Building a ski resort map for Medic52

Need a map for your ski resort? Here is how to do a basic set up using google Map Maker.

You may have seen the fancy run and lift maps that the folks over at Google Maps have been laying on certain resorts around the world. This is done by Google at their discretion. That however, does not give you access to the data, so it isn’t very flexible for ski patrol.

What if you have patrol names that do not appear on the maps? These are not for public consumption so we may need to build our own map, and that is what this article is about.

If you have surveyed resort data in a  GIS system like Ezri then you can skip this tutorial and go straight to converting the data to GeoJSON.

Steps:

1. Login to Google My Maps
2. Navigate to your ski resort, using the search or other method.
3. Start by adding a layer, and calling it Buildings, then add two more called Lifts and Trails.
4. Click on the Buildings layer, and then pick the Draw a line tool, and start clicking around the building at each corner in sequence. When you are all the way around, click on the first point to complete the polygon shape.
5. In the popup name the building.
6. Repeat as necessary for all your buildings.
7. Save your map now!
8. Click on the Lifts layer
9. Select the draw a line tool
10. Click at the bottom of the lift, then at the top, or at a bend if its a dog leg, then the top.
11. To finish the line click on your last point again.
12. Name the lift.
13. Repeat as necessary
14. Click on the Trails layer
15. Select the draw a line tool
16. Click at the start of the run, and then at every bend and turn to the other end of the run.
17. Click on the last point to complete the line.
18. Name your run
19. In the list of items panel on the left, use the paint bucket time to colour it to help them stand out.

HINT: If you need to move a point, click and drag it. If you need to insert a corner or bend, hover over the line and choose the intermediate point to create a new bend in the line. Finally, if you need to remove a part of a lin or a mid point, click and drag that point back over to another point on the line and it will disappear.

Once you are happy, click the three dots next to your map name, then export as KML.

On your computer, rename the file from yourresort.kmz to yourresort.zip. Then you can unzip it and a kml file will present itself.

Now you can continue on to convert the map for Medic52.