Welcome to the new Boyd's Maps Forum!

[Boyd]

A huge thank you to Ben for creating this new forum!

Stay tuned for more information about boydsmaps online, where you'll soon be able to access all 11 of my own maps plus 24 additional sources in your web browser.
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UPDATE - DECEMBER 2021: The website online.boydsmaps.com no longer exists, most of the information in this thread is no longer relevant and many of the links no longer work. Please use the new web app for computers and phones at https://boydsmaps.com. I am closing this thread but leaving it in place for historical purposes.

 

[Boyd]

Note: effective 6/17/2019, all maps and site features are now accessible to everyone with no need to register or login. Just click any link below and you'll have full access!

Just to tease you.... here are some links from boydsmaps online. They should open in preview mode, which only allows zooming, but registered users have full access to the controls. Registration will be free for NJPB forum members - more on this soon. The site is currently only accessible to our VIP beta-test team and isn't quite ready for prime time yet.

boydsmaps.com/viewer/#17/39.59290/-74.68282/pinesHD

boydsmaps.com/viewer/#17/39.74942/-74.63534/lidarHD

boydsmaps.com/viewer/#12/39.5946/-74.5482/midnight

boydsmaps.com/viewer/#14/39.8077/-74.5901/cook

boydsmaps.com/viewer/#13/39.8477/-74.2895/lidarClassic

boydsmaps.com/viewer/#15/39.3180/-75.0527/pines1949

boydsmaps.com/viewer/#19/39.51838/-74.33676/njgin2007

boydsmaps.com/viewer/#17/39.35931/-74.45623/njgin1970

boydsmaps.com/viewer/#21/39.95266/-75.16352/phl2017

 

[Boyd]

Quick update: There's now a full-screen button in map preview mode, it's the icon right below the zoom buttons. Click and the map will fill your screen edge-to-edge. Click again or press the ESC key to return to regular view.

Here's an example from my 1920x1080 screen.

 

[Boyd]

Another new feature has been added to the map - a "help" button [ ? ]. Click, and the site's help pages will open in a new tab.

 

[Boyd]

You may notice another new feature in both the preview and full versions. The map name is now shown with the other data at the bottom left of the screen.

 

[Boyd]

A new map featuring tax parcels overlaid on the NJ 2015 aerials is now available, you'll see it on the menu as "Parcels in the Pines Pro" - sorry, couldn't resist This new map is based on the same 2014 tax parcel data as my older map. NJGIN no longer offers parcel downloads and creating the original dataset was a huge project.

The old map had 285,000 parcels within the official Pinelands boundaries. This map has 1.2 million parcels covering all of Southern NJ. The old map (on the left below) went a little farther North, but the new one is much larger. Just for fun, I included my proprietary dataset of 1700 historical structures on levels 16 and 17. The new map also includes my HD unpaved road data.

This was a big data processing job involving many hours of rendering time. I wanted to go in one more click to level 18, and have all the data, but it was just too much to handle. Not terribly happy with how this turned out, I think the text is hard to read. But our loyal beta testers felt it was usable... we'll see if they still agree now that it's finished. Here are a few samples.

online.boydsmaps.com/viewer/#14/39.7627/-74.4022/parcelsPro-x
online.boydsmaps.com/viewer/#17/39.62729/-74.65024/parcelsPro-x
online.boydsmaps.com/viewer/#16/39.3066/-75.1214/parcelsPro-x
online.boydsmaps.com/viewer/#16/39.9829/-74.8392/parcelsPro-x

 

[Don Catts]

Boyd, I have just been going over the maps on your new forum. I know I've said it before and I'll say it again, your maps excellent. It's plain to see that this project was a lot of hard work. So one big THANK YOU from me.

 

[Boyd]

Thanks Don, I'm glad you like it!

 

[Boyd]

Here's another new map that you won't find anywhere else: Landscape of the Pines!

