A quick update on the increased speed of the mapping tools

After some infrastructure upgrades, all of the randymajors.org mapping tools are now operating faster!  In my time tests, I was seeing drawing speeds that were 2.5x to 3x faster than before the upgrade.

The very largest of map layers, such as Section Township Range on Google Maps, seem to see the biggest improvement (drawing in 5-6 seconds now vs 25-30 seconds before the upgrade), although other layers such as Historical Counties, County Lines and ZIP Codes also drew about 2x faster that before.

So you should on average see the information panel above the maps update a bit faster and see the maps draw a bit faster, especially when zoomed in to the state level or closer.  Enjoy!

This update applies to all of the following tools:

• Area Codes on Google Maps
• City Limits on Google Maps
• Climate Info on Google Maps
• County Lines on Google Maps
• Elevation on Google Maps
• Historical U.S. Counties on Google Maps
• Location Explorer on Google Maps
• Section Township Range on Google Maps
• Time Zones on Google Maps
• US State County Maps
• ZIP Codes on Google Maps

Off topic: Catch my wife Laura on JEOPARDY! tonight

Tune in to JEOPARDY! tonight to catch my wife Laura displaying her trivia prowess 😎

(I'm so lucky to have such an adorable smart wife 😍 )

Overlay present-day county lines on the Historical U.S. Counties on Google Maps tool

Based on an idea from a current user (thanks Steve!), there's now an option to overlay present-day county lines on top of historical county lines.

This gives you the ability to see at a glance if you're researching in an area and timeframe where the county lines have shifted between the historical date you're viewing and the present-day.  To use this feature, just check the "Also show present-day county lines" checkbox in the lower left of the map on the Historical U.S. Counties on Google Maps tool. 

When you check that box, you'll see thin red lines (present-day county lines) overlaid on top of the thicker brown lines (historical county lines).  You'll also see the "Present-day County" name listed in small red text above the map (next to the latitude/longitude).

As an example, let's say we're researching the Nashville area as of 15 Jul 1830.  (Type Nashville in the "Search places" box above the map and type 7/15/1830 in the "As of date" box above the map).
Then, check the "Also show present day county lines" checkbox, and you'll get a map that looks like this:

On the above map, I've highlighted in yellow where the present-day county information is shown, based on the exact location of the red dot on the map. This tells us that this location was Davidson County, TN in 1830 and today, it still is Davidson County.

But, see the faint red lines in the above map?  Those are the present-day county lines.  So we can clearly see that the western side of Davidson County in 1830 is another county today, as is a small section in the southwest corner of 1830 Davidson County.  To find out what present-day county is in those two areas, just click the map.  You'll get this:

The above map shows us that the western part of 1830 Davidson County where I clicked (the red dot) is now Cheatham County. 

This alerts us that if we are researching an ancestor who lived in Ashland City in 1830 (see the northwest part of 1830 Davidson County), those records may be housed in Davidson County's courthouse (barring the court house didn't burn down!).  Importantly, it tells us that if we're doing an 1830 Census search on Ancestry or FamilySearch (for example) for those ancestors that lived near Ashland City in 1830, we should make sure and filter the place based on Davidson County since that is where Ashland City was located in 1830 (even though it's in Cheatham County today).  I wrote an in depth how-to on this topic here:  How you may be sabotaging your search for ancestors...and how to fix it!

What about that little southwestern part of 1830 Davidson County?  What county is that area part of today?  Well, you'll have to go to the Historical U.S. Counties on Google Maps tool and find out!

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

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, you can still see the red county outlines, AND now you get a colorful array of cities gracefully outlined in light grey:

Hopefully this way it's easier to distinguish the county lines (red) from the cities (light gray, lightly filled in with pastel colors).  But who am I kidding, it's New York, so it's still going to look kinda busy!

By the way, don't forget you can also show the names of the counties on the map by checking the "Show county labels" checkbox in the lower left corner:

Head on over to the County Lines on Google Maps tool and check it out!

A Colorful Post about City Limits and ZIP Codes

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 areas.  (In the past, the city limit lines were all red, making difficult to distinguish the individual cities from one another.)

Here's a before and after with ZIP Codes, including labels.

Without color:

And Colorized using the button in the upper left of the ZIP Codes map:

Hopefully, this enhancement makes the maps a little easier on the eyes ;)

Check out these new enhancements here:

• City Limits on Google Maps
• ZIP Codes on Google Maps

Enjoy, leave comments, and share with those who care!

New Tool shows Elevations on Google Maps, all over the world

With the new Elevation on Google Maps tool, you can find the elevation of any place worldwide.

Use the "Search places" box to type an address, city or other place, and see it's approximate elevation, or just explore by clicking around the map.  In addition to elevation, the tool will also display other information about your chosen location, such as city, county, state, country and latitude/longitude.

Here's an example showing the historic center of Mexico City at about 7,359 feet:

Want to see an elevation profile along your path or route?

Just click the blue "Elevation Profile..." button on the left side of the map.  Then, slowly draw the path by clicking along your desired route, then click "Stop Drawing" when you're done. (You can also just draw a straight line if you want to see the elevation profile across a whole state, for example).  Here's an Elevation Profile across Colorado:

Want to use the metric system?  You can also change the units from feet/miles to meters/kilometers by clicking the "Use m/km" button.

One more cool feature:  Ever been curious about other places that are the same elevation?  For instance, if I search for Madrid and check the "Show similar elevations" (then zoom the map out), I get a map showing a set of contour lines representing all the places within +/- 50ft elevation (or +/- 50m):

 
If you're any kind of card-carrying map geek like me, you'll find that feature pretty fun to play with! ;)

For a more complete understanding of the capabilities, be sure and read the QUICK TIPS and the COVERAGE NOTES below the Elevation on Google Maps tool.

Please feel free to share this tool with your friends, and leave any comments below!

Enjoy!