After a contest, I export 3 files from N1MM – a cabrillo log file which is submitted to the contest group a summary file which shows the number of contacts, points and multipliers by band an ADIF file of the contact info which I then import into my day to day logging program.

I use N1MM for contests but that doesn’t really factor into the maps. Here’s an example of a map recently generated and what follows is how I create it(click to enlarge): When I want to run through the steps below after a contest, once the data is cleaned up, it is less then 5 mins from start to finish to create and crop the image I use in my posts. This is a long post as I’ve tried to go into detail on many of the steps and include a few screenshots where it seemed appropriate and if viewing this on the home page, click to view this post on its own to see all the steps. There might also be additional tricks or enhancements that Google has added that I’m not yet aware of, so please comment on this post if there are new tricks. There might very well be other programs or methods to do this but I’m just explaining the steps I take. I’m going to describe how I do it using the software and systems I use on a daily basis. I get asked a lot, both as comments on this site or via direct emails to me on how I create the maps of the contacts I make and embed within posts.