Someone I know has asked me if I there is a way to get a high resolution image of a map for research. There are many legitimate applications of this information, but make sure you’re not breaching Google Maps/Earth terms of use before you proceed.

TL;DR

You can save high resolution images by embedding a huge map to an empty HTML page and using a browser extension that cab capture a whole website.

Step by step instructions

Software required:

• Any text editor
• A web browser
• Latest version of Firefox or a Nimbus Screenshot browser extension
• Adobe Photoshop (optional)

Steps

Find the object of interest

Find the map you’d like to capture on Google Maps. I’ll use La Gomera island as an example. Center the object in the center of the screen.

Get the embed code

Go to Menu -> Share or embed map. The embed HTML code looks something like this:

<iframe

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