Google Map Saver

Announcement!

Both GMS and GMS.NET confirmed to work on Windows 10 Release.

As many of you noticed since Google changed their maps GMS experienced problems.

If you have problems with GMS please try GMS.NET from www.codres.de/gms-net-download.

Please let me know by writing a comment if GMS.NET works better for you.

gms-try
TIP: To get rid of the bogus icons on top of the map, simply click the content of the map, once, before saving. Please Note that GMS.NET requires Microsoft.NET v3.5+

What’s new?

144 MPixel Map from OpenStreetMap created with GMS.NET View it here

It seems that TIFF format is more optimized for huge map sizes so please save as TIFF for big resolution.
March 2014 – As Google changed their API I recommend trying GMS.NET. If it works better than old GMS let me know, write a comment!

January 2013 – Here are some descriptions about Google Maps Saver in various languages:
                      | ItalianoFrançois | Español | Português | Russian | Chinese |

September 2012 – Apparently Google Maps Saver was used for this nice project.

September 17,  2011 – As expected the GMS is working on Windows 8. Here is the video and a preview of GMS.NET (Microsoft .NET required).

April 30, 2011 – Got some time to recompile and work on GMS. Version 1.0.3 is out. If you download it and run it you will get also a tutorial.

History/Hints/News:

    • 15 November 2012 – GMS Trends on Google Trends
    • 16 February 2012 – Found here a Good How-To about Google Maps Saver in Chinese
    • 29 April 2011 – Google Map Saver on Linux.
    • 10 november 2010 – The winter is long here in Germany, that means that I may get some time to update Google Map Saver ;-). So, please comment any bugs or features on this thread. I will consider them by the number of the requests.
    • 20 September 2010 – GMS has now over 100.000 direct downloads from my website and around 110.000 search pages on Google. I just want to emphasize this, for the GMS users who forget that the GMS is a FREE, non-commercial software. I’m updating and respond to your questions in my spare time (when I get some). Thanks for you patience and thanks for using GMS fairly
  • 28 November 2009 – Version 1.0.2 is out
    • Fixed PNG bug
  • 26 October 2009 – You can follow me on Twitter to get updates
    followustwitter
  • 25 October 2009 – FAQ and Issues hereDownload GMS!
  • 23 October 2009 – 1.0.1 (beta) released
    • Remembers up to 128 locations that you typed
    • You can add your custom resolution, just type e.g 1456×2345 in the Resolution Box and press the plus button. With Minus button you can remove a certain entry
    • Able to save last actions and last window location after exit
  • 21 October 2009 – You can type in the Resolution box whichever resolution you want (e.g.  31234 x 4321)
  • 7 July 2009 – Can Save Maps (PNG, Targa, BMP) bigger than 200 MPixel
  • 5 July 2009 – Added Targa Save Support
  • 30 June 2009 – First Beta

 

screenshot_small1

Google Map Saver (GMS) offers you an easy way to download big Google Maps on your PC as JPEG, PNG-8, PNG-24, BMP or Targa files. GMS is light (only ~400 KBytes) and very easy to run since doesn’t have an installer. Just download it on your Desktop and Run-It!

GMS runs on Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

GMS is 100% free, no spyware!

Here is a sample map saved with GMS

Created with Google Map Saver

and here is the BIG jpeg (on Flickr)

Removing the Watermark

Just follow the steps described in the image bellow in order to activate your free copy.

gms_activate

GMS is not Crippleware. The superimposed watermark  can be removed, easily, with three clicks. It is there only that you visit the About Box 😉

By Downloading and running GMS you agree with the license and with the “Fair Use” terms listed bellow.

Fair Use

I was trying to be fair, in relation with you, the user, by giving this application for free, so please try the same and please follow my recomandations:

  • Do not use maps created with GMS for commercial purpose.
  • Do not use the downloaded maps in conjunctions with navigation hardware.
  • Even if it is possible to retrieve greather than 4000×4000 pixels maps, I don’t recommend you to do that.
  • Do not try to automate GMS with automation tools (e.g. AutoHotKey). You will break the Google’s Terms of Use (bulk download).
  • Do not remove the Google overlays and copyright notes.

