Map your walking/jogging/cycling route

RIVER BENDER - September, 2006

There is a nice new map program called Gmaps Pedometer at http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/. Perhaps you're already familiar with Google's Map program at http://maps.google.com/. Well, Gmaps Pedometer is not from Google but it uses their map program to enable one to create a walking, jogging or cycling route map showing distance. I use the program for cross-country cycling trips so that everyone in our club knows exactly where we're going. The program was not intended for long distance car trips but I managed to plot a 100-mile bike trip from River Bend to Beulaville and also auto routes from New Bern to I-95 northbound to compare distances. It's a fun web site, easy to use and you can save your map so others on the web can see it.

I cycle a 4-mile loop around River Bend every day so I'll use it as an example. The route I created is shown at http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=333103. When the map displays hold your left mouse key down and drag the map to my starting home address at 110 Portside Lane (Off Channel Run which is off Plantation Drive). Follow my bike route around Channel Run past Boatswain Drive and out Plantation Drive to Shoreline Drive. The total distance computes at 4.07 miles and my bike computer shows 4.1 miles so the map is quite accurate.

Here's how to create a walking, jogging or cycling map in River Bend from your home:

1. Go to http://www.gmap-pedometer.com

2. Type River Bend, NC in the Jump to block at the top.

3. Move the scale slider all the way to the top (+) to zoom in on River Bend streets.

4. Hold the left mouse key down and drag the map to your approximate street address

5. Click Start Recording to turn recording on.

6. Put the mouse pointer on the street where your home is and double-click to begin a route. A red marker will show up. If it's not where you want it click Clear points and start over.

7. Begin your route by moving the mouse cursor along the street and double-click to create markers. Use lots of points around curves for greater accuracy. If the marker is not exactly where you want it click Undo last point.

8. When you complete your route through River Bend, click Save Route and a URL address will appear in red. Either copy/paste the address somewhere or click Add bookmark or else you'll never be able to find your route again.

9. You can return to your route's URL and make temporary changes but if you save the changes the route will be saved under a new URL. This prevents someone from changing your original route.

Since Gmaps Pedometer is rather new it has a few shortcomings, one of which is printing maps. Apparently you can print only what is displayed, therefore, to print the whole route you must zoom out. But this makes everything so small that street names disappear. There's a discussion of this on the Message Board associated with the Gmaps Pedometer web page. Hopefully the program will eventually be able to print maps better.

A few words about Google's Map program:

If you've never used the original Google Map program at http://maps.google.com/ you've missed out on a very useful tool. Here are a few things I've used it for:

1. Find who in New Bern can repair an Amana refrigerator.

2. Locate an address in New Bern or in any other town and see a map.

3. Get a list of pizza restaurants in New Bern and a map.

4. Get a recommended route map for River Bend to Richmond VA.

5. See a satellite image of any location. See what your former neighborhood looks like today.

3. Can I use System Restore to remove a virus?

Maybe. It's worth a try. I googled up cases where folks were able to delete a virus by restoring to an earlier date. Viruses usually screw up system files. But bear in mind that if a virus existed on the earlier date of the restore point then it may be within the protected restore data where an anti-virus scan would not see it and restoring to that date could re-infect your computer.