Mapping Hacks

The Road Less Traveled by in MapQuest #5

Chapter 1, Mapping Your Life

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17

HACK

Get the Right Scale

Picking alternative routes requires that we can see them! Since this trip is so

long, we can’t get enough detail to compare the I-5 and coastal alternatives

on one map. The map in Figure 1-7 is useless for alternate route determina-

tion! In order to compare alternatives, we need to split our journey into at

least two more detailed parts.

Here we can use the “Open in New Window” trick of most browsers. Navi-

gate through MapQuest to a map that shows your complete trip and then

right-click (Ctrl-click on the Mac) on the “+” sign of the Zoom tool that is

along the right side of the map. In most browsers, this will open a right-click

context menu that includes the option to open the link in a new window.

That’s more like it! In Figure 1-8, we can see the coastal route, and we have

enough context to know what questions we want to ask next. One key to

effective use of electronic maps is to zoom in close enough to see the impor-

tant details, yet far enough out so as not to get lost in the detail. It is a bal-

ancing act for each exploration.

Now zoom in so that you have two identical views of the same map. Next

scroll the original, less detailed map down by clicking on the arrows on the

Figure 1-7. The scale is wrong, and no alternatives appear in the overview map