boundaries

Quick Links: County Maps of all 50 U.S. States

January 28, 2021 by Randy Majors

If you ever need a map showing the counties of just one state, complete with county name labels, you can find links to those on the aptly titled County Maps of all 50 U.S. States page. For example, clicking the Iowa County Map link on that page will take you to the County Lines on Google Maps tool already filtered to show just Iowa counties, complete with labels. It looks like this: Once on the page, you can zoom in, turn on city limits and townships in the lower left corner, and so on. Also, if you need to find … Read more

Which U.S. states have which levels of local government…and why should I care?

January 28, 2021 by Randy Majors

This topic is more complicated than it sounds, so I’ll attempt to keep it high level. Whether you’re doing present-day or historical research about a place, it’s important to know which levels of local government exist in the state you are researching (e.g. counties, cities, townships). Why should you care? It may determine which place houses the records you’re looking for The exact location often determines which local taxes are levied and which local laws are applicable It determines who has jurisdiction for a given location (e.g. police, sheriff, etc.) In addition to providing some definitions, I’ll also point you … Read more

So…what is randymajors.org Research Hub anyway?

January 28, 2021 by Randy Majors

“So what is your website all about?” I increasingly get asked some form of this question about randymajors.org Research Hub. A BRIEF BACKSTORY: Back in 2006-2010, the randymajors.org website was a fairly small collection of blog posts about family history plus some of my photography. Then, in 2011 I launched the AncestorSearch on Google Search and Historical U.S. Counties on Google Maps tools primarily aimed at genealogy and historical research. FAST FORWARD TO 2018: I decided to broaden the appeal of the mapping and search tools to a more general audience by launching the present-day County Lines on Google Maps tool. I continued to … Read more

Now feel free to add City Limits to your County Maps — and actually see what’s going on!

January 28, 2021 by Randy Majors

This enhancement pertains to the County Lines on Google Maps and Elevation on Google Maps tools. As you may already know, you can choose to show US City Limits on your county lines map by checking the “Also show US city limits” checkbox in the lower left corner of the map. If you’ve done that before, and happened to be looking in a busy metro area, you get a somewhat jumbled mess of red lines, making it hard to distinguish counties and cities. Here’s what it used to look like: Now, when you check the “Also show US city limits” checkbox, … Read more

A Colorful Post about City Limits and ZIP Codes

January 28, 2021 by Randy Majors

This post is all about color. In particular, adding color to the city limits and ZIP Codes in these tools: City Limits on Google Maps ZIP Codes on Google Maps A few people have wondered if I could add color to the city limits — you know — kind of like in those old Rand McNally road atlases, or National Geographic maps. Now, the city limits are colored in by default. So when you use the City Limits map tool, the map will look like this: This should make it much easier to distinguish the individual cities, especially in large metropolitan … Read more

Townships have arrived!

January 28, 2021 by Randy Majors

One of the most commonly requested features I’ve heard over the past several months is the ability to map townships. Well, now you can on both the County Lines on Google Maps and the City Limits on Google Maps tools by checking the “Also show townships” box in the lower left corner of both map tools: If you’re using the City Limits on Google Maps tool and you search for a place or address that is in a township, that township will be highlighted on the map for you even if you don’t have the “Also show townships” checkbox checked. This … Read more

Several upgrades to the City Limits on Google Maps tool

January 28, 2021 by Randy Majors

Following on from the enhancements to the County Lines on Google Maps tool, I’ve made several improvements to the City Limits on Google Maps tool as well: 1. In addition to the city limits drawing, you can optionally choose to show county lines as well. Just check the “Also show county lines” checkbox in the bottom left corner of the map: 2. There are a couple of enhancements related to Latitude/Longitude or GPS coordinates. The first one is that the Latitude/Longitude of the place you clicked on (or typed) appears at the bottom of the map (Also, the area of … Read more

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

January 28, 2021 by Randy Majors

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 … Read more

How can you see city limits on Google Maps?

January 28, 2021 by Randy Majors

Short answer…you can’t. Except for one at a time, like this, where I typed “St Louis” in standard Google Maps: But what if (for some reason) you want to see ALL of the city limits in an area. Well now you can here: City Limits on Google Maps It looks like this: The city limits can be very detailed and so may take a few moments to draw: Despite this being somewhat of a mess to look at, I’ve had several people who have been using my County Lines on Google Maps tool who have requested being able to view city … Read more

Latitude and Longitude now displayed on County Lines on Google Maps tool

January 28, 2021 by Randy Majors

A few users have requested the ability to see the latitude and longitude for their chosen location while using the County Lines on Google Maps tool. This functionality has now been added. As usual, just start by typing in a place name or address for which you want to see nearby county lines, then click “Go!”. Now, in addition to seeing the county name at the bottom of the map, just below that you will also see the latitude and longitude for the red map marker, as shown below: The latitude and longitude displayed is for the red map marker, … Read more