes and cities, is both very rewarding, and pleasingly inexpensive.
LikeLike