Use Google Maps to create a neighbor log

[Bill Coleman]

After meeting several neighbors around my new property, I wanted a way to capture names, addresses, phone numbers and some notes about the people.

To do that, I did a screen capture in Google Maps after zooming in on the property (in Map view not satellite). It gives you outlines of each house plus street names.

Then in Excel or Powerpoint, I am able to paste and crop that screen capture (taken by hitting the PrtScn button and then pasting). I then overlay boxes from the Insert>Shapes menu and place the house number in the shape by adding text.

Then I add a text box with all the pertinent notes about the neighbor.

This helps me get to know all the neighbors better so even though I dont live there, I am able to better become part of the community. You need neighbors to look after your property. Hope this tip helps you all out!

[John Horner]

Google maps actually already has a great way to do this with a lot less manual effort.  You can great your own custom google maps called "my places", and put pins on locations and add all of the information into the text boxes.  This way it is always available if you have the internet and it is dynamic!  You can save the map and make it private or public.

Hope this helps!