Category: Notes

How to reboot a server in DigitalOcean

DigitalOcean offers various cloud technologies for developers, but of all the variety of services, I use only VPS (virtual private server).

At the same time, due to the large number of cloud solutions, it is not intuitively clear how to perform such a simple action in DigitalOcean as rebooting the VPS.

The server can be restarted by connecting to it via SSH and executing the command

reboot

But if the server is frozen and SSH is not working, then you can force a reboot of the VPS from the DigitalOcean control panel.

How to restart a VPS in DigitalOcean

Go to the control panel and select Droplets from the menu, then select the server you want to restart.

Then select the “Power” tab.

On it you will see two possible actions:

  • Turn off Droplet – turn off the VPS
  • Power cycle – VPS reboot

That is, to restart the VPS, you need to press the “Power Cycle” button.

After that, wait until the reboot is completed.

What is the difference between Turn off Droplet and Power cycle

Turn off Droplet roughly corresponds to a power outage from your virtual private server. That is, the server stops working. At the same time, the server itself is saved, its IP and IPv6 addresses and other characteristics are saved.

You can turn your server back on at any time.

The “Turn off Droplet” feature is necessary if you want to make it unavailable, shut down your server for any reason.

Please note that turning off the server using the “Turn off Droplet” does not cancel the payment for it! You will still be charged for the plan for VPS in accordance with the selected server parameters!

If you want the server to no longer be charged, then you need to destroy it (that is, go to the “Destroy” section and perform the appropriate actions to delete the server). After deleting the server, it will be impossible to restore it!

The “Power cycle” is to turn off the power from the server, and then turn it on again, that is, this corresponds to a VPS reboot.

That is, you can restart the server by turning off the power in the Turn off Droplet, and then turning it back on manually, or by performing a Power cycle. However, these actions are not quite equivalent:

  • Turning off and on using the “Turn off Droplet” will mean an attempt to send a command to the server to turn off. If this fails, the power will be forcibly turned off. You can then restart the server manually. All of this takes longer overall, but is a bit safer.
  • Using “Power cycle” will turn the power off and back on without attempting to shut down the server safely. Power cycle takes less time (provided that your VPS is healthy and able to boot on its own).

DigitalOcean promo code

If you want to get a DigitalOcean promo code for testing VPS (or other cloud features) for free, then use this link.

You will be given $200, which you can use to create a VPS, among other things.

Sitemap.xml files: what they are for, how to use them, and how to bypass “Too many URLs” error and size limits

Table of contents

  1. What are Sitemaps
  2. What are the restrictions for sitemap files
  3. How can you compress a sitemap file
  4. Can I use multiple sitemaps?
  5. What is the structure of sitemap files
  6. How to generate sitemap files
  7. How to Import a Sitemap into Google Search Console
  8. Sitemap.xml file status “Couldn't fetch”
  9. Is it necessary to use the sitemap.xml file?
  10. What to do if the sitemap contains an error. How to remove a sitemap file from Google Search Console

What are Sitemaps

Sitemaps are XML-formatted files that contain a list of the URLs of your site's pages for submission to the Google search engine so that it can quickly find out and index them.

What are the restrictions for sitemap files

  1. The file size should not be more than 50 MB
  2. There can be no more than 50,000 links in one file

How can you compress a sitemap file

In addition to the simple text format with XML markup, the file can be compressed into a .gz archive. In this case, the file size decreases dramatically because text files compress very well. For example, my 25 MB file was compressed into a 500 KB file.

To do this, it is enough to compress the original sitemap.xml file into .gz format. As a link in Google Search Console, you need to specify the path to the archive, for example: https://site.net/sitemap.xml.gz

If, when you try to open the https://site.net/sitemap.xml.gz file in a web browser, it downloads it to your computer instead of showing the content as for the sitemap.xml file, then this is normal. Either way, Google Search Console will be able to process this file.

Can I use multiple sitemaps?

For each site or domain resource, you can create multiple Sitemaps and import them all into Google Search Console – this is not only allowed, but also recommended by Google itself for sitemaps that are too large.

If there are many Sitemap files, then a complete list of them can be collected in a separate Sitemap file. This file is called “Sitemap Index File”. An example of the content of the sitemap.xml file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<sitemapindex xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
	<sitemap>
		<loc>https://site.net/sitemaps/sitemap_1.xml</loc>
	</sitemap>
	<sitemap>
		<loc>https://site.net/sitemaps/sitemap_2.xml</loc>
	</sitemap>
	<sitemap>
		<loc>https://site.net/sitemaps/sitemap_3.xml</loc>
	</sitemap>
</sitemapindex>

After that, it is enough to import this main file into Google Search Console.

