Have you tried showing map labels in the past and notice they take sooooo long to draw (especially on very detailed map tools like Section Township Range)? Us too, and we finally found a way to improve it. In fact, labels now draw nearly instantly rather than the 10-20 seconds that it would take labels to finish drawing in the past. And we think they look better now too (old on the left, new on the right):
The “Find lat long” button flexibly accepts a variety of formats, including: In all cases, once you hit the Enter key, the map will be re-centered on your chosen location and the decimal degrees version of the location will be shown in the “Lat, Long” label found in the light blue bar above the map. I hope you enjoy this new latitude longitude functionality! Also, a new home for the map tool updates and tips The tool updates and tips can now be found on the Blog link on the right side of the menu bar on every page on … Read more
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
The ability to print your maps is one of the most requested features we’ve been asked about over the years. For various boring yet tedious technical reasons, printing was not possible or highly inconsistent up until now. Now there is a new “Print” button available to take the pain out of printing your map and taking screenshots. Just click the “Print” button located in the upper right corner of the map on your desktop browser: You will then be presented with a Print preview window where you can print to your connected printer or save to a PDF file: Note … Read more
First, the popular Historical U.S. Counties Auto-Checker chrome extension has been updated to work with the latest version of Ancestry’s website. Also, now when you use the Historical U.S. Counties map tool, you can explore the historical counties for any historical date in the context of civil townships. As you likely know, civil townships are often used in a lot of historical records from census to land ownership and more. Now, when you turn on labels for historical counties by checking the “Show historical county labels” box in the lower left corner of the map, if you also check the … Read more
This one is easy now. Just click the blue dot, and it will disappear from the map: Click the map again and it will re-appear at the spot you clicked (or the address or place you searched for): So why is the blue dot there to begin with? It lets you know the location that the light blue bar above the map is reporting the information for. In the above example, that’s Merrimack County, New Hampshire. So if you want to get rid of the blue dot before, say, taking a screenshot, now you know how! Sometimes you feel like … Read more
Using mapBuilder, found below most map tools on randymajors.org, you can create custom territory/area maps using a spreadsheet containing ZIP Codes. Now you can include 3-digit ZIP Codes in your spreadsheet, which are simply the first 3-digits of a 5-digit ZIP Code. 3-digit ZIP Codes are a great option because there are just under 1,000 of them in the U.S. vs over 40,000 5-digit ZIP Codes. The benefit: Much smaller spreadsheets and faster maps. Here is an example of 3-digit ZIP Codes to define some territories in the New York City metro area: Now, let’s say you want to expand … Read more
Based on the survey last month completed by over 100 users, the most requested capability was to be able to draw on the map and save those drawings to your account. Well, now you can! In fact, you can draw points, lines and shapes on the map, save the drawings, and add multiple drawings onto the same map. And, as a bonus, length and area is automatically measured and displayed as you draw! Once you add drawings to your map, plus any other map layers you want to show, you can save the finished map to your account, and share … Read more
This message is for anyone that uses any of the following custom map tools on randymajors.org: mapBuilder: Color-Code ZIP Codes from a spreadsheet mapBuilder: Color-Code Counties from a spreadsheet mapBuilder: Add points from a spreadsheet If you do NOT use Google Sheets to create maps on this website, you can safely ignore this message. What has changed? The way in which Google Sheets spreadsheets are published to the web has changed. This website and many others used a prior version of Google’s API that is imminently being discontinued. What do I need to do? Fortunately, the action you need to … Read more
Now when you build a custom map using the mapBuilder on the Custom Area Maps or Custom Color-Coded Map tools, you will easily be able to tell if an address is located within your custom area. For example, if you create this link to a map of a Home Care Service Area, you will see a map like the following, with the blue message at the top indicating whether or not that location is within your custom area: A message is also displayed just below the map: The information is reported based on the location of the blue pin. The … Read more
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Learn MoreDraw & measure on maps • Save maps to your account • Create custom maps from ZIP Codes, Counties or points!
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Learn MoreNEW! Add points interactively by address, lat/long or clicking the map
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