I've been using this data to show things like forest cover in my maps for a long time, but have never made a map that shows the full detail of the NJDEP data. Like the parcel map, it's challenging to fit the labels inside each area, and this map is even more difficult because of the strange shapes. The amount of data shown for each area depends on its size and your zoom level. The 4-digit numeric codes represent about 100 different types of landcover in NJDEP's adaption of the "Anderson Classification System". I've included abbreviated descriptions (where space permits) - you'll find the full list of codes and descriptions here: https://www.nj.gov/dep/gis/digidownload/metadata/lulc12/codelist2012.html

I processed the 2017 NAIP aerials to enhance contrast and also provide a darker background that helps with readability. This works well on forested areas but can also create some strange colors in other places. You can compare my enhanced imagery to the original 2017 NAIP aerials here

boydsmaps.com/viewer/#17/39.81449/-74.36291/pinesLC
boydsmaps.com/viewer/#17/39.81449/-74.36293/njgin2017

2012 is the newest NJDEP landcover data available, so there will be some cases where it differs from the 2017 aerials. And I'm sure we can all find areas where we don't agree with the classifications anyway. But I've always been fascinated by this dataset and have wanted to make this map for quite awhile.

Here are a few more examples:

boydsmaps.com/viewer/#17/39.62601/-74.77667/pinesLC
boydsmaps.com/viewer/#17/39.07929/-74.82899/pinesLC
boydsmaps.com/viewer/#17/40.10086/-74.56586/pinesLC
boydsmaps.com/viewer/#17/39.76316/-74.66862/pinesLC

 

[manumuskin]

I like it!

 

[Boyd]

Along with opening up site access to everyone, today you'll see another new map - Vermeule's Map of the Pines!

https://online.boydsmaps.com/#15/39.8701/-74.5213/vermeule-x

It consists of consists of 54 individual topographic maps created by C. C Vermeule from 1870-1887. The source data for these maps comes from https://www.state.nj.us/dep/njgs/enviroed/vermeulemaps.htm (Ben also offers the PDF files in the Historic Maps section here at NJPB).

I georeferenced, cropped, color-corrected and stitched these maps to create an all-new seamless version that isn't available anywhere else. Took longer than I expected... but it always does. Here's an example of an original map scan and my color-corrected version

https://www.state.nj.us/dep/njgs/enviroed/vermeule/63.pdf
https://boydsmaps.com/#13/39.9429/-75.0353/vermeule

There's a problem with the original map #85, evidently somebody goofed and scanned it at 150 dots per inch instead of 300 dots per inch like the other maps. So you'll notice the map isn't as sharp in this area, but that was unavoidable.

https://www.state.nj.us/dep/njgs/enviroed/vermeule/85.pdf
https://boydsmaps.com/#14/39.6143/-74.5351/vermeule

And I found something surprising when I georeferenced these maps. The coordinate labels for the grid lines were wrong on many of the maps. I think this was just a careless error by the map maker (or an assistant?) but the error was substantial - something along the order of 2 miles (two grid squares). You won't see this on my seamless map, because the labels were cropped out when the maps were joined. However, I wonder what implications these errors had from a historical perspective? If somebody was recording the coordinates of locations on the map back in the 19th century, they would have trusted those labels, and their coordinates would be off by a huge amount!

 

[Boyd]

You'll notice a couple new buttons on the map now

Let's say you're looking at aerial imagery of North Jersey and you get lonely for the Pines. Just click the pine tree icon and you'll be transported to Chatsworth. Seriously, if you have dragged the map too far away, when you choose one of my maps you may see a blank screen, since they only cover Southern New Jersey. Clicking this button will re-center the map on Chatsworth (without changing your map choice or zoom level).

Clicking the button with the document icon will take you to a page with information about all the maps. I'll be enhancing this in the coming days, so it takes you to a separate page of detailed information for the map you're currently viewing.

The question mark button looks a little different now, but it still takes you to the help pages.

And all the buttons now have "tool-tips" that show their names when you hover your mouse over them.

 

[Boyd]

Clicking the button with the document icon will take you to a page with information about all the maps. I'll be enhancing this in the coming days, so it takes you to a separate page of detailed information for the map you're currently viewing.

