The Tucson Murals Map is built with Google
"My Maps".
(We'll eventually use a much better system.)
You can scroll down or click to read one of these sections:
There are a list of instructions below; they're quicker to read than
this video, which is 5:39 long.
But the video shows things that are hard to see in the instructions.
Take your choice!
(You can also open
the video in its own window.
This is handy if you'd like to open the mural map in a separate window
and try it as you watch the video.)
Written instructions:
On a laptop or desktop computer, open your web browser (Firefox, Chrome,
Safari, Internet Explorer, etc.).
Then go to the murals page and
click on the Mural Map link, or go to
map.tucsonmurals.org.
(If you have a phone or tablet, you can do the same thing with its browser
— though the Google Maps app,
which we'll explain later, may be easier.)
You should see the map, like this:
(If you want a larger view in another browser window, click on the image above.)
Please don't miss step 7 below; it's important!
You can always find this map as I explained above.
Optional: If you have a Google Account, there's also another way.
To set that up, first click at spot #1, "Save to My Places".
Then...
Once you've saved the mural map to "My Places," then,
when you're viewing any other
Google Map, you can click on "My Places" and choose the mural map.
The map opens zoomed-out, so most map pins are clumped together.
To zoom in, move the zoom slider up or click on the "+" sign at the top of
the zoom bar.
You can move the map by pointing to a blank spot, holding down your mouse
button, then dragging the mouse.
Click on one of the blue placemarkers.
A dialog box (see #4) will pop up with the address and a description of the mural.
Click on the blue link (at #5) to read about the mural and see a photo.
This takes you to the Tucson Murals Project blog.
You can also find murals by scrolling through the list in the left column.
Click on the address or mural title to open the pop-up information box.
Note: You'll only see 200 map pins at once.
There are actually over 500 murals!
To see the next group of 200, scroll the left window to the bottom,
then click on "Next" or one of the numbers (1 2 3).
Clicking "Report a Problem" tells Google about a
problem with their map program.
If you find a problem with the mural map itself or you have a comment,
please tell us. (Google won't tell us!)
With a phone/tablet app
If you have an Android phone or tablet, you probably already have the
Google Maps application.
On other phones and tablets, if you aren't sure whether you have Google Maps,
visit the URL
m.google.com to
see what's available, or visit Google's Mobile app overview.
Here's how to use the mural map from the Android app:
On your desktop/laptop computer (or -- less convenient -- in the
Internet browser on your phone/tablet)
and visit the URL
map.tucsonmurals.org.
When the map opens, look near the top left corner for "Save To My Places".
Click there and follow the instructions.
Then come back to these tips.
Now it'll be easy to access the mural map from your phone/tablet app.
Open the Google Maps application.
You'll see something like this (without the blue map pins):
(If you want a larger view in another browser window, click on the image above.)
Click on the layers icon at #2 and choose My Maps.
From there, pick the mural map.
The map pins should appear.
The pins will be clumped together, so you'll probably want to zoom in
by clicking the "+" at #3.
You can move around the map by dragging it (put your finger in an empty
spot first).
Tap on a pin.
A window like #4 should open with the location of the mural.
(Don't miss step #6 below.)
Optional: To scroll through a list of all 500+ murals, click on the icon #5.
When you tap on a mural in the list, you'll see the window in step 6.
Tapping on a map pin or a mural in the list opens a window like this:
To see a mural and its story, tap on the link at the bottom.
(There may be more than one, as there are here.)
Use the "Go Back" arrow button on your phone to come back to this screen.
Then, on this screen, click "Map" to return to the map.