This enhancement applies all of the mapping tools on this website:
Location Explorer on Google Maps
Historical U.S. Counties on Google Maps
On all of these randymajors.org mapping tools, you always had to start by typing in a city, address, place, etc.
Now with this latest enhancement, if you want to know more about your current location, you can just click the “⊕ Locate” buttons in the upper right corner of the map to immediately zoom to your current location. As a shortcut, you can also see your current county and answer “What county am I in?” here: www.what-county-am-i-in.com
Depending on which of the above tools you’re using, once the map zooms in, the name of the current county, city, ZIP Code, or historical county will appear, along with all of the applicable boundaries.
How might this be useful?
– You want to find out “what county am I in?”
– You’re on the road and standing on your ancestor’s farm and want to know what county the farm was part of back in 1850
– You’re in an unfamiliar area and want to know where nearby research locations are where you can dig deeper (e.g. courthouses, libraries, cemeteries)
– You’re travelling in a rural area (and not sure of a town name or address to type, or it’s inconvenient to type) and you need to determine your current county or ZIP Code
– I’ve heard of people using the tool for a wide variety of other uses that benefit from quickly finding out your current county, from geocaching to real estate title work to disaster support relief
Feel free to share in the comments if you have other uses for this!
Technical note: The “⊕ Locate” functionality will be more accurate on smartphones and other devices containing a GPS. It will work on most desktop browsers as well, but will often be a rough approximate location.
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Is there any licensing that would allow us to use this map embedded on our own website?
Can you tell me a little about the website and desired functionality and I can look into it. Thanks.