I’ve been using screenshots from Google Maps and Street View in my scrapbooks lately. Here’s a small roundup of examples. I love how a simple screenshot can add so much meaning to a page!
Using Google Maps
I took screenshots directly from Google Maps and printed them on heavy cardstock.
It’s important to get the shot you want on the screen at once — you can’t knit pieces of the map together from multiple screenshots because the map is dynamic. The names on the map will move when it is repositioned.
Using Street View
Sometimes I just don’t remember to take pictures. Despite being a scrapbooker and archivist, I can live somewhere and never remember to get a picture of it. Enter Google Street View.
The trick with Street View is: as long as you’re printing a small photo, the resolution will be fine.
I find the location I want on Street View, take a screenshot, and save it as a .jpg. Then I’ll open it in Picasa and crop it to the shape I want. Finally, I’ll print it just like any other photo.
That’s it! Very simple and I’m really happy I have these images in my scrapbooks. I’m imagining my again-fictional children having a photo to look at when Mr. P and I talk about where we first lived.
Pages: Our First Home Together (2004), New Home (2005)
Great idea — thanks for sharing! I’ve used actual (paper) maps on pages before, but haven’t yet used Street View or a Google map.
Yes, I prefer paper maps when available but GoogleMaps are a great alternative if paper maps aren’t available. In both of these examples, I didn’t have much to go with at all and the GoogleMaps really made the layout.