Q&A

  • Q: Can I run it on Linux or Mac?
    A: I think you can by using WineHQ.
  • Q: I think your tool breaks the Google’s Terms of Use
    A: I was thinking about this before I made the application public. What I can tell you, is that I’m not using any tricks (e.g. direct and bulk downloads) to get the maps. I’m simply using the a standard Google URL via IFRAME. Google allows us to see bigger maps. I found is possible, I did it. In GMS one user request = one Google Maps access. No bulk download.
  • Q: There are other ways to save Google maps?
    A: Yes! They are. Some are commercial OR there are some free Firefox hacks. I’m not competing theese solutions. I just wanted something simple AND free.
  • Q: How can I contribute?
    A: Make some comments, give some suggestions, spread the word, digg it or…
  • Q: Will you keep this tool free?
    A:  Yes

GMS is Beta! If you find any bugs or you have any ideas please comment.

Before you download GMS, check out CinemaGIF Live, a new software from the author of Google Map Saver

READ THE LICENSE AND DOWNLOAD GMS |

[ad#gms]

User’s Tips

Tip: To save huge maps (e.g. if you get Out Of Memory error), Save the map as BMP. To convert the BMP to other formats (e.g. JPG or PNG) use the free Paint.NET software.
If you get a yellow box saying Loading… e.g. on WinXP Home SP3 Here’s a hint from GMS user Simple Simon’s Snail who found a workaround (Thanks Simon!)
Tip from MuhammadA lot of people has been asking about loading Google My Place into this map. I’ve found the solution. You’ll need Fireshot extension/addon for Firefox/Chrome.

1. First, find out the address of your Google My Place, should look like this:http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&dg=feature&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=213353022109462492729.0004ef95b833ce8288e9f
2. Just enter any location in the “Location/POI” and the resolution you wanted. As for “Zoom” and “Map Type” you can adjust later.
3. Once the image appear, right-click on the small white gap between the map image and the blue bar, select view source.
4. Once the Notepad appear, replace the address starting with http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&q=(your search Location/POI) with your Google My Places address.
5. Save As your Notepad and select “All Files”, Your filename should end with .htm
6. Open your .htm file with your web browser.
7. Adjust your “Zoom” and “Map Type” to your likening.
8. Once you have decide the final view of your map, from the dropdown menu of your Fireshot extension/addon select “Capture entire page and…”, “Save” , select format you want.
9. Done.

389 Comments

  1. Got the same problem as Richard: entering coordinates just produces empty maps. Any comment on that?

    And, btw, it would be nice if you implemented support for geoTIFF’s. This would make your program incredibly useful for people using a GIS / gps-combo for field reconnaissance.

  2. Hey,
    I’d love for this program to work, but I get no map at all. I get a blank white page with half of a yellow box saying “loading”. Doesn’t matter if I enter coordinates or a place, or what format I choose. Nothing make it work for me.
    WinXP Home SP3.
    Do I need to enable some things in Internet Explorer perhaps?
    Looks like a nice program, and I want to like it, and then subsequently donate..but alas my above troubles…

  3. Hi,
    I fixed the problem:
    For the others out there having the yellow loading box problem, here is the solution.
    Because GMS uses IE and http://maps.google.com, you must set this site as a trusted site in your security settings.

    1> Open IE go to Tools Menu, then Internet Options
    2> Select Security tab, Trused Sites (green tick icon), click Sites button
    3> type “http://maps.google.com” (without speech marks) into the ‘Add this website to the zone’ box, then click Add button.

    That’s it, should work fine. If google.com maps (it is important it’s maps.google.COM) works in IE browser, then it should work in GMS.

    Cheers

  4. Hi,

    This software is really nice and if you interested, I can do some English – Chinese translation for multi-language version of it. Email me: kobe8tang@gmail.com

  5. hi
    this software is great!
    it works really fast and after a lot of searching, this is the only software that helped me make my own maps from Google maps.
    Although i have some suggestions to make it it even better. if you are interested, send me an email.

  6. getting not enough space to process this command error???????????????????????????

  7. Great Software..
    someone can explain wich kind of coord this software want?

    I can use location/POI because all the image that I need are related to military airport and POI are not available.

    I put in coord field this coord :

    lat : 45.5299
    Long : 8.669

    but the software create a blank image..

    thanks in advance for your help

  8. Hi, i want to open the image and see it as i am using GMS, i mean like loading image in GMS and see them, as when i save the image and open it i can’t see it in a smouth way, when i zome the picture become blank with error, that only happen for 10000×10000 and above, i am not a pro programmer, but i do program in vb and i know it’s possible to view bmp image without using windows image viewer because it’s tooooo slow.