The rest of the sitemaps listed in the main index file will automatically be imported into the Google Search Console.

To see them, click on the file name. You will see a list of imported Sitemaps.

You need to wait before these files are processed and their status changes to “Success”.

What is the structure of sitemap files

Sitemap files have the following structure:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<urlset xmlns="http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9">
	<url>
		<loc>https://domain.site.net/?p=1</loc>
		<lastmod>2022-10-08T14:14:27+00:00</lastmod>
		<changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
		<priority>0.8</priority>
	</url>
<url>
	<loc>https://domain.site.net/?p=2</loc>
		<lastmod>2022-10-08T14:14:27+00:00</lastmod>
		<changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
		<priority>0.8</priority>
	</url>
	<url>
		<loc>https://domain.site.net/?p=3</loc>
		<lastmod>2022-10-08T14:14:27+00:00</lastmod>
		<changefreq>monthly</changefreq>
		<priority>0.8</priority>
	</url>
</urlset>

Each entry consists of four elements:

  1. URL
  2. Date of last modification
  3. Frequency of modification (e.g. monthly)
  4. A priority

How to generate sitemap files

If you are using WordPress, then the easiest way is to install a sitemap plugin.

If there is no sitemap plugin for your site engine, then it is quite easy to generate it yourself, since it is just a text file with XML markup.

How to Import a Sitemap into Google Search Console

Go to Google Search Console, select the site you want to report the Sitemap for, enter the URL of the Sitemap.

Sitemap.xml file status “Couldn't fetch”

At first, an inscription may appear that the sitemap.xml file “Couldn't fetch”. This inscription appears even if everything is alright with the sitemap.xml file. You just need to wait a little.

The bottom line is that this inscription does not mean that there are problems with the sitemap.xml file. It's just that the turn to analyze this file has not yet come.

A little later, the status of the file will change to “Successful”. At the same time, it will show how many URLs were revealed thanks to this file.

Even later, you can view the link indexing report from the sitemap.xml file.

Is it necessary to use the sitemap.xml file?

In fact, I don't usually use a sitemap.xml file. I add articles to most sites manually and, in my opinion, the sitemap.xml file is not particularly needed, since pages on such sites are indexed very quickly.

But if you're unhappy with your site's indexing speed, or need to quickly report a large number of URLs to be indexed, then try using sitemap.xml files.

What to do if the sitemap contains an error. How to remove a sitemap file from Google Search Console

If, after trying to process the Sitemap, you find that it contains errors (for example, an incorrect date format or broken links), then you do not have to wait until the time comes for the next crawling.

You can delete a Sitemap from Google Search Console and add it again right away. After that, quite quickly (within a few minutes), Google will check the Sitemap file again.

To remove a Sitemap file from Google Search, click on it. On the page that opens, in the upper right corner, find the button with three horizontal dots. Click it and select “Remove sitemap”.

After that, the Sitemap file will be deleted and you, after correcting errors in it, can immediately re-add the Sitemap file with the same or a different URL.

How to prevent search engines from indexing only the main page of the site

To prevent search engines from indexing only the main page, while allowing indexing of all other pages, you can use several approaches, depending on the characteristics of a particular site.

1. Using the robots.txt file

If the main page has its own address (usually it is index.php, index.html, index.htm, main.html and so on), and while trying to open a link like w-e-b.site/ a website redirects to the main page, for example, to w-e-b.site/index.htm, then you can use the robots.txt file with something like the following content:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /index.php
Disallow: /index.html
Disallow: /index.htm
Disallow: /main.html

In fact, using an explicit name for the main page is the exception rather than the rule. So let's look at other options.

You can use the following approach:

  1. Deny site-wide access with the “Disallow” directive.
  2. Then allow the indexing of the entire site using the “Allow” directive, except for the main page.

Sample robots.txt file:

User-agent: *
Allow: ?p=
Disallow: /

The “Allow” directive must always come before “Disallow”. The “Allow” directive allows all pages with a URL like “?p=”, and the “Disallow” directive disables all pages. As a result, the following result is obtained: indexing of the entire site (including the main page) is prohibited, except for pages with an address like “?p=”.

