Welcome to the new Boyd's Maps Forum!

[Boyd]

Thanks Mark, glad you're enjoying it. Lots more to come, I'll be working on public geodata sources from other Mid-Atlantic states over the coming days, but there will be more maps of the pines later this summer. Just added 6 years of Pennsylvania NAIP aerials and 8 more years of Philadelphia imagery tonight, am going to work on New York tomorrow for a change!

And yes - a big thanks to Ben for putting the link in the NJPB menu bar!

 

[Boyd]

All twelve available years of New York City Aerial Imagery are now available for your viewing pleasure. The 1924 imagery is very sharp, it puts our NJ 1930 aerials to shame!

https://boydsmaps.com/#19/40.71237/-74.00661/nyc1924

Also very impressed with the resources the City has provided, including example javascript code and a very open, permissive policy for using their data. The servers also seem very fast, but maybe that's because everyone has left for the holiday.

 

[Boyd]

Aerial imagery for New York State is now online, with one map covering the 1994-1999 period and another for 2014-2018. Because New York is a big state, they only shoot portions each year. So the 2014-2018 map is actually a composite of 5 different layers... I had to learn a new trick to make that work.

But the big news is that I am now featuring maps from HERE.com (the same company that provides Garmin's map data). There are three different types - Street, Satellite and Hybrid. They load really fast too! The satellite map is relatively low resolution - about 1 meter/pixel. But it's free....

Now this is an experimental feature that may go away... we'll just have to see how it works out. I had to create an account to access their data, and they have usage limits, like Google. But the nice difference is that you don't have to use their software, don't have to give them a credit card and they don't auto-bill you for exceeding data limits (they just shut it down). So, I'll just keep an eye on the usage stats.

HERE also has some other types of maps that I may add to the menu later. Check it out, and let me know what you think of this new feature!

 

[46er]

Thanks Boyd, good stuff!!

Looking at the NYS maps I can get halfway up Lake Champlain, then the map springs back if I try to go further north. This is at different zoom levels.

 

[Boyd]

You are hitting the invisible force shield that limits the area you can view. You should be able to view all of NY, I checked that the other day. However, you need to zoom in as move north. That's because at a low zoom level when you move the map center the North edge goes out of the coverage area.

tl;dr; I'm actually planning to change this and move the boundaries a little farther out, but probably not far enough to center the map on the north edge of NY at a zoom level of 8. Now that I have the HERE and OpenStreetMaps, I think there will always be a desire to go beyond the boundaries, no matter where they are.

 

[Boyd]

I can get halfway up Lake Champlain, then the map springs back if I try to go further north.

Looks like it was more constrained than I thought. Here is the new coverage area, you can resume your search for Champy now, as long as you zoom in to at least level 9.

 

[46er]

Thanks, working fine. Found Copper Kill Pond we used to camp at, had a state lean-to on it. A little brook outlet was full of Brook Trout.

boydsmaps

 

[Boyd]

Got some working beta radar code, just need to figure out a more more details. Looks pretty good on the HERE night map

Also my Midnight map. But I probably should make a custom map just for the radar.

 

[Boyd]

Just finished a major update, there are now a total of 89 different maps to choose from. There's a composite NEXRAD map and also raw imagery from four NEXRAD sites (these are more precise). I decided to use a simpler dark-themed HERE map as a background.

And after you check the weather, you can check road conditions with the new HERE traffic map!

 

[Boyd]

Bunch of bug-fixes and more new maps online now - USGS topo's and imagery from the National Map, 5 years of Delaware imagery, 4 new NEXRAD sites and more. A total of 102 maps are now available for your browsing pleasure!

The Delaware and USGS servers can be very slow at times though.

 

[Boyd]

Ten years of Maryland aerials are now available. Check out the 2014 three-inch imagery, they are very high-resolution - you can easily see individual people and their shadows. https://boydsmaps.com/#21/38.97572/-76.52670/md2014

 

[bobpbx]

Ten years of Maryland aerials are now available. Check out the 2014 three-inch imagery, they are very high-resolution - you can easily see individual people and their shadows. https://online.boydsmaps.com/#21/38.97572/-76.52670/md2014-x

Lot of people, houses, office buildings and such in this country for sure.

 

[Boyd]

I have added a couple requested features that aren't yet covered in the documentation. First, you'll notice there's a scale bar at the bottom right of the map now.

