I have been really enjoying developing storytelling with the use of animated maps over the last couple of years. One of my favourite pieces was the one created for the Prague walkabout:
The problem was that this was a huge effort that doesn’t feel particularly sustainable (these pieces are usually created in my spare time) so I need to find a method that works a bit better. I found myself stumbling across the SnazzyMaps site which enables you to customise google map data.
Here is my process:
1: Data capture
Using the WeWorkOutDoors app on my watch (I’m certain there are other ways of capturing .GPX file data but this is what I find most useful for now) I record the route. I love this data input method - it’s so direct and unselfconscious. Perhaps one day I shall use it for more than an outline route but for now this is golden.
Here’s one I recorded for a St. Malo run in the summer:
2: GPX export into Footpath
Footpath is an app I happily subscribe to. I use it a lot to create journey plans and to get a sense of what is possible if I am visiting a new place. For me the killer feature¹ is that you can import and export GPX data. Usually the route I might take is planned here before being exported out to the WeWorkOutdoors app, but in this case I am going the opposite way.
Here is the path I took along the Birmingham Canal in the Summer:
3: Planning the useful sections for animation
From here I can do a bit more detail planning. I might do a crude screen capture of the Footpath route and drop that into my video edit - or I might take a bit of time using it as a basis for designing and drawing a more bespoke map. It is here that SnazzyMaps becomes really useful.
Last Easter I found myself visiting North Wales for 24 hours and had some time to do a run around the Llandudno peninsula - it was a fun little adventure where I saw some gorgeous stuff (and seals!):
The main issue for me at the time was that I didn’t want to spend ages recreating a map in the way that I had with Prague so I used SnazzyMaps to create some blank areas that I then tweaked in a fraction of the time.
Here is a section of the Wales coastline that I exported from SnazzyMaps. I was delighted that you could remove all the usual map labels.
Then I manipulated the texture before adding in the key details.
This took a fraction of the time.
POST SCRIPT
If only design were as concise as this blog post makes out. In reality the SnazzyMaps approach had limited value this time round. Although it works really well in providing accurate faceless imagery for tweaking - you still have to do the tweaking! For my latest series of overdue RunNotes videos (Birmingham, St Nic, Angers and St Malo) I spent a while playing with the original method before ditching it for the following:
create a panorama of routeless screenshots from Footpath
hand drawn a vector route using my original footpath data as a reference guide
use a combination of layers in Motion - the pixel panorama, svg-exported vector route
In the end editing is largely a smoke-and-mirrors kind of situation - loads of what happens is effectively an illusion that falls apart when you look closely. It’s important to return to the idea of what the audience needs to see and finding the most economical way of hitting that perception.
¹ there is another killer feature which makes this an essential app for me - I create a route and it maintains that route without the ‘intelligent’ rerouting that you get with Apple Maps. This means that it functions a bit like an old-school paper map. I can wander wherever without constantly being guided or cajoled. I love this sense of planning/freedom. The added fact that you can use GPS with your phone in airplane mode is good. Better battery and just simply being able to wander as you will.