County Lines on Google Maps enhancements, Time Zones and Area Codes tools released

QUICK LINK TO THE MAP TOOL:  County Lines on Google Maps

This is just a quick note to let you know of a few enhancements to the County Lines on Google Maps tool, as well as the release of the worldwide Time Zones on Google Maps tool.

First, for the county lines tool:

1.  When searching in the US, you can now choose to also show City Limits at the same time as County Lines.  Just check this little box in the lower left corner of the map:

With “Also show US city limits” checked, you’ll be able to click on a place on the map (or type a place or address in the “Search places” box above the map) and see not only the County, State, and Country, but the City too.  For example:

2.  There are a couple of enhancements related to Latitude/Longitude or GPS coordinates.  The first one (which has been present for a few months), is that the Latitude/Longitude of the place you clicked on (or typed) appears at the bottom of the map, as shown above.

The other new feature is that you can now type GPS coordinates into the “Search places” box above the map.  For example, let’s say you have a GPS coordinate of 105.25° W, 40° N. The format for typing GPS coordinates into the map is Longitude first, Latitude second.  Longitudes west of the Greenwich Prime Meridian* are always a negative value, as are latitudes south of the equator.  So in this example, you would type -105.25, 40 and a drop-down menu will appear with the fully formatted coordinates for you to click on.  Like this:

Click the top choice in the drop-down menu, and you end up somewhere in Boulder, Colorado in this example:

3. Some people like to search for places by typing in an address, place, city, etc. into the “Search places” box above the map.  But some people like to just start exploring the map by clicking around, zooming, panning etc.  If you’re in that latter category, you can do that now…you don’t have to type if you don’t want to!

4. You can now use your current location by clicking the “⊕ Locate” button in the upper right corner of the map.  The Locate button will be more accurate on smartphones and other devices containing a GPS; desktop browsers typically show an approximate location.

5. One final enhancement, per user request:  you can click the “☐ expand” button in upper right to get a larger map window optimized for your particular screen size.  After expanding the map, click the “☐ reset” button in the upper right to return to the original map size.

As always, the County Lines on Google Maps tool includes county boundary lines, or their equivalent, for any place in the U.S., Great Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico and Switzerland.  Be sure to read the coverage notes and usage tips below the tool.

I hope you enjoy these enhancements!  Feel free to leave comments below.

P.S.  Also, thanks to all those who have taken a few moments to provide feedback on the tools in the user surveys!  I’m receiving really good feedback, and am humbled at the number of great things people are using the tools for.  I’ll aim to provide some high-level summaries of the survey results in the next couple of weeks.  If you haven’t provided feedback yet, and would like to, please find the details here.  I very much appreciate it!

* By the way, speaking of the Greenwich Prime Meridian, I’ve also released a new tool that shows Time Zones on Google Maps.  With it, you can see the time zone boundaries, time zone name, GMT offset, and the current local time anywhere in the world!  Be sure to read the usage notes and coverage info below the tool.  Here’s a sample screenshot, with city/county details shown:

And one more new tool:  Area Codes on Google Maps