General Tips

• Any points that are visible on the map are listed in the sidebar on the left side of the screen. You can click on a point in the sidebar or on the map to view more information about that location, including, where available: an address, a description and accompanying audio recording, a photo and GPS coordinates.
• Locations are displayed on the map and listed in the sidebar using colour-coded marker icons like these:
  Accommodations

  Attractions

  Boating & Marinas

  Dining & Nightlife

  Outdoor Recreation

  Shopping

  Spas, Salons & Retreats
  These marker icons indicate which category each location falls under. Individual locations may be listed under multiple categories. A full list of categories appears in the sidebar under the All Points of Interest tab.
• You can assemble your own personal travel itinerary in a shopping-cart fashion. Any time you see a , you can click it to add that point to your custom tour. If a point is already listed in your custom tour, you will see a next to it instead, which you can use to remove that point from your tour. When a point is added to your custom tour, the icon on the map acquires a yellow glow and changes to show a at its top-right corner, like this:
  ->
• Once you’ve added points to your custom tour, you can view the contents by clicking on the My Custom Tour tab that will appear at the top-right of the screen.

Starting with some suggested tours

• The first tab at the top-left of the screen is Suggested Tours. This is the first screen you see upon visiting the site. Here, we’ve made a list of 8 suggested tour itineraries. You can use these itineraries as they are, or use them as a starting point for building your own custom tour.
• The suggested tours are listed in the sidebar to the left of the map. Click on a suggested tour’s title to display it on the map and to view a list of of its points in the sidebar. (The tour you are currently viewing is highlighted in green. One suggested tour is always open on this screen. To see a different tour, just click on another suggested tour title.) You may add individual points to your custom tour by using the buttons, or you may add the entire tour list by clicking Add All to My Custom Tour at the bottom of the tour list.

Browsing through all points of interest in the region

• The second tab above the map is All Points of Interest. Use this tab to browse through all 287 points on the map. The sidebar to the left lists all points, organized by category. To select points by category, you can use the checkboxes next to each category to select and deselect each option. When there is a checkmark in the box, the points in that category will be displayed on the map. Some categories also contain sub-categories. To view the sub-categories, click on the name of the category you wish to display to further refine your view.
• Any time you see a marker on the map that looks like a small stack of markers like the one below, it means there are multiple points in that category that exist at that location, but are too close together to display individually.
  x4
  (The number inside the icon indicates how many points are at that location.) Click on these markers to zoom in far enough to see the individual locations.
• Any time you see a point that you would like to add to your custom tour, just click the that appears below its description on the map.

Searching for specific locations on the map

• The third tab above the map is Search the Map. Type a word or phrase into the white search box to perform a search. Search results will begin to automatically appear once you have typed three or more letters, which indicates that the engine is looking for a match in a location name or description.
• Any locations that match your search criteria will be displayed on the map, as well as in the sidebar on the left. To view information about any of those locations, click on them in the sidebar, or the marker icons on the map.
• If you find a place you would like to add to your custom tour, just click the next to the point’s name in the sidebar or below its description on the map.

Viewing and modifying your custom tour

• If you have added any points to your custom tour, a fourth tab will appear above the map, at the top-right of the screen, labelled My Custom Tour . On the right side of that tab, you will see a small excerpt from your tour list, showing the most recent change that has been made to it (a point addition or deletion). The tab also has a checkbox, labelled "overlay on map". When it is checked and you are viewing suggested tours or search results, points that are already in your custom tour that would not otherwise appear on the map - because they are not part of the suggested tour or search results - will be displayed on the map in a semi-transparent state, as a handy reference.
• Click on the My Custom Tour tab to view all the points that you have added to your custom tour, both on the map, as well as in the sidebar on the left. You may change the order in which points are listed in your custom tour by clicking-and-dragging them to a spot higher or lower in the list. You may remove points from your custom tour by using the next to the point’s name in the sidebar or below its description on the map.
• You may clear the entire contents of your custom tour by clicking Clear My Custom Tour at the bottom of the list in the sidebar. When your tour is empty, you will be returned to the Suggested Tours view, and the My Custom Tour tab will disappear.

Printing or downloading locations or itineraries

• To print the description of an individual point, click the that appears at the bottom of that point’s description on the map.
• To print an itinerary, click Print Itinerary at the bottom of the sidebar list in Suggested Tours or My Custom Tour.
• To download the details of an individual point, click Download... at the bottom of that point’s description on the map to open a menu of options.
• To download an itinerary, click Download this tour... at the bottom of the sidebar list in Suggested Tours or My Custom Tour to open a menu of options.
• For either individual points or itineraries, download options include:
  • GPX file for GPS import: This will download a GPX file you can import to a number of GPS devices. Check your device’s documentation for details on GPX support. You may require the use of third-party software**, such as EasyGPS, GPSBabel, or GSAK to convert the GPX file to a format suited to your particular GPS device.
  • Text description(s): This will download a text file listing the details of all downloaded points.
  • MP3 audio description(s): This will download MP3 files of recordings of the descriptions of all downloaded points. If you are downloading audio descriptions of a tour with more than one point, the MP3s will be downloaded together in a zip file.
  • Sync to a Garmin GPS unit: If you are using a Garmin device, you can download information to your unit directly with the Garmin Communicator® browser plugin. This will send locations with their descriptions, and, if your device has MP3 support, photos and audio recordings to your Garmin device in the TourGuide® format, so you can set supporting Garmin devices to automatically display the descriptions and photos and playback the audio recordings as you approach the locations. (While response on different Garmin units may vary, TourGuide files are typically uploaded into Travel Kit or My Locations, under Where to?) For more information about the Garmin Communicator plugin, visit Garmin’s FAQ. For information on TourGuide support, consult your device’s documentation.