Can I extract a Google Maps Mashup bitmap that is larger than my screen?

Question

I would like to produce a large, high resolution map for printing to a plotter.

If I had an arbitrarily large screen, like the size of the plotter paper, I would simply zoom to the desired level, adjust the browser window to the desired cropping, and do a screen capture. Unfortunately my monitor limits me to 1280x1024.

I can assemble the map mosaic-wise by manually panning/"Print Screen", and incrementally pasting each section into a bitmap editor. Of course all the edge widgetry needs to be cropped out of each section, so panning has to allow for overlap. I've done this before, and it is quite arduous and error prone.

Are there any tools out there for automating this? Ideally I'd like to compose the map at a higher zoom level, and simply specify the box boundary and zoom level of the final map. But any automation would be better than this... (I am looking for a Google Maps solution because I have a mashup.)

Answer 1

You can use Google Map Saver, which can output sizes up to 12000 x 12000 pixels in a variety of image formats.

Answer 2

Here it is how to extract map from Google Maps:

1. Type your post code in the Google search engine (this will bring your map up),
2. click once on the map, this will change the window appearance a bit
3. then click the little printer icon (this will open a new window).
4. Now make sure you see the whole map you are interested in the screen, adjust it to your need (zoom in / out etc.) and when you are happy with the looks of it
5. press Print Screen-SysRq
6. open a new Word document
7. right-click and press paste (or just press Ctrl+V instead)- this will paste the screen shot into the Word doc
8. Now right click somewhere in the commands bar area, this should bring up a drop-down list of tool bars available, i.e. Standard, Formatting, Auto text, etc.
9. choose "Picture" from the list - this will add new tool bar to your window
10. now make sure you click once in the picture (once only!! as this will position your cursor correctly and make picture active)
11. Now from this new toolbar chose "Crop" icon which looks like two edges overlapping
12. Now without clicking anywhere position your cursor on the corner of your picture - this should show your icon (two corners overlapping icon)
13. Now "catching" corners of the picture, keep cropping it until you obtain the pic you want
14. Now you right click on picture, chose "Format Picture" and press on "Size" Tab to blow your pic up/down. I would suggest to only play with the figure with % next to it as otherwise you may distort the pic.