Google Places

Option to show businesses, attractions and other points of interest on all map tools

January 28, 2021 by Randy Majors

The map tools on randymajors.org start with a clean map, such as this from the What City Am I In? map tool, where city names and neighborhood names appear: Now you can choose to show points of interest, businesses, attractions and more by clicking the POI button in the upper right corner of the map. When you click the button, Google’s default place listings appear, with attractions typically showing first, as shown below. As you zoom in further, more points of interest, businesses and more will appear. Current place information (such as temporary closures, etc.) appears with the label. Click the … Read more

Free resource to help retailers, restaurants & small businesses closed due to SaH/SiP

August 31, 2021 by Randy Majors

During this challenging time for small businesses, this free online resource may help some small businesses amidst the current Stay-at-Home/Shelter-in-Place orders. For retailers, restaurants and other small businesses that have had to close due to SaH/SiP orders, delivery of their goods directly to customers is an option many are doing or considering to help them get through this. But a pain-point can be that communicating to customers exactly where they can deliver can be cumbersome or costly, and small business owners don’t have time right now to deal with this. Easily let customers know where you can deliver! To that end, … Read more

Now use your current location on all randymajors.org mapping tools!

January 28, 2021 by Randy Majors

This enhancement applies all of the mapping tools on this website: County Lines on Google Maps ZIP Codes on Google Maps City Limits on Google Maps Township Range on Google Maps Location Explorer on Google Maps Climate Info on Google Maps Time Zones on Google Maps Area Codes 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 … Read more

A couple of enhancements to the Historical U.S. County Boundary Maps tool — and a thank you!

January 28, 2021 by Randy Majors

I’ve recently made a couple of enhancements to the Historical U.S. County Boundary Maps tool that make it easier to read and see the results of the search (see screenshot below). Thank you, The Family Nexus, for your article that had very nice things to say about the tool, and also made me aware that the text was a tad small. Another enhancement is the addition of a little “maximize” button above the “Go!” button that expands the map window for much easier viewing (see the little square in the top right of the above screenshot). Finally, one last enhancement is … Read more

What do courthouses, cemeteries, churches, and libraries have in common?

January 28, 2021 by Randy Majors

Well, for the genealogist and historical researcher, they’re all great places to look for historical sources and information on ancestors, historical figures, or the local area. And they’ve recently been incorporated into my Historical U.S. County Boundary Maps tool! Just check the “Show Research Locations” checkbox and then select which categories you want to show, and symbols will appear on the map: Then, you can click an icon, and an info window will appear: The name of the place and the Website are both hyperlinks, which will open up a Google Places page for more information on the place: I’ve … Read more