Help:Creating a map

Purpose of maps

Maps can be used to show the exact location of existing energy projects or the approximate location of proposed projects. This page explains how to find and use GPS coordinates for projects and how to use these coordinates to display a map on a GEM Wiki page.

Mapping an existing project

Here are several ways to find the GPS coordinates of existing energy projects.

• Exact locations on Google Maps: Enter a location in Google and you will get a URL that includes that location's GPS Coordinates. Google also gives the exact location and GPS coordinates of many industrial sites such as coal plants and terminals for coal, oil, and natural gas. A search for "Liddell coal plant" generates a URL that contains the plant's latitude of -32.3715056 and its longitude of 150.9773385. These coordinates are used to generate a map of the plant on the wiki page for Liddell Power Station.

• Searching on Google Maps: If a project's exact location does not appear on Google Maps you may be able to find it by searching for a nearby location such as a city or town, then switching to satellite view and using this to spot the project. For example, the Wikipedia page for Paiton Power Station in Indonesia gives its location as "around 35 km to the east of the town of Probolinggo in East Java in Indonesia, about half way between Probolinggo and Situbondo." Using these directions, see if you can find the plant using satellite view when looking at this map that runs from Probolinggo in the west to Situbondo in the east.

• Government Permits and Environmental Impact Assessments: Government permits for energy projects sometimes contain the project's exact proposed GPS coordinates, as do Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA's).

Example of existing project

The GEM wiki page for Banten Suralaya power station in Indonesia shows the power station in satellite view. Zoom in and move the map and you can see the plant's proximity to a school and people's homes.

Here is how the code for creating the map appears in "Edit source" mode: {{#display_map:-5.8892179, 106.0336018|width=600|height=500|type=hybrid|zoom=15}}

• #display_map: this creates the map with GPS coordinates
• width: this sets the width of the map that appears on the page
• height: this sets the height of the map that appears on the page
• type: "normal" will create a Google map, "satellite" will create a satellite view," and "hybrid" will create a satellite view overlaid with place names.
• zoom: this zooms the map in or out on the location. A good rule for existing projects is to use a zoom level that shows the whole project with the project's edges just inside the edges of the map.

Mapping a proposed project

When the exact location of a project has not been determined, or can not be found, GEM uses an approximate location and a Google map instead of a satellite photograph.

Example of proposed project

The GEM wiki page for Rio Grande LNG Terminal in Texas, United States shows the approximate location of the proposed terminal in Google Map view. Once construction begins or once an exact location is chosen the map can be changed to show an exact location with a satellite view.

Zoom level for proposed projects: a map showing an approximate location should be clearly labelled as such and the map's zoom level should be zoomed out to show the wider area so the map doesn't create the false impression that a project is planned for a particular street, neighborhood, or area.