Mapping "I Do"

My friend, Abby, asked me to create her invitations for her upcoming nuptials that's taking place this summer. Part of her invitation package is a Directions Card that consists of a map.

I have never created a map from scratch before, so I wasn't too sure where to start. I did some googling and got some pointers from this handy online tutorial.

Here are the steps that I took:
1) Take a Print Screen of the satellite image of the area that you want to create

                       


2) Using Adobe Illustrator, create a new layer. With the Pen tool, trace all the major streets and roads

You may notice that the satellite map and the roads don't quite match up. I had already shrunk the map that I made prior to taking screen shots of my project.  

3) Create another layer and trace buildings that are major landmarks (You can choose to trace all the buildings in the area, which was what I originally did, but it's not necessary)

4) If you want your start and end points to stand out, instead of tracing the building/area, you may want to consider using a graphic.

5) With the Pen tool, draw the destination path

6) Hide the layer with the satellite map.  Crop and edit the map as needed, and you're done!

Got another way of creating maps? Please share :)