Usage Hints for Global Gazetteer pages
from "fallingrain.com"

These usage hints apply to city locator maps reached by clicking a "gazetteer page" link on a site data page on this Website.

Our customization:  We simply specify the desired city or town; the Global Gazetteer does the rest.

Need help?  Want advice?  Pick a question . . .

• What's the "Global Gazetteer" ?
• Why are these usage hints important?
• How can I get a different view of the site surroundings?
• Why might I want a different view of the site surroundings?
• What other map controls are available?
• I tinkered with the map controls too much, and now I'm lost.  How do I get back to the original version?
• Why isn't the map embedded directly in the site data page?

Just curious? Read all the answers in order . . .

What's "Global Gazetteer" ?

The Global Gazetteer is an online static mapping service which is provided at no cost to the Guild by fallingrain.com, an independent company.  It offers a simple service for locating cities for most of the world.  Initially we used it only for Africa and the Mid-East, since we could find no dynamic mapping service for that region.  However, beginning in April 2006 we are using it for most parts of the world, because it provides a quick and simple way to determine city locations.  (It also provides some useful related information.)  Also, its pages display correctly in all modern browsers and most old ones.

Why are these usage hints important?

The Global Gazetteer service is aimed at the general user, and doesn't provide any online help because it expects that all aspects of its pages are intuitive.  Our use of this service has revealed a few shortcomings, so we supply some generic help for the Global Gazetteer.

This page which you are now reading explains what you might not find intuitive, and also explains aspects of that service which are important to us. 

A significant limitation of the Global Gazetteer is that it some of its information is incomplete or inaccurate, as follows:

• For cities in the British Isles, the county designation is usually wrong.  "Aberdeen City" isn't correct except in a few instances.
• For cities in Switzerland, the canton designation is usually wrong or missing.  "Aargau" isn't correct except in a few instances.
• The two-letter abbreviations for countries do not follow the ISO Country Codes standard which we use.  Some examples:
  China should be CN, not CH; Switzerland should be CH, not SZ.
  Austria should be AT, not AU; Australia should be AU, not AS.
  Denmark should be DK, not DA.
• Only the city of interest is displayed (along with major roads and nearby airports) - nearby cities are not shown.  Thus the maps only show the location of a city with respect to geography.  (A few nearby Cities and Towns in each direction are usually listed below the two regional maps; but this isn't a very good substitute.)

How can I get a different view of the site surroundings?

The Global Gazetteer has only three options to customize the page to meet your particular needs.  These appear between the large map and the two small maps.  (NOTE: Since the HTML code for the Gazetteer pages is non-standard, these options may be invisible in some Web browsers.)

• There are four clickable controls to zoom in or out by multiples of 1.4 or 2 times the current scale.
• There are three clickable controls to change the map style.  Four styles are available, though the current style is omitted -
  2-D (a simple plan map with very little detail),
  Topo (the 2-D map with simple topographic coloration added),
  Illuminated (a more detailed version of the Topo map, with topography illuminated as if by sunshine from the southwest; the default),
  Satellite (embedded Google Maps aerial view - not recommended, because if you are using a browser that's not supported by Google Maps, it won't warn you of that).
• The words North, South, East, West will pan in the indicated direction by the number of degrees of latitude or longitude shown to the left of these words; that number varies with the zoom level.

Why might I want a different view of the site surroundings?

The amount of detail which Global Gazetteer provides varies depending on the local topography.

What other map controls are available?

None - Global Gazetteer has a simple, easy-to-use interface, but that is accomplished by omitting some of the extra flexibility that other mapping services may offer.

I tinkered with the map controls too much, and now I'm lost.  How do I get back to the original version?

Use the "Back" feature of your Web browser.  (This may be a menu selection or a toolbar button.) 

Why isn't the map embedded directly in the site data page?

Global Gazetteer does not provide that option.

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This page was created 2006/05/03 and last revised 2006/09/20.

Please send comments or questions to csz_stl@swbell.net