As you may have heard in the news recently, Google Maps has introduced a way for individuals and organizations to create "my maps" which can be either public or private.

I've started a project to map the Lighthouses, Lightships and Life Saving Stations of the USA and invite CF members to join in.

Right now, this is not a public map, but if you know the URL, you'll be able to access it add to it or edit it.

I've placed about a dozen lights, mostly around the thumb of Michigan as examples.

Click On This Link (Save it to come back to it later.)

Click on the Hybrid button (to view satellite images with city/street names overlaid)

In the Search window, type the name of a town near a lighthouse or the name of a lighthouse (example: "alcatraz island ca" The map will change to view Alcatraz Island.

You can zoom in closer. You may be able to spot the lighthouse from the aerial view (look for the shadow).

Click on the pushpin icon (blue bubble) and then click on the top of the lighthouse.

A pop-up window will appear. The word "Placemark XX" is at the top. Replace this with the name of the lighthouse in the format "Name Lighthouse ST" with the state two letter at the end. So "Alcatraz Lighthouse CA". Move to the text block and type in "Placed by " and your name.

Similarly, use "Relief Lightship CA" or "Spermacetti Cove Life Saving Station NJ", Spelling out the words but abbreviating the state.

If you'd like to provide URL links to official or unofficial websites with information about that lighthouse, you can do it now or edit it later. You can edit the information for lighthouses already mapped by providing additional information. Just add a note "edited by.." or "additional info by.." with your name.

If you'd like to take on the task of providing the push-pins for a state, geographic region or body of water, please post to that effect in this thread and that will give others a heads-up that this is 'your territory' at least for a couple of weeks anyway.

Questions? Post them here.

Once we have the project near completion, we can 'publish' it so others can search it and use it.

Here's an example of a Google map using the satellite imagery. This one is of a lightship. You can read the name right off the side:

Click Here

Very nice!

On another forum I particiapte in for collectors of 1:400 scale airliners - we began a contest using Google Maps (or Earth, if you preferred) where the host would post a satellite image of an airport somewhere in the world and we would have to use our keen investigative skills to try and figure out the location. I have to admit, it was quite fun and educational, as you learned to depend a lot on the environmental landscapes to determine what part of the world it was in.

Might be fun to try and have a similar game in searching out lighthouses. Though lighthouses aren't as distinct when looking at them from above. At least you would know where to begin looking, as there are no lighthouses in the middle of the desert!