And notice there is now a button that has a globe icon. Click that button and enter coordinates to go to a specific location on the map. The coordinates need to be in decimal format separated by a comma - they default to the current center of the map. And the coordinates also have to be within the boundaries of the map (which more or less covers NY, NJ, PA, DE and MD).

You may get a blank screen if the currently selected map doesn't have coverage for the coordinates you enter. If this happens, you can switch to a map that does have coverage (like HERE maps) or click the bullseye button to re-center the current map.

Haven't had a chance to test this extensively yet, so let me know if you have problems.

 

[Boyd]

Just updated some things "under the hood" and also added a new feature that you may find useful. Click the button to show/hide the crosshairs at the center of the map. Your setting will remain in effect until you close the tab or leave the site.

This is something I've been meaning to do for awhile. Although the crosshairs are very useful when you want to accurately center the map, they can be annoying when they hide small features. When you first arrive at the site, the crosshairs are shown by default. But now I'm wondering if they should actually be hidden by default?

I'd be very interested in your opinions... should the crosshairs be hidden or shown by default when you first arrive at the site?

 

[46er]

I'd be very interested in your opinions... should the crosshairs be hidden or shown by default when you first arrive at the site?

Other maps also have them, I never understood what they are useful for and just move the map to see whats under them if needed. Either option is fine with me.

 

[bobpbx]

Just updated some things "under the hood" and also added a new feature that you may find useful. Click the button to show/hide the crosshairs at the center of the map. Your setting will remain in effect until you close the tab or leave the site.

View attachment 12181

This is something I've been meaning to do for awhile. Although the crosshairs are very useful when you want to accurately center the map, they can be annoying when they hide small features. When you first arrive at the site, the crosshairs are shown by default. But now I'm wondering if they should actually be hidden by default?

I'd be very interested in your opinions... should the crosshairs be hidden or shown by default when you first arrive at the site?

I'd rather you left it in there. It makes switching from one map to another to see what happened at the spot you are interested in invaluable. And, I don't even notice it unless I want to use it. Besides all that, how am I going to quickly see the coordinates of the spot I'm interested in? Please leave it in.

 

[bobpbx]

By the way, did you move Chatsworth out 2 clicks?

Also, we talked about arranging the map selections to be user manipulative. It would be so cool if the maps I use most often could be shown as tiles across the top, bottom, or sides like windows task buttons.

Once click and I'm there! Alright, I'm just throwing my wishes out there. I understand your task is very technical and time-consuming.

 

[Boyd]

By the way, did you move Chatsworth out 2 clicks?

The map used to open at level 15, now it opens at level 13. When we discussed this elsewhere, you said "I like level 13". Isn't that what you see when you click the BOYDS MAPS link in the the NJPB menu? If not, then it might be a browser cache issue.

Besides all that, how am I going to quickly see the coordinates of the spot I'm interested in? Please leave it in.

You can hide or show the crosshairs with one click on the new button. I'm not talking about completely removing the crosshairs, only wondering whether they should be shown by default when you first arrive at the site.

 

[icesailr]

Hello Boyd,
Again, thank you for your work to provide this service to us. I have a question about what I just found on my GAIA map. I've attached what they call their USGS (caltopo) and your USGS 24K and 100K. I was surprised to see the GAIA with more detail and in particular that your 100k has less detail than your 24K. Please let me know what I'm missing about this subject. Again, this is not criticism , just information gathering. Best, Henry

 

[Boyd]

Those are not "my" 24k and 100k maps!

You are using the NJGIN 24k and 100k maps, and their quality is terrible. I have no control over that, they are provided by the NJGIN servers. This is the very old USGS DRG (Digital Raster Graphics) imagery that was some of the first electronic versions of USGS maps and they have been discontinued by the USGS long ago. The quality has always been terrible for these, I would suggest not using them unless you have no other choice (my map only covers Southern New Jersey).

Here is my map

https://boydsmaps.com/#17.00/39.575480/-74.543280/legacy24k/0.00/0.00

And this is the (horrible) NJGIN map

(note: this map is no longer available)

My maps were created from the full resolution (level 16) scans of the final version of the 24k topo's from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Archive. More info here:

https://boydsmaps.com/mapinfo/legacy24k.html

BTW, my map is also much higher quality than the ArcGIS 24k topo maps here on NJPB Maps