Category: Use Cases

Zip Code Lookup on a Map with ZeeMaps

Posted on | by zeemaps | 8 Comments on Zip Code Lookup on a Map with ZeeMaps

ZIP codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service. ZeeMaps supports Zip Code Lookup, using the View -> Zip Code Lookup menu item on your map.

Zip Code Lookup for Texas

For example, suppose you want to lookup all Zip codes for the state of Texas. Highlight the state of Texas, using the Additions -> Highlight Regions -> States on your map.
Then, once the state of Texas has been highlighted, select the menu item View -> Zip Code Lookup, and click an the highlighted Texas region. You’ll get a list of all Zip Codes in Texas.

Zip Code Lookup result for Texas
Zip Code Lookup for Texas

The same feature can be used to lookup Zip Codes of a particular city, county, or an arbitrary building. You can click on a building to get the Zip Code of the building instead of the area. You are not limited to using pre-defined regions for doing a zip code lookup. Since ZeeMaps allows you to define arbitrary areas like  circles, rectangles, polygons and hand-drawn, you can lookup zip codes for any region on the map.
Unlike the US Postal Service’s Zip Code Lookup service, with ZeeMaps you can easily lookup zip codes for an entire region, instead of having to do it one zip code at a time.
When you click on an highlighted region, the lookup is done for the entire region. If you want to find the zip code for a point within an highlighted region, first click outside the region and then move the zip code locator to the point inside the highlighted region.

Map Location Search & Export List

Posted on | by zeemaps | 5 Comments on Map Location Search & Export List

The map location search capability in ZeeMaps allows you to search your map based on marker field values and geography, e.g., you can search for all “Gold” customers in California in a customer map on ZeeMaps.

First, use the View -> Search menu item on your map to bring up a search dialog as shown below:

Search Dialog Map Location
Search Dialog

How to Search the Map Locations

Section A of the search dialog is for limiting the search results to values in your marker fields. First, this input in this section allows you to select the field to search. Next, this drop-down is for selecting the predicate (e.g. contains, equals, etc.). Third, this input box is for the value to search. You can click on the AND or OR buttons to add up to four clauses for searching marker fields. Example: Name equals Jill

Section B allows you to combine your field search by distance or geography. Therefore, you can specify an address and a distance to limit the search results within a certain distance of your address or map location. Now, if you have highlighted regions in your map, e.g., the state of California, then you can limit the search results by clicking on the highlighted region. Normally search results are limited to 200 entries.

You can increase or decrease this number in Section C.

Then, to search the map locations, hit the Search button. You should see the status line at the bottom right of the map change. Now, it will reflect the number of entries that matched your search.

Export Matched Map Locations

Lastly, if you want to get a list of entries that matched your map location search and put them in a spreadsheet, you can hit the “Export CSV” button instead of the “Search” button. Normally, only map Admins are allowed to export the search results as CSV.

If you have any issues opening the .csv in excel try following these steps.

In case you want your members or viewers to also be able to export search results, use the Map -> Settings menu item and then the Map Security tab to change the default settings.

List markers within a region

Posted on | by zeemaps | 1 Comment on List markers within a region

To list all markers that fall within a region, use the menu item View -> Search. In the resulting dialog, as shown below, customize your search. We’ve highlighted the part that you need for setting the desired region.

Customize Search Dialog
Search customization dialog

Click on the “Map Select Region” to select the region for limiting the search. You can combine it with any of the other clauses, e.g., names that contain the string ‘doctor’, etc. You should have defined at least one region on your map (using the Additions -> Highlight Regions menu item) for this to work.
Once you’ve set the parameters, hit the “Search” button. This should limit the marker display on the map to only those markers that meet your search criteria and are within the selected region. To see the count, look at the status bar at the bottom right of the map. To see a list, click View -> Show List menu item. To get a list to print, click on the Print button in the search dialog.

World Map

Posted on | by zeemaps | 2 Comments on World Map

You can easily get a customized world map image with  ZeeMaps.

Click on Map to get larger poster sized image
Click on Map to get larger poster sized image

First, create a map using the “Create a Free Map” button on the ZeeMaps site.
Use the Additions -> Add Marker menu items on your map to add your own locations to your new map. You can also add multiple locations in batch by using the spreadsheet uploads options.
If you want to highlight certain countries, states, etc., use the Additions -> Highlight Regions menu item.
Once you have your customizations done, you can get a world map by using the Print or Share -> World Map Image menu item, which will bring up a customization dialog:

Customize Image
Customize your World Map image

Use this customization dialog to customize your image, e.g., set the size, resolution, kind of markers (pins) to show your location, etc. Experiment with different customizations by hitting the Preview button. Once you’re satisfied with the Preview, enter your payment information and hit Order.
The image of a world map will be generated and stored on our servers. You’ll get a link to download the image. Remember the link URL in case you want to retrieve the image later.
Here another world map of the image at the top of this post, as a regular map instead of a satellite image.
Click on image to get the poster-sized map
Click on image to get the poster-sized map

Erin Brockovich makes good use of ZeeMaps

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One of the side effects of the industrial revolution has been the pollution and contamination that industrial waste can create. Over the years, society is learning, sometimes the hard way, that unless we properly dispose of this waste, it has the potential to do tremendous harm. The science behind waste management and disposal is complicated, and may take many more years to understand. Nevertheless, one woman in California has certainly made us better aware of the problems it can cause: Erin Brockovich.
Single-handedly she took on some large companies in California and won legal actions against their waste disposal policies. Julia Roberts made her famous in the Oscar award winning movie based on her inspiring story, also titled “Erin Brockovich”.
Erin has not rested on her laurels, and continues to fight for causes wherever she sees folks suffering from issues that they do not have the resources to fight for themselves.
Tens of thousands of people have contacted her reporting issues in their neigborhood. That is where ZeeMaps comes in: Erin can easily use ZeeMaps to figure out the geographical reach of the contamination and other industrial waste issues, based on these reports as shown in her “People’s Reporting Registry“. The map visual is staggering in its reach. Most of the US reports some kind of problem or another.
Take a look at it ‑ perhaps your neighbors are aware of issues that you may not know.