Gary: Here's my technique. I use Illustrator layers for each different aspect of a map; Google Map for a base to draw on, black road, white road, streets & misc, Start-Fin detail, Miles & Elevation, Route & Miles text, Race Director background, USATF background, USATF header, Race Director header and more. When I'm done, I lock and hide the layers that I don't use. I've found that I get smaller pdf files if I then <Select All> files that I want in the pdf, copy and paste them to a new "untitled" Illustrator file. Save that file (<Save a Copy>
as pdf, with the race name followed by a date. The resulting Illustrator screen gives choices that impact file size. I use (check) only "Optimize for fast web view", and "View pdf after saving". This results in the smallest file. The other Illustrator options (Save for Web) result in small files that are not as clear as the pdfs. If you have Adobe Acrobat (not Adobe Reader), use the "Reduce File Size" (<Document> <Reduce File Size> to reduce the file size to a very manageable size. Google Earth layers and Google Maps layers are huge. I try to hide them. The process results in maps usually less than 300k unless a Google layer is included, these can be around 1m. Hope this helps.