    I mean is there a way to make a program that loads bmp image and convert it to binary image then load it again and see it as you are seeing it using GMS. Thanks

  9. HI, I followed everything the FAQ asked me to do but I still get an “Invalid Image” as the result. What gives?

  10. Hi,

    Love this apps save me a pretty offline map with no problem,
    but when i transfer the map to my mobile phone – HTC One X.
    The map photo not able to zoom in enough until to view all the street detials like in the pc.
    no idea what is the problem. anyone HELP pls!

  11. 1.) I don’t have on my maps “Save with Google map saver(www.codres.de)”. Thats good, but I’m just wondering why :). Is it something wrong or is it removed (great if it is!)?

    2.) I cant open map with coordinates (for example “25.812071,-80.13329”). If I leave blank “location/PIO” and left only “coordinates”, maps doesn’t open… Problem with that is that I can open map only if I enter location and then I can’t save map of some little further place because when i press “GO”, map will be reset (jump back) to the center of location which I entered in “PIO”. I could evade that by using exact coordinates, but it doesn’t open map :/

    Excellent program, btw, thank you very much :-).

    My suggestion would be that you enable “segmented” “Save capture as”, i.e. to enable opening AND saving big maps (with huge resolutions, such as 20.000 x 20.000 pixels or even more) as MORE files (01.jpg, 02.jpg etc.). It would be more practical to have few files each big 10-20 MB’s than one big file of 100 MB’s.

    [What I would like is to save “satellite” map of some wilderness in Croatia with biggest zoom (20) and which is big 10 km x10 km

    Also, I would like to download satellite map of WHOLE Croatia with zoom “20”. :-)]

  12. Dear Daniel,

    THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Your tool it’s really nice! I can print nice maps for my travels!!!!

    Thanks again!

    I’ll donate when I can

  13. Hi, The problem I have – there is no Save button, only 1 huge GO button

    Cheers
    Peter

  14. This is a most excellent program! I had been using screen captures and stitching images together. What a time saver!!

    The only feature that I would really want to see is configurable position vertical and horizontal lines superimposed on Sat image to use as lat/lon navigation lines. I use the images for hiking and exploring, and lat/lon lines would allow me to link to my GPS effortlessly.

    Thanks again!!

    T

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  18. I do not drop a bunch of responses, but i did some searching
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    brush Blog. And I actually do have 2 questions for you if you tend
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  19. Hi guys. The GSM is a great tool and I’ve been using it to create some sceneries in my Flight Simulator. What I have noticed is that the largest zoom available now is “14”. Choosing any greater zoom option will result in same. 🙁 In my sceneries I’ve been using a zoom of 16x in a 10000×10000 resulution.

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  24. nice …
    but how can I do save map within selected Lon. lat. cords from my saved database????
    I need to use saved map to view in some reports by vb programming

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  28. Hello, I just discovered your software. It does exactly what I need.
    Using coordinates alone did not work for me. I just got a blank screen. (Can the software handle UTM coordinates?)
    Since the program can not yet handle huge maps you may consider a fetaure that lets the user specify a lower left corner then an upper right corner and then the program will build a group of medium sized files that can be stitched togeher outside of GMS. Perhaps the user would need to stitch together 6 files rather than 800.

    Thanks, Eric.

  29. Hi Daniel

    I to be able to Geo-reference the image from your software is there any way to create a world file or is there small kind of grid the Google use to co-ordinate the images?

    If so, do you know here I can get this grid for different zoom levels?

    Regards,
    Amit

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  33. Put the coordinates in the “Location/POI” field, works for me…

  34. Great tool !

    thank you so much

    one Q: is there a way to move or delete red marker (red balloon) and/or delete a green arrow marking the coordinates or the actual location.

    I entered one set of coordinates but the map displays both the red marker (red balloon) marking the center of the town and the green arrow marking the actual spot of coordinates

    tnx

  35. i’m curious how easy it would be to include a provision to grab URLs that have embedded Google Maps with third-party overlays. I have a project now that requires me to grab huge copies of those maps with overlays i’ve plotted. Your app seems like a good one, but for my purposes it would have to able to process Google maps that aren’t actually on pages belonging to Google Maps.

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