Can this website using Google Maps be saved offline?

September 6, 2016 7:37 AM

Kyiv Murals (see link) is a great resource for finding the murals of Kyiv. However I do not have a smartphone and only a wifi tablet. Is it possible to save the locations and accompanying photo offline through some googlefu?

none needed.

posted by tarvuz to Travel & Transportation around Kiev, Ukraine (9 answers total)

Response by poster: http://kyivmural.com/?lang=en
posted by tarvuz at 7:38 AM on September 6, 2016

Here is the xml he uses: http://kyivmural.com/phpsqlajax_genxml.php

Here it is converted to csv via http://xmlgrid.net/xml2text.html : https://gist.github.com/anonymous/1652c767a5ccc46767d79d384a6b363f

I think the csv conversion missed a lot of the descriptions.

You can create your own google map via google My Maps https://www.google.com/mymaps and import that .csv as a layer.

And here is a forum post explaining that if you export your new MyMap as .kml file, you can use the linked itunes app for using it offline: https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/maps/fRusjOzwjcs
posted by czytm at 8:46 AM on September 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

Probably though, you should try contacting the creator ([e-mail]).
posted by czytm at 8:49 AM on September 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

I don't know there's any way to take that exact map and make it offline viewable; it seems to be a custom thing. Your best bet would be to contact the author.

You could roll your own view with some effort. czytm has done the hard work of getting at the data. Now you just need a viewer. You didn't specify your tablet; what are you trying to use? One option would be to convert the data to KML (very easy for a programmer, possible by hand with that CSV file.) Then import it into Galileo, an excellent mobile offline map viewer for iOS. maps.me is another good offline map viewer that supports KML import; it works on Android too.
posted by Nelson at 10:01 AM on September 6, 2016

I have an app called URL to PDF. Perhaps that would work?
posted by Michele in California at 10:33 AM on September 6, 2016

Response by poster: I did contact sergii and he said it was not possible to save it offline at this time. I figured if you Mefi geniuses I could figure it out then I could as well as use my sucky non connected tablet to find and photograph them (quite impressive I tell you). I would also share your findings to Sergii.
posted by tarvuz at 1:44 PM on September 6, 2016

Response by poster: I am using an Ipad Mini.
posted by tarvuz at 1:58 PM on September 6, 2016

You *could* download copies of all of their resources - the xml file, all of the photos, the html file, any attached javascript files/libraries (ex google maps stuff), the style.css,
AND THEN edit his javascript to point to the local xml file instead of the .php script.

If that makes sense to you, go for it.

We've done similar things to create one-off kiosk apps on Ipads before, when they needed to be disconnected from the internet.
posted by czytm at 7:56 AM on September 7, 2016

Just a note about converting to KML as Nelson suggested, you won't have the images. You can't get the images without an internet connection or downloading them all individually.

Anyway, heres a map using the process I described first. You can download the KML and use the process in that forum I linked too. But again, you won't have the images, and a lot of the descriptions are missing. But the dots are there if you're planning on traveling.

Kyiv map
posted by czytm at 8:00 AM on September 7, 2016 [1 favorite]