Let's look at the result of checking two URLs:

  • https://suay.ru/ (main page) – indexing is prohibited
  • https://suay.ru/?p=790#6 (article page) – indexing allowed

In the screenshot, number 1 marks the contents of the robots.txt file, number 2 is the URL being checked, and number 3 is the result of the check.

2. Using the robots meta tag

If your site is separate files, then add the robots meta tag to the HTML code of the main page file:

<meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow>

3. With .htaccess and mod_rewrite

Using .htaccess and mod_rewrite, you can block access to a specific file as follows:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Google [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Yandex [NC]
RewriteRule (index.php)|(index.htm)|(index.html) - [F]

Please note that when you try to open a link like https://w-e-b.site/ (that is, without specifying the name of the main page), a specific file is still requested on the web server side, for example, index.php, index.htm or index. html. Therefore, this method of blocking access (and, accordingly, indexing) works even if the main page of your site opens without specifying a specific file name (index.php, index.html, index.htm, main.html, and so on), as is usually the case.

How to enable saving photos in HEIC (HEIF) format in Android and whether it should be done

As an alternative to JPEG, modern phone cameras offer saving images in the HEIC (HEIF) format.

Moreover, in iOS, the camera uses HEIC (HEIF) formats by default, and if you do not want to save your photos in these formats, then you can disable this feature.

Android phone cameras also support this format, but it is not used by default.

This guide will show you how to enable saving files in HEIF in Android. Information about this format will also be given so that you decide if you need it at all.

How to enable saving photos in HEIF format in Android camera

Open the Camera app.

Go to the camera settings by clicking the gear symbol.

Go to the “Picture formats” section.

Find and turn on the item “High efficiency pictures”.

The description of this item says: Save space by capturing Photo mode pictures in high efficiency image format (HEIF). Some apps and websites don’t support HEIF format.

After that, all new photos will be saved in HEIF format.

Actually photo files will be saved with .heic extension, not .heif. Applications that support this format understand both file extensions. HEIC is a container format that can store HEVC encoded sounds and images.

Do I need to enable saving photos in HEIF format in Android

HEIF is a new image encoding format, thanks to new algorithms, photo files take up many times less space, while the quality is better compared to JPEG. In addition, the HEIF format has additional technical advantages that are completely absent in JPEG.

At first glance, everything is wonderful.

But in practice, using the HEIF format, you will encounter the fact that many applications and sites do not understand it and do not know how to work with it, or work in a limited way. For example, web browsers cannot display HEIF images.

Even more frustrating is the fact that HEIF is already kind of an outdated format. Yes, despite the fact that HEIF is poorly supported by popular applications, the developers of this format have created another format that is even better, this is AVIF.

Paradoxically, the even newer AVIF format is supported somewhat better by applications. Web browsers are at least partially capable of displaying images in this format. Partly because animated AVIF (yes, the format supports animated images, transparency, and deeper color depth) is not supported by any of the applications I've tested, including web browsers.

But what is even more annoying, even modern Android phone models still do not have the option to save photos in AVIF.

If your phone does not yet support HEIC (HEIF) formats, then I took some photos for you so that you can compare the quality with JPEG and HEIC (HEIF).

This photo was taken with my phone and saved as a JPEG.

Then I enabled saving the file in the HEIC format in the settings and took the following picture (the web browser cannot display this format, but you can download the file from the link): https://zawindows.ru/files/home.heic

JPEG file size 2.5 MB, HEIF file size taken on the phone 1.4 MB.

I'm not completely sure if the phone actually saves the file in HEIC format initially, or if it first takes a picture in JPEG format and only then converts it to HEIC. In the second case, all the advantages (less distortion during compression, support for greater color depth) of the HEIC format are lost, except for the small size.

Then I took the JPEG file and converted it to HEIC. In fact, in this case, HEIC and HEIF are identical formats. The file turned out to be upside down, to rotate it 90° I used the GIMP graphics editor. In both cases, I converted and saved the file without changing the resolution or reducing the quality. The resulting file began to occupy 663 kilobytes at the same resolution. Link to the file: https://zawindows.ru/files/home-converted.heif

Visually, the files do not differ – you can download all three files and look for differences in order to decide for yourself whether it is worth switching to the HEIC (HEIF) format, given the difficulties with viewing and processing it.

You can also experiment with AVIF and HEIF (HEIC) formats using the Universal Image Converter: https://suip.biz/?act=convert-any-image. This completely free online service supports hundreds of image formats, including AVIF and HEIF (HEIC).

