maps – randymajors.org

More is more: data, legends and maps!

May 17, 2024 by Randy Majors

For a while now, you have been able to use our mapBuilder tool to create color-coded maps using ZIP Codes, counties and points. We love all the creative ways our users have leveraged mapBuilder! And we also knew we could make some things more flexible for you to map more of your data in the ways that you want. More data columns It used to be that you could only map one data column from your Google sheet: ZIP Code, a data column and a color. Or County, State, a data column and a color. Or latitude, longitude, a data … Read more

Quick update: Map labels that don’t suck

July 17, 2023 by Randy Majors

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):

By Popular Demand: Improved Map Printing and Screenshots!

June 23, 2023 by Randy Majors

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

Quick Tip: Hide the blue dot

June 14, 2022 by Randy Majors

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

On the move? Map tools now let you update your location automatically

April 13, 2022 by Randy Majors

As before, to show your current location while using any of the map tools on this website, you can click the ◉ button in the upper right corner of the map. But now you can keep clicking the ◉ button to set it to automatically update your location on the map in 1, 5 and 10 minute intervals. Bonus: Monthly Contributors also get an option to update every 0.2 minutes (12 seconds). This might be useful when you are: on the road and need to know what jurisdiction you are in (e.g. city, township, county and state) need to know … Read more

Website Infrastructure Updated: You may need to clear your browser cache

January 28, 2021 by Randy Majors

Good news: In an effort to improve the performance of the various map and search tools, the randymajors.org website infrastructure has been updated over several days this week. Action: As a result, if you experience any unexpected issues when viewing the map and search tool pages, try doing a hard refresh of the page using Ctrl+F5. If something still isn’t working quite right, please clear your browser cache, exit all browsers and go back in. This should solve 99% of issues, but if you still are having any trouble, please get in touch using the Help link at the bottom … Read more

Let this FREE tool do the location work for you as you search on Ancestry.com or FamilySearch.org

July 19, 2021 by Randy Majors

Historical U.S. Counties Auto-Checker free version

U.S. county boundaries have changed over 17,600 times since America was settled in colonial times. Don’t sabotage your search for ancestors by not knowing the correct county for the historical years you are researching. While searching on Ancestry or FamilySearch, the free Historical U.S. Counties Auto-Checker extension for Google Chrome* automatically checks that the county existed in the year you are searching, warns of boundary changes, and links to historical county lines on Google Maps for the place and years you are searching! Install for free today and never let an ancestor fall of the map again! For a step-by-step … 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

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