Took a week, but this feature is now fully implemented (phew). Click the little document and you will get lots of info about the map plus links to the full metadata and more. For example: https://online.boydsmaps.com/njgin2012-map-info/

BTW, the 1930, 1970 and 1977 imagery comes from NJDEP, which is different from the other aerials. Check out the "Use Constraints" section of the map info.... evidently we have no right to even look at these https://online.boydsmaps.com/njgin1930-map-info/ "Digital data received from the NJDEP are to be used solely for internal purposes in the conduct of daily affairs."

Now there are even more buttons to push!

Pine tree - center map on Chatsworth
Bullseye - go to center of currently selected map
Document - show map information
Down Arrow - download the currently selected map
Question Mark - help files

...But you don't need to memorize these, just pass your mouse over the buttons and a description will appear.

I have also expanded the coverage area of the maps, in preparation for adding a LOT more imagery of Pennsylvania and New York. This won't happen unitl after I make a major change to the map menu with separate groups that you can expand/collapse. The bullseye button will help you navigate between maps of completely different areas. I think you'll find it handy now when you want to view the 1970 and 1977 aerials. No more blank screens - just click the bullseye!

But it may also take you pretty far away from the area you're currently viewing. The openstreetmap topo's (at the bottom of the map menu) cover the whole world, so I have set the bullseye to just go to the center of my Mid-Atlantic coverage area... for example: https://online.boydsmaps.com/#15/40.7553/-75.2685/hikebike-x If you suddenly feel lost, just click the pine tree and you'll return to Chatsworth.

The download button takes you to the boydsmaps.com web page for the MOBAC version of the map (if one is available).

Have made a bunch of other changes "under the hood" too... you can zoom in farther on more of the maps, and the quality should be slightly better. I also found a big error in how the map was configured that may have been slowing things down.

The help files need to be updated to include these changes, that should happen soon.

Have been struggling to understand how to properly center the little icons on the new map buttons - my Macs look like the screenshot above, but the icons don't line up as well on Firefox or Chrome on my Windows computer, and they're totally wrong on my iPad. Hopefully this will get sorted out soon. But at least I figured out how to make the pine tree green.

 

[Toothy Critter]

Damn Son... you becoming Rand Boyd McNally. You deserve some time off

 

[Boyd]

Spent way too much time today messing with the map buttons. They look OK on my Mac and PC, off-center on the iPad but better than before. This is what I see - would be interested in some feedback - is this how they look on your computer? Are the symbols centered in the buttons?

Here's a small change that you may find useful. The coordinates at the bottom left are now separated by a comma, which makes it easy to copy/paste them into other programs or websites.

39.818732, -74.535684

You can just paste them into a google search and get a map, for example.

 

[46er]

This is what I see - would be interested in some feedback - is this how they look on your computer? Are the symbols centered in the buttons?

A-OK in IE11 & Chrome. Symbols are centered.

 

[Boyd]

My Long Island / NYC map (NAIP 2017) is now available - just in time for your summer trip to visit LIP!

https://online.boydsmaps.com/#16/40.9127/-72.9705/longIsland2017-x

 

[46er]

My Long Island / NYC map (NAIP 2017) is now available - just in time for your summer trip to visit LIP!

Some strange looking complexes out there and the remains of Bridgehampton Raceway; the straight going into Millstone Turn as well as the pedestrian bridge. The rest is a golf course. But the memories linger.

http://bridgehamptonraceway.net/

 

[Boyd]

The new, heirarchical map menu is now online, it allows you to expand or collapse groups of maps to simplify the list. This will help keep things manageable as a I add lots of new maps in the coming days.

 

[Spung-Man]

Boyd,

I am in awe of the monumental handiwork! My schedule has been hectic through June, so I only just now found down time to play with this resource—and, wow, I’m glad that I did. The array of maps provide a formidable imagery record for all Pine Barrens enthusiasts to explore; from the casual wayfarer to the fastidious academic. Hardly a day or two went by without a visit to NJPB Maps, and so it will be the same with Boyds. I am particularly captivated with the utility of LiDAR in the Pines HD, the 1930 Black & White Imagery, and Cook’s Map of the Pines.

I am so glad you (and Ben) are willing to openly share this awesome capability in broadest reach and impact. Well done…

Thanks,
S-M