Why images are distorted in photographs and parallel lines become converging

I noticed that the photos taken by the Android phone, namely the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra models, are very distorted.

Distortion is especially noticeable on parallel lines (such as the sides of a building) and on people's faces.

For example, In the photo above you can see that tall buildings seem to grow in different directions, although this is certainly not the case – in real life, such high-rise buildings would have already fallen.

Even in this photo of a low building with several floors, you can see how much the photo is distorted – the parallel sides are not parallel at all.

The same happens with faces – they become distorted, as if alien.

This camera behavior and photo distortion cannot be avoided when shooting with a wide-angle lens, but the examples shown above are taken with a regular camera without any adjustments.

In fact, the problem is explained and solved very simply – you need to hold the phone perpendicular to the object that you are photographing.

Look at this distorted frame – the lines of its sides are no longer parallel and should converge at some point.

And in this shot, the photographer is simply holding the phone perpendicular to the frame – now all opposite sides of the picture are parallel!

If you are photographing houses, then in order for their sides to be parallel, mentally divide the viewfinder horizontally in half and place the center of the house on this line. That is, the house does not have to be placed exactly in the center of the frame, it is enough that the middle of the house is at the level of a mental line dividing the frame horizontally in half.

In this photo, I slightly changed the angle of the house opposite and its walls began to go straight up.

Likewise with faces. Try to make sure that the camera is held perpendicular to the face, that is, the middle part of the face should be at the level of the mental line dividing the frame horizontally in half.

How to measure distance (route and direct) between two points on Google maps

Table of contents

1. What is the difference between the distances directly and the route between two objects on the map

2. How to measure a route between two points on the map

2.1 How to measure a route between two points on the map on a computer

2.2 How to change the route between two objects on the map in Android

3. How to measure the direct distance between two objects on a map

3.1 How to measure the direct distance between two objects on a map on a computer

3.2 How to measure the direct distance between two objects on a map on Android

3.3 How to measure the direct distance between two objects on a map on iOS (iPhone & iPad)


What is the difference between the distances directly and the route between two objects on the map

The distance between two points can be measured as:

  • distances directly from one geographic feature to another
  • the distance of the route that you need to walk or drive to get from one point to another

Although these distances are related to each other, they are rarely the same. For example, in a city with tangled roads, the distance between two objects (for example, a house and a sea beach) may be 1.4 km in a straight line, but in practice, in order to get to the beach from the house on foot, you need to walk 2.1 km – because somewhere the roads form a fancy cobweb, some parts of the route are closed.. That is, these two distances differ by 50%. If we also take into account transport (cars, for example) and public transport, then the difference between these two distances will be even more significant.

In this post we will look at how to determine the distance between two objects on maps in a straight line and the distance of the route between them. We will learn how to do this on a desktop computer, as well as Android and iOS devices.

How to measure a route between two points on the map

How to measure a route between two points on the map on a computer

Go to Google Maps: https://www.google.com/maps

Then click on the “Directions” button:

You will see two fields. Click on the first one. You can enter an address to search. Another option is to specify the location directly on the map, for this click the magnifying glass (“Search”) and select the desired location on the map.

Now switch to the second field and select your destination in the same way.

Then select the method of travel (Recommended travel mode, Driving, Transit, Waling, Cycling, Flights).

You will see options for the shortest (or fastest, most convenient) routes, distance and travel time.

You can drag both the end and the starting point of the route, and each time the route will be rebuilt based on new initial data and you will receive updated information about the distance and time of movement.

If you want to change the path of the route, then you can drag any waypoints and select the desired route. For the new route, you will receive the calculated distance and travel time.

If you want to create a complex route, then click the “Add destination” button.

Note: if you have already performed a search on Google Maps, then to switch to the route building mode, click the “Directions” button.

The already familiar window will open, you just need to specify the second (starting) point of the route.

Optionally, you can swap the starting and ending points.

How to change the route between two objects on the map in Android

Open the Google Maps app.

Select the first object on the map by clicking on it, or use the search to select it.

Then click the “Directions” button.

Select the second point. If you want to swap the starting and ending points, then click on the symbol of the two arrows pointing up and down.

Second point selection options:

  • search
  • your current location
  • point on the map

For example, I select the second point on the map, when everything is ready, click OK.

Then choose a method of transportation (Recommended travel mode, Driving, Transit, Waling, Cycling, Flights).

