You are part of the Google Maps Community!

Something I've loved about running the Google Maps Mania Blog is making connections with such interesting people from all over the world who have created the cool Google Maps mashups that I blog about each day. I try to convey to you the names and locations of these people as I blog to help put a human face on these great mapping applications.

I'm very excited to share with you a new dimension of Google Maps that will enable anyone who creates a map or leaves a review to personally share it with the rest of the Google Maps Community. User Profile Pages are a new addition to Google Maps that will let you discover the "geo-side" of the real people behind the maps you are viewing. To start creating your own User Profile click "My Profile" at the top right of Google Maps:



Jess Lee's post on the Google Lat Long Blog points to a Community member nicknamed BikerBelle who shows her shared links, recent reviews and Maps she has created on her User Profile page:



You can also hover your mouse of the profile names on maps you discover on Google Maps to get a small snippet of the same info. This is a great way to check out maps for a specific geography or interest area, then browse related maps and reviews on that user's profile page! If you've ever wanted to become a Google Maps superstar but haven't had the technical know-how to create elaborate mashups, here's your chance to create great maps and let the world know who you are! You can also link to your Google Maps User Profile page from your outgoing Gmail messages, blog or from other sites where you're connecting with others... Create your own profile now!

Here is a nifty YouTube video that the Google Maps team has prepared that will help explain things further:


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