Over the last couple of months I've been revamping my website. It's still always a work in progress but I think the improvements are worthwhile. There are still many coins to image (or reshoot) and load; still additional organizational tasks to be done. It's fun though Everyone here seems to like maps and we've discussed the desirability of interactive maps before. Recently I stumbled upon a very slick map app, scribblemaps.com. I've made two maps: one for the Greek coins in my collection, one for Roman provincial. Please check it out and see what you think. There may be some markers without coins since there are many coins yet to load. You can zoom in and click on the markers or you can view the pop-ups by clicking on a numbered marker/city in the left column. You can hide the marker list if you want more map space. When I had more than one coin for a specific location, I stacked the markers atop one another. If you click the marker, you'll see the top coin. You can view other coins at that marker by selecting the corresponding marker number from the list. Maybe there's a better way to do it, but this is the "first draft". (Actually, the second or third draft ). The markers are numbered. That's good and bad. Bad because as I add coins, they will be out of order. For now I'm leaving the listed markers in numeric order, but perhaps it would be better to cluster areas even if it means non-sequential numbers in the list. Suggestions for changes or improvements are welcome.
Very cool! Identify obscure mints has always been an interest of mine. I've sometimes thought about putting together a map or graphic that shows where different mints were active and at what time. Slightly off topic: There's a really cool book - "Islamic Mints" by Diler – that lists every known Islamic mint and every date struck there, specify even the metal of the coin. Its an incredibly impressive and useful work.
Thats cool, figures the first image I click on leads to the Elagabalus/ Priapus reverse. Why am I drawn to his coinage so.....
Oh, I forgot to mention that the map is difficult to use on small mobile devices. As you might expect, there just isn't enough room. You can somewhat use the map on your phone but it is very awkward. The last time I checked it on a tablet computer it was okay. Laptop and desktop (does anyone still use a desktop computer??) work best.
LOL, yes I DO use a desktop Windows based pc... Big-as screen, and recently free updated to Win10. Have used many many laptops in my career, but having a nice big, upgradable, get inside the case pc is great. I am responding on my iPad, (slaved to my pc ) and thought, WOW is your map COOL! Well done... And, agreed, no way map would be good on my iPhone. NICE!
I'm 'old school' like @Alegandron.....still use a desktop WIN-10 but have a laptop and tablet as well, just don't use those very much LOL I think it's great TIF...and I can't think of any improvements at the moment.
Cool add on, this a must have on one,s provincial collectors webpage. Makes even more real how fast its emperium was ...
Interesting approach, TIF! And it's good to know that Scribble Maps can be used for something much better than Pokémon Go. Christian
Those were very nice maps, @TIF . Thanks for taking the time and effort to put them together. They were very informative. I do have one queestion, what's a desktop? Just kidding, but on a serious note I doubt kids today have any idea what a desktop is. They've pretty much been relegated to office work use only. You need a tablet to be the cool kid these days.
i really dig the maps, looks great on me and alegandron's giant monitors plug into our archaic desktop PCs! i don't even like to use laptops if i can help it! i can see it being very difficult on mobile. maybe several smaller sections? instead of "greek", greek:asia minor,greek: eastern europe...something like that. that sounds like a lot of work i'm sure, i'm not sure i'd really want to do it for all the phone people. if people are really interested, they'll use a device that will allow them to view it. anyway, i think it's awesome. i found recently that i when i saw a coin, i could sometimes ID it as being from a certain place (like euboia), but i wasn't exactly sure where that place was on a map! i've been trying to work on my geography a bit.
Just played around with it, its pretty neat. So anyway while loading, it gave a little colored version before turning into the white map. Personally I actually like the color version, is it possible to use the colored map or is it basically white? Also as for the stacked pop ups, is there an option for multiple pop up windows?
Thanks for the feedback! Yes, I have full control over which Google Maps features and labels are shown. I love the look of satellite maps but thought it might look too busy. At first I wasn't going to show current geopolitical boundaries but reconsidered. Knowing which country the ancient city was in is a key means of relating the information. Edited: "before turning into the white map"? Here's how it should look when loaded (the Greek map): I don't think multiple pop-ups are possible. I could stagger the numbered markers just a little bit so if you're viewing by clicking markers on the map rather than marker/names from the list, at least you'd know that more coins were available for viewing.
Can't do the screenshot since it changes to white pretty quickly. But the map looked like this without the words.
Hmm. It sounds like the map isn't displaying correctly on your computer. Which browser and OS do you use? I edited my post above to include a screen shot of how the map should look on your screen. To others reading this thread: does your map look like the screen shot I posted, or is it white?
LOL, I remember carrying my first Compaq laptop cross-country on bidness (In the US - never carried it overseas). It weighed 30+ lbs. and had TWO 5-1/4" Floppy Disk ports with, what, 720kB capacity??? Awesome big time letter writer and number cruncher...
