Continental Divide – Splitting Regions Map

Frequent ways of dividing large areas of land in the United States, or across the world, is by grouping them into regions according to their geographic position on the continent. Perhaps, the Northeast, Southwest, West, Southeast, or Midwest. Another, is to split the areas of land, such as with continental divide maps.

Continental Divides in North America.
Continental Divides in North America.
Map: Wikipedia

A continental divide is a natural (i.e. not man-made) boundary separating precipitation. Essentially, rivers, rainfall, snowfall, etc., water that flows into two oceans. Therefore, divides are the barriers that prevent rivers, etc on one side from flowing into oceans on the other.

Next, we see still another example when we look at state boundaries. Splitting areas of land, like with the continental divide trail map, can be extremely useful.

Perhaps you would like to make a map visualizing regions or splits, such as those with geographic position or continental divide map.

Here we show how to split regions within ZeeMaps.


Split a region in three steps:

Divide continents, regions, or any other map boundary!

Step 1: Select the region. For large regions, as with continental divide or region maps, the setup for this might take a while, as we change the entire boundary to be editable.

Select the region. For large regions, such as continental divide, the setup for this might take a while, as we change the entire boundary to be editable.

Step 2: Next, mark the vertices for the start and end of the split on the selected region

Next, mark the vertices for the start and end of the split on the selected region, or continental divide

Step 3: Last, connect the split vertices by a new polyline edge

connect the split vertices by a new polyline edge

For connecting the two vertices with a new edge, start by a single click and then click for each step. At the final step do a double-click. Use the Select button to initiate the first step.

connect the split vertices by a new polyline edge

Remember to do the steps in proper sequence. If regions are not grouped, the original highlighted region will be removed.


Connecting Trail Routes or Lines

Design your own Continental Divide Trail Map!

Connecting two markers with a line or route tutorial gives direction on how to create a trial or route, such as those seen in Continental Divide Trail Maps, as show below:

To connect two markers with a route or trail between them, please do the following:

  1. Click on the first marker to open its information balloon.
  2. Click on the third icon of the four icons to the right bottom of the information balloon. You must have unlocked the map as Map Admin for the icons to show.
  3. This should result in a dialog box for the connection. Customize your connection, e.g., whether it is a route or straight line, etc.
  4. Click on the second marker for the connection.
  5. Hit Submit.

For connecting another set of two markers, please close the connection dialog and repeat steps 1 through 5.


Finally, we challenge you to create your own continental divide trail, re-write the map! How to you think regions should be split, what trail looks like a great hike? Use your imagination and be creative!

Don’t forget to tag @zeemaps in your social media posts!

Create a Large Poster Map with ZeeMaps

In the following video, we show the steps to create a 4 feet by 4 feet customized poster map with ZeeMaps, suitable for printing and hanging on walls, etc. As with any map images, you need to experiment a bit with the map area and size to get the image that you want.
For world maps, due to the projection and aspect ratio used for mapping, it is best to go with a square image.
Always try a bigger size than what you need to get more information on the map.

 

Map with Markers on the Same Location

Sometimes you may have a map with markers on the same location, e.g., different offices in the same building. When we plot the markers for such maps, the multiple markers stack on top of each other, so it is hard to understand that there are multiple markers in the same location.
We’ve introduced a new mechanism that will label multiple markers on the same location with English alphabets: A, B, C, etc. When you see marker with an alphabet letter on it, you’ll know that there are multiple markers in that location.
When you click on the topmost location, the markers will cycle through so that the next click will bring up the marker below.
For example, the following map has a couple of locations with multiple markers. You can click through them to see how the markers change.

The labels are added when you set the Settings -> Markers -> Label overlapping markers option in your map.
The labeling works only with the normal size Google Maps teardrop markers. If you have customized your map with special marker icons, or set the map to show small markers, the labeling won’t work in those cases.
This is also an easy way of determining if you’ve accidentally mapped the same location multiple times.
You can remove the labeling by dragging-and-dropping the topmost markers to tease them slightly apart.
Here’s a short video showing how to get the markers to rotate.

Better maps in mobile browsers!

Happy New Year!
ZeeMaps now has significantly improved map display in smartphones and tablets.
Point your mobile browser to your map URL, and a specially crafted simpler mobile map will show. (Try our sample map.)
In tablets, there is an option to see the full map, in case you need to make additions or changes to the map. Ability to add markers from mobile browsers, and other interesting features, are coming soon.
Please let us know if there’s something that doesn’t work as expected.

Numbered markers in print images.

ZeeMaps now supports numbered markers in print images. When you get a print image, using the Print or Share → JPEG Image or Print or Share → PDF Image, you can select a checkbox to number the markers in the image.
There is an additional charge of $9.95 for numbering markers in an image.
As always, please remember to Preview your image before ordering, as the final image will look like the Preview and not like the interactive map.