You will be shown the length of the route and the time it will take to get there by the chosen method of travel.

As with the desktop version, you can switch between the suggested routes and estimate the length of each one.

How to measure the direct distance between two objects on a map

You can calculate the distance between two or more points on the map. For example, you can measure the mileage in a straight line between two cities.

How to measure the direct distance between two objects on a map on a computer

On your computer, open Google Maps. If you're using Maps in Lite mode, you’ll see a lightning bolt at the bottom and you won't be able to measure the distance between points.

Right-click on your starting point.

Choose “Measure distance”.

Click anywhere on the map to create a path to measure. To add another point, click anywhere on the map.

Optional: Drag a point or path to move it, or click a point to remove it.

At the bottom, you’ll see the total distance in miles (mi) and kilometers (km).

When done: On the card at the bottom, click Close Close.

How to measure the direct distance between two objects on a map on Android

Step 1: Add the first point

  1. On your Android phone or tablet, open the Google Maps app Google Maps.
  2. Touch and hold anywhere on the map. You'll see a red pin appear.
  3. At the bottom, tap the name of the place.

  1. On the place’s page, scroll down and choose Measure distance.

Step 2: Add the next point or points

  1. Move the map so that the black circle, or crosshairs, is on the next point you want to add.

  1. At the bottom right, tap Add.
  2. Add points until you're done.

Step 3: Get the distance

  1. At the bottom, you’ll see the total distance in miles (mi) or kilometers (km).
  • Optional: To remove the last point you added, tap Undo. To clear all points: At the top right, tap More and then Clear.
  1. When done, tap the back arrow in the top left.

Important note: Apparently, “Measure distance” does not appear if you select an organization. This inscription appears if you select a road or other empty place for which there is no detailed description.

How to measure the direct distance between two objects on a map on iOS (iPhone & iPad)

Step 1: Add the first point

  1. On your iPhone or iPad, open the Google Maps app Google Maps.
  2. Touch and hold anywhere on the map. You'll see a red pin appear.
  3. At the bottom, tap the name of the place.
  4. On the place’s page, scroll down and choose Measure distance.

Step 2: Add the next point or points

  1. Move the map so that the black circle, or crosshairs, is on the next point you want to add.
  2. At the bottom right, tap Add.
  3. Add points until you're done.

Step 3: Get the distance

  1. At the bottom, you’ll see the total distance in miles (mi) or kilometers (km).
  • Optional: To remove the last point you added, tap Undo. To clear all points: At the top right, tap More and then Clear.
  1. When done, tap the back arrow in the top left.

Gmail does not receive forwarded emails (SOLVED)

Some Gmail users face the problem that the configured forwarding to the Google mailbox (Gmail) does not work, or is unstable.

I faced such a problem when trying to set up forwarding from mail.ru mail to @gmail.com mail. In my case, forwarding from mail.ru was configured correctly and enabled. Moreover, it even worked for some time.

Google has shown that the problem when forwarded emails are not being delivered is encountered by many users – there is no official solution to the problem from Google.

First of all, it is recommended to check the filters in Gmail – some of them can send mail to spam or delete emails without putting them in the Inbox. Instead of going into the filters and trying to figure them out, just send a letter from the mailbox from which you set up forwarding to the address where you want to forward – if the electronic letter has arrived, then it is not about filters.

Instead of trying to fix unstable forwarded emails, there is another, more reliable way out. You can set up Gmail to check and receive mail from other mailboxes.

How to set up Gmail to check mail from other mailboxes

Go to Gmail mailbox, click the gear in the upper right corner and select “See all settings”.

Go to the “Accounts and Import” tab. Find the “Check mail from other accounts” section and click “Add a mail account”.

Enter the email address from which you want to forward emails as soon as they arrive.

Select “Import emails from my other account (POP3)”.

Enter your mailbox password.

Next, you will be asked if you want to be able to send electronic letters from this account. If so, you just need to enter the password again.

This method turned out to be more reliable than forwarding emails. You need to remember that emails will stop being forwarded (coming to your Gmail mailbox) if you change the password for the forwarded mailbox, so when you change your password, do not forget to change it in the Gmail settings.

How to block access to my site from a specific bux site or any other site with negative traffic

There are situations when negative traffic comes from certain sites, for example, from bux sites or simply from sites that you don't like. In some cases, such traffic can be dealt with, but not always.

