RTA Library Maps --NEW FROM ROADTRIP AMERICA

[Mark Sedenquist]

You may have seen references to the RTA LIBRARY MAP program over the last couple of months.

Tom Herbertson is doing the lion's share of building and uploading these routes. These maps are being built so that members can view them and use them as examples of maps they can build themselves for their own road trip routing planning. Some of the saved RTA Library Maps are based on the 25 Scenic Side Trip Routes found in Rick Quinn's new book, the rest are being created from the RTA Routes Article department that we published about a decade ago.

On the left hand column of the "Advanced Maps" page you will see some tables labeled as follows:
My Maps
My Custom Places
My Routes
My Drawn Routes
RTA Map Library -- this is where you will find the list of maps that have been built as the first of the RTA Library Maps.

Map Naming Convention

The maps are organized on the original Routes structure found on this map. But instead of ten (10) section we've reduced it to four (4). These are:
East
Central
West
Off-Shore

So two examples of the Library Maps right now are named:

"West AZ-NM SST 07 A Circuit Tour of Tucson." -- This was derived from Scenic Side Trip #7 in Rick' book.

"East-Annapolis to Ocean City, Maryland" The source of this map was originally found here.
Another thing you will notice that as Tom creates these new RTA Library Maps, he is replacing the original Google Maps map pane in those articles, because the technology has changed and some of those older maps no longer work.

If you click on the blue line under the number next to the word "West" it will open the link to the route.

Some key elements to note:

1. If you click on the blue flag labeled "1" you will find a description of the route and details about long it takes to drive this route.

2. The icons that have little colored flags are RoadTrip Attractions published by RoadTrip American contributing writers. They are not necessarily the same attractions found in Rick's book or in the original routes article, but most of the maps are populated with sufficient saved RTA RAs.

You can save this RTA Library map into your personal collection of maps. Here are some general instructions about how to do that:

To modify a RTA Library Map and Save it as one of your Personal Maps:

Click on the number link. At this point, you can add your personal Custom Places and then save whatever is on your screen as a map. Just click the “Save Map” button. The map’s name will now appear in the “My Maps” box in the left-hand column.

To create a new map based on the original RTA Library Map + some new places that you'd like to add, you will be using the RTA Custom Maps "Waypoints" system. The Waypoints system is explained in greater detail on the Advanced Maps page -- look for MAP INSTRUCTIONS.

Once you have added any new Custom Places, you would save the new map that you just created. Note: The resulting blue line route might not follow the exact route of the RTA Library Maps because there is a limitation on the number of waypoints available (8 waypoints plus the beginning and ending locations) but you can use the RTA flags and your new Custom Places markers as those waypoints and choose your new starting and ending locations. The resulting map will be very similar to the original RTA Library Map. (For more information about using the "Waypoint" system, see post #1 in this thread.)

So.... I ask you to kick-the-tires a bit and see what we are working on.

Tom and I expect to have 300 of these saved RTA Library Maps ready for public use by the end of May.