New: Elevate your mapping experience with GPS data

GPS route overlaid on map

Whether you’re a hiker trekking wilderness trails, a traveler documenting your journeys, or a professional analyzing geographical data, our latest update enables you to overlay your own GPS routes, waypoints, tracks and adventures on any map. By supporting the popular GPS exchange format (GPX files), we’ve made it easy for you to bring your real-world explorations into any of the map tools. To try it out, click the Draw & Measure module found in mapBuilder below each map tool, such as Section Township Range, Elevation and City Limits. Then, choose the GPX file you want to import: Click OK, and … Read more

A Quick Update about Quicker Maps

Minneapolis area city limits

Remember when randymajors.org map tools took 10 seconds or more to draw, especially more complex tools such as ZIP Codes or especially Section Township Range? Now, based on some exciting technology improvements, most of the maps draw nearly instantly! Check out the following map tools and their much faster drawing speeds as you move around the map: We hope these improvements, together with last year’s improvements to map labels, make your mapping experience that much more productive and enjoyable! Happy New Year and Happy Mapping!

Bring your maps to life with Dynamic Maps!

Live Maps still

A much-requested map feature is now available — Dynamic Maps. By “Dynamic Maps” we mean maps that show you the answer you’re looking for simply by hovering your mouse over the map! Of course, you can still click the map as before and it will drop a blue dot at the location you clicked and display the full information about the location in the blue bar above the map. Pro Tips This feature is very useful if you’re using the Selection Tools or Drawing Tools to select ZIP Codes, counties, etc as it will show you what you’re about to … Read more

New powerful ways to select features on the map tools!

Radius drawing tools example

Now you can use the Selection Tools button to select map features on any map tool! You can select the map features using any points, lines or shapes that you draw, or select map features by specifying a radius around any shape you draw. The map features that get selected depend on which tool you are using: counties, city limits, civil townships, ZIP Codes, Section Township Range, historical U.S. counties, time zones, area codes or the custom map tools. Here’s how it works: Using the County Lines map tool as an example, click the Selection Tools button on the left … Read more

Quick Links: Individual County Maps with Cities

county map with cities

Sometimes you may want to see just ONE county with the cities also shown. For that purpose, here’s a list of ALL U.S. Counties with City Limits: Listing of all U.S. County Maps showing Cities and City Limits For example, here is Sacramento County, California: Sacramento County, California – County Map with Cities You get a map like this: Then, of course if you want a map of ALL counties (and optionally cities), just go to the County Lines or City Limits tools. Then, optionally choose the layers/settings in the lower left of the map: If you’re looking for historical … Read more

Quick Links: Reference Maps upgraded to higher resolution, include map labels

Texas County Map

The new Reference Maps section on randymajors.org has been upgraded to include higher resolution map images and map labels.  This applies to the following Reference Maps: County Maps of each U.S. State City Limits Maps of each U.S. State Civil Township Maps by State ZIP Code Maps of each U.S. State Section Township Range Maps by State Using Texas Counties as an example on the County Maps of each U.S. State page, you’ll see this thumbnail: You can click the image thumbnails on the reference map pages to go to the interactive map tool focused on your state of interest. … Read more

New tool shows Civil Townships on Google Maps

Check out the new Civil Townships tool to see township boundaries on Google Maps, with an option to also see township name labels on the map. Civil townships are active levels of government in about 20 states.  They are typically referred to as “towns” in New England, New York and Wisconsin, and are “charter townships” in Michigan.  There are an additional several states beyond the 20 that have “inactive” townships, meaning they have recognizable names that the locals may refer to, but that do not serve a governmental purpose.  Long story short, all of these flavors of townships are shown … Read more

Quick Links: New Reference Maps section on randymajors.org

Reference Maps Section of randymajors.org

Sometimes, you just need a quick reference map image rather than a fancy interactive map tool. Well, for those times, you can now visit the new Reference Maps section of the randymajors.org Research Hub website. On the Reference Map menu, found at the top of every page, you’ll find links to the following state-based map images: County Maps of each U.S. State City Limits Maps of each U.S. State Civil Township Maps by State ZIP Code Maps of each U.S. State Section Township Range Maps by State Using the Civil Township Maps by State as an example, click the image of … Read more

Where It’s At: Walking the perimeter of this city = Walking from Philadelphia to Denver

If you were to walk the perimeter of this U.S. city’s city limits, you would cover 1,562 miles (2,513 km), which is roughly the same distance as walking from Philadelphia to Denver.* Here’s what that distance looks like: And the answer is: Well, of course, Houston.  Isn’t everything big in Texas?  The city covers an area of 672 square miles (1,739 sq km), and all those little (big) tendrils shown by the dark blue lines above make its perimeter add up to this whopping 1,562 miles!  Want to zoom in and see the details?  Explore the city limits of Houston here. So, … Read more

NEW: Share your map with one click

Now available on most map tools on randymajors.org, use the “Share Map…” button to create a shareable link that remembers all of the following: which map tool you are using (e.g. City Limits on Google Maps, Elevation on Google Maps) what point you had clicked on the map (or had searched for using the “Search places” box above the map) how far zoomed in or out you want the map to display optionally, a title for your map Here’s an example, sharing a map from the City Limits on Google Maps tool, centered on Ocala, Florida: In this example, I … Read more

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