Quite often, there are tasks like “go to a search engine, enter such and such a query, go to such and such a site” in bux sites – this is unlikely to be combated, since this request is difficult to distinguish from ordinary traffic.

But if the request is made directly from the bux site, or is shown in an iframe, then this can be dealt with.

Also, if your site has been added to an aggregator or a link is placed on a site that you do not like, then this method will also work.

For example, a bad site is https://site.click/. To block traffic from this site, you can use the following:

RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} https://site.click/ [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [R=404]

These lines need to be written to the .htaccess file. These are the rules for the mod_rewrite module, which is usually enabled in Apache.

In this case, everyone who came from the site https://site.click/ will be shown the message “404 page not found”. If desired, you can put any other response code instead of 404, for example, 403 (access denied), 500 (internal server error) or any other.

If you want to block access from multiple sites, use the [OR] flag, for example:

RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} https://site.click/ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} anotherdomain\.com [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} andanotherdomain\.com [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} onemoredomain\.com [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [R=404]

Note that the [OR] flag does not need to be specified on the last line.

Instead of displaying an error, you can redirect to any page of your site, for example, in the following case, all users who come from the site https://site.click/ will be sent to the error.html page of your site:

RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} https://site.click/ [NC]
RewriteRule .* error.html [R]

And the following rules set everyone who came from the site https://site.click/ to redirect to https://natribu.org/ru/:

RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} https://site.click/ [NC]
RewriteRule .* https://natribu.org/ru/ [R]

How to change the language of Google services

Google services are available in all languages supported by Google. You can change your account language at any time.

What does the change of language affect?

If you change your preferred language, you will be shown different content on the Internet. Google may use information about your chosen languages to display more relevant content on apps and services. To change your preferred language for mobile apps, go to the language settings on your device.

That is, first of all, changes in the language in Google services affect:

  1. The interface language, for example, in GMail.
  2. Suggested search results, they will be targeted to the selected language
  3. Advertising. The language you choose is one of the factors in which ads are shown to you.

How to change Google search language

To ensure that you are less likely to see sites in your current language and prioritize sites in your chosen language, change the language of Google services.

However, this does not mean that you will no longer be shown results in search results in languages other than the selected one. The fact is that search results are generated based on many factors, for example, the language of your web browser and the language of previously viewed websites.

If you do not want to change the language of all Google services, but want to change only the preferred language of the search results, then go to the website https://www.google.com/, search and click on the gear located to the right of the search bar.

In the menu that appears, select the “Language” item.

Select the desired search language and save your changes.

How to change the interface language of Google services

1. Sign in to your Google account.

2. Go to https://myaccount.google.com/language

3. Click the “Add another language” button or if the language you need is present in the “Added by Google” section, that is, added automatically, then click the “Save” button.

4. Select the language and dialect of the language and click the “Save” button.

5. Press the up arrow to prioritize the selected language.

You may need to restart your web browser for the changes to take effect.

If you want to return your language settings or select a different language, go back to https://myaccount.google.com/language and select your preferred language by clicking the up arrow next to it.

How to copy a Google map created by another user

Google Maps allows you to create your own maps by adding places, routes, markers, layers, information, areas. Sometimes users create very useful maps. Since this is a user's map, he, by his own decision, can change it, delete it or remove it from public access – sometimes it is a pity to lose access to the map, which is a storehouse of data and is the result of long and painstaking work. This article will show you how you can make a copy of a Google Map and have it even if the original map is no longer available or has changes that you don't like.

There is no copying option in the settings and actions with Google maps, but this does not mean that it is impossible.

Open the map you are interested in in a web browser, then go to https://www.google.com/maps/d/ and select the “Recent” tab.

Find the map you are interested in and click the button of three points, in the menu that opens, select “Copy”.

Now go to the “Owned” tab.

There you will find the copied map.

How to edit someone else's Google map

If you do not have permission to edit someone else's Google map, but you want to make changes to the map, then you need to copy the map, as shown above, you can edit this copied map.

Where Google maps are copied

Maps are copied to Google Drive. You will find your copy of the map at https://drive.google.com/drive/my-drive

How to make a map available to other users

By default, the copied map is available only to you. If you want to allow other people to access it, then open your copy of the map, and click the “Share” message.

Enable Preferred Access - Link Only or Full Access.

Copy the link to the map you want to share.

How to add a map to a site

To add a map to the site, open it, click the three-dot button, in the menu that opens, select “Embed on my site”.

You will be given a snippet of HTML code to insert a map into a website page.

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