User blog:Cooksey.michael/Creative uses for Wikia Maps

Confession time: I am a huge map nerd. Always have been! When I was a little kid, some of my favorite books were actually atlases. And even today, I still adore looking at maps.

So naturally, I was so excited when we launched our new maps feature here at Wikia. There is so much you can do with maps, especially in our world of fandom. Of course, you can use the maps tool to create and annotate traditional, geographical maps, but you can *also* use the maps tool to annotate images and provide deep, creative insight into your favorite fandom, fictional worlds, details into video games, and more. You can even try annotating a "still," or image from a scene out of your favorite show. This is simply another great way to provide additional details about what's going on in your favorite fan universe.

I thought it’d be fun to take a look today at some examples of some really creative uses for our maps tool, including a couple of examples from our international communities. Hopefully these examples will inspire you to try using maps in your community!

DC Map

This is a fabulous use of maps from our DC Community, highlighting deep knowledge from The Legion of Substitute Heroes -- young heroes whose powers were not sufficient to earn them membership in the Legion of Super-Heroes.

One Direction Map

One Directioners, did you know that Demi Lovato is Niall's secret celeb crush? And did you also know that Zayn's birthday is Jan 12? Use the maps tool to add more superfan knowledge and share it with the world!

Tardis Map

Whovians, you will no doubt eat this map up, with all of the delicious Doctor Who details hidden throughout from the 50th Anniversary Special Teaser!

Mapa del Mundo Avatar

Avatar Wikians, take a look at this awesome map of the Avatar world from the Spanish Avatar community! Maps like this are a great way to get your bearings in kingdoms out of entertainment or literature, fictional planets or lands, and more.

JA Destiny Map

Are you playing 10 hours of Destiny per day, like our Japanese Community Team is? If you were, you'd know where to find *all* the dead ghosts located in the map here -- redeemable for Grimoire Cards that reveal deeper understanding of the Destiny universe's lore.

Nails Map

I'm adding this addition here from the Nail Polish community. It's an absolutely fabulous use of our maps tool for plotting out nail colors on the color spectrum, to help you find the perfect shade! I can also see artists, designers and others making use of the Wikia maps tool in a similar fashion.

There have been a few changes and fixes since we released maps, by the way -- notably, the following:


 * Maps deletion - As of today, only community admins and the map creator can delete a given map
 * Associated Articles - Now you can add an associated article using a URL from another community or even from an external web page


 * Pin titles are now black if there is no associated article linked to the pin; blue otherwise

OK, ready to put maps to use in your community? Check out our maps help page right here on Community Central. Oh, and I'd love to hear your ideas and suggestions in the comments below on how to best make use of maps, so be sure to share your thoughts.